Why Would I Lie?

This played for maybe a week on a showcase run in my area and I vaguely remember being the on only one in the theater when I saw it back in 1980...maybe 1979, I can't imagine it was 1980, like the IMDb says... Anyway, the little kid in the movie is Gabriel Macht, who was quite good, as I remember and is now an adult actor...he was excellent recently in A Love Song For Bobby Long, with John Travolta. How weird is it to see an actor you knew as a child suddenly, like 30? Lisa Eichorn was also excellent in this, and it never plays on TV or cable anymore, so let's hope that it will turn up as a budget DVD at some point. Even the people who sell never-released films as bootlegs don't have this one, and they've looked for it! Weird, huh?

From the first time I saw the movie on HBO I had to find out about this new actor on the scene,Treat Williams. Reading every video guide for the past 10 years and nowhere was this movie listed. Mr. Williams did a wonderful job with the story and made you almost believe that lying wasn't such a bad thing after all. A great romance movie for a rainy afternoon but just our luck it isn't available. Too bad VHS and DVD movies weren't sold back in 1980. A bundle could have been made from Treat fans alone and just think of the royalties. Is there some reason this movie wasn't released to network television after it's run on HBO? Not even as a rental and I recall asking the guy at Blockbuster to check for all Treat Williams movies and this one was never listed as one of his credits.

Cletus Hayworth (Treat Williams) is a compulsive liar. As a social worker, he has to find a foster home for Jeorge (Gabriel Macht). He discovers that the boy had been taken away from his real mother under questionable circumstances. He goes searching for the birth mother.

This isn't actually funny. I think it's supposed to be funny. I wonder if a comedian could make Cletus' lying something funny. Treat Williams is not a comedian. More than anything, he's playing it as a mental illness. He's a dramatic actor and this becomes a darker character study. It struggles to get there and it can't get the comedy. It's stuck. On a side note, it is odd to see Gabriel Macht as a kid. He's unrecognizable. He actually has the only funny moment. This could have worked if Cletus and the kid become the constant pair on a road trip.

This is one of my mom's favorite movies - it is very sad that it was never released! I did see it in the past year on a cable network station like TBS or WGN - so someone has the rights to run it. Bit of trivia: the boy who played Jeorge now goes by Gabriele Macht. I have seen him on a few things like the movie "The Recruit" and Sex and the City - recognized him immediately. Haven't found a site that says why he dropped Swann. IMDb doesn't have "Why Would I Lie" in his credits either - not quite sure why he and Treat Williams won't admit to appearing in this funny movie! I do remember the movie quite well if someone wants a more thorough synopsis. I might even be able to find a copy of what I taped off of cable, too. I didn't get it from the very beginning, but pretty close to it.

Here is Macht's IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0532683/

This is a really well done movie that advances gradually toward a really "edge of your seat" ending. One reason why the ending is so exciting is that the characters have been carefully developed so that you care about them at the end. Add to that the superb performances of a thoughtful Lisa Eichhorn, a character who is maturing played by Treat Williams, and a wonderful child portrayal, and you have a movie that should sell on DVD. I've enjoyed watching Lisa Eichhorn every time I see her in a film. She doesn't give away her character in the first scene of the movie, but holds back some of it, making you watch closely to discover the type of person underneath the character's cautious facade. Most really good "romantic comedies" require characters that develop gradually. Otherwise they'd just be a comedy made of nothing but slapstick. I'd buy a copy of this movie if it was available!