La mort dans l'âme

If you're like me and you love watching cheesy made-for-TV movies, this one is for you. Nothing is funnier than hearing Tony Danza try to pull off a Southern accent. The ending psychotic sequence is worth the price of a blank tape. If this is ever on Lifetime or something, take my advice. You'll laugh throughout.

The first thing that struck me about this film is that (as far as I know) there are no Italian hill people and not many Italian southerners. The incongruity of Tony Danza with a southern accent made it hard to suspend disbelief long enough to get involved in the story line. Perhaps this was part of the reason the first commenter on this film found it "The funniest bad TV movie ever."

It didn't seem to be quite that bad, in my view. Except for Tony Danza's ethnicity, the casting seemed excellent. The actors playing his father and daughter actually looked as if they could be his father and daughter (something one doesn't always find), and the action moved well enough to keep some members of my family riveted to the screen. As a person with many northern relatives and many southern relatives, I thought his accent to be pretty well done. On the whole, not that bad a movie, and it didn't seem to me to have a funny moment in it.

Tony Danza (Tom Action) surprised me with his complete change of character from anything he has ever performed, he gave up his NY(Brooklyn) accent for a real down to earth SOUTHERN DRAWL!! If you liked him in "Who's The Boss", get ready to completely hate the role he plays. If you had any doubts about Tony Danza as an actor, his junkyard character will change your mind completely. His wife Pamela Reed(Carol)("Proof of Life" '02 and "Standing on Fishes" '99) played a great supporting role as a very simple minded down to earth good mother and wife who depends completely on her husband Tom and looks up to him NO matter how he seems to ACT at TIMES!! Ving Rhames (Detective Jackson)("Sin" '03) was fantastic in his role trying to figure out this crazy household and just what happened to the missing daughter Kathy Action,(Heather Tom)"Young & The Restless'73 TV series) This is a great film to view the next time it is on the TV Screen.

The story (a true one, from what I understand) behind this movie is actually pretty good. Tony Danza really did a fine job of showing a wide range of "emotions". He was absolutely chilling at times. But the accents were AWFUL. I can't say whether or not they were authentic, but I CAN say they were incredibly annoying. And it was a bit odd that for some reason, the oldest daughter's accent wasn't so thick you could cut it with a knife, but the rest of the family's was.

I didn't find the other actor to be all that outstanding, and I hope that Acton's real wife was not as ignorant as she was portrayed here.

All in all, a good story, and some fair acting by the supporting cast, but next time, tone down the accents.

So, I've recently been on this 80's and 90's "TV Movie of the Week"/Lifetime movie kick and this was one of the films on my watch list.... it seems there are a great number of reviews complaining of Tony Danza's accent (which is pretty bad, but I was able to look pass that) but PLEASE don't let that prevent you from watching this film! I kind of wish the ending had been fleshed out a little bit more but I felt that the "twist" toward the end was definitely pretty great and also a bit random, which is probably why I enjoyed it so much, lol.