Porte à porte

William H. Macy strikes gold in this wonderfully done film. Not only was Macy the star of the story he was also the co-writer and Producer.

This is the story of Bill Porter, a door to door salesman for the Watkins company, who has cerebral palsy. The story takes us from the early 1950's up to the late 1990's and shows us the life of this salesman and all the people who he has met and affected, for over forty years.

Bill is a loveable, funny, caring, and sympathetic character who the viewer cannot help but fall in love with.

The story is well worth seeing and will leave you in tears at times, and laughing right up until the end. I highly recommend this wonderful film.

Viewers hint: Keep your eyes on the tree!

The problem with attempting to review this type of story is that we are not given much room for an opinion. How do we critique the representation of a character who started out with a debilitating disorder, and did everything he could to overcome his limitations? In a film such as "I Am Sam" we can draw attention to the flaws in its premise, but the premise of this story is entirely believable. So all one can do is give it praise or question whether there is a message that follows logically from that basis. We are presented with the life of Bill Porter, whose accident of birth left him with cerebral palsy at a time in history when such persons were typically institutionalized. But Bill had a mother who believed in him until he believed in himself. As a result, and against all odds, he became a door-to-door salesman for products now more conventionally available at the grocery store.

In these days of 800 numbers, the Internet and megaplex shopping centers, it is hard to imagine a day when the door to door salesman met the needs of the neighborhood personally. To a certain extent, this story is as much about that phenomenon as the life of Bill Porter. We see him finding a place in the lives of his customers, fulfilling a role not unlike that of a minister or psychologist, a person who quietly and tactfully linked people together, listened to their concerns, and helped to heal their wounds. At the same time, we see Bill as an all too real human being, himself, disabled not only physically, but emotionally. The deep sense of pride that drives him on also blocks him from experiencing a relationship of his own. It is a very moving and personal story, respectful and ennobling. It needs no other message.

Bill Porter was born with cerebral palsy. As he tells a friend, "The doctor squeezed my head too tight when I was born." Bill had a good sense of humor, we believe he was just making a joke. His dad had been an award-winning salesman, and Bill wanted to follow in his footsteps, but was letting his disability hold him back. Until he told the head of sales, "Give me your worst route, the one no one wants. If I succeed, you're a hero. If I fail, you've lost nothing." Bill finds it very rough going at first, but eventually succeeds by getting to know all his customers and gaining their trust.

Bill Macy is just fabulous as Bill Porter. In this film they let his ears protrude naturally, instead of pinning them back as they have done for all his other films. The story spans 42 years, from 1955 when he gets his first job, to 1997 when he gets his route back after they have closed the door-to-door division, instead selling by phone and the internet. He realized he missed the human element too much.

I don't really understand why this movie was only made for TV, it has a lot of qualities that make it better than half the stuff out today on the big screen. But whether it's a big screen, a small screen, 2 hours, 90 minutes, this is still a good movie. William H. Macy is heartwarming and almost unrecognizable as Bill Porter. It's actually one of his best roles.

The one thing that bugged me were the title cards that had little quotes under the year the section of the movie was taking place, I didn't think those were needed. That aside, this is an overall good movie. It has drama, humour, and some damn fine acting.

My Rating: 7/10

This movie is very inspirational!! William H. Macy did a wonderful job in this movie and deserves an award for his outstanding performance. It is very well written and I can't wait to watch it again and again. We need more family movies like this. There was no violence, no sex, no vulgar language. I have been recommending this movie to EVERYONE! Bill Porter is UNSTOPPABLE!!