Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic

I was 14 when this movie was first shown on TV. (The actress, Linda Blair, is a year older than me.) Even though I was not a drinker or a user, I remember feeling like the character of Sarah Travis was the first in movie/TV that I could identify with. I had gone from school to school, and my parents were split up. My Dad was an alcoholic, and I had a hard time fitting in. But like Sarah, I babysat to make pocket money, and I loved music. The Carole King album 'Tapestry' was my favourite album already, which the song 'It's Too Late' is from, (sung by Linda Blair in the movie.) As I lived through the teen years at the same time as this character, and had many similar issues, I feel like for me, the movie was an important one. I have the book again, like I did back then, but I would very much like to see this movie come out in DVD.

This movie was a vehicle for Linda Blair - but don't let that deter you from checking it out.

Linda plays Sarah Travis, who as the movie begins already has a problem with alcohol. Her parents' recent divorce (and her mother's remarriage) and her move to a new school are not helping things. Slowly everything in her life slides right down the hill and into her river of alcohol. Some of the movie is custom-made for Linda Blair - she gets to sing at a party, her boyfriend has his own horses and lets her groom them (Linda LOVED horses, the teen magazines dutifully reported) - but the message of the movie rings clear. Remarkably powerful scene: Linda goes to an AA meeting, and little Bobby (Eric Olsen, then starring in "Apple's Way") steps forward and shares that his alcoholism made him "so damn disgusted with myself" that he knew he had to get help.

It's not accurate to say Sarah hits rock bottom. She THINKS she hits rock bottom, and then learns the hardest way possible just how much further she could fall.

A powerful movie, HIGHLY recommended.

They just don't make made-for-tv movies like they did in the '70s! This is one of my favourite tv movies from that era. Linda Blair plays her character flawless, and makes her role believable. Although it hasn't been on TV for over 10 years now, it's a movie that is a memorable one. It follows the trials and tribulations of a girl that just wants to fit in to her new surroundings, family situation, and school. The two scenes that stick out in my mind are: 1. Linda Blair singing "It's too late"(Carole King),2. Her AA councillor mentioning that alcohol gives at the beginning, then starts taking away from your life. I have never forgot that statement! It would be nice if this movie was available on VHS/DVD, because it is one of Linda Blair's best movies

First up I want to disagree with the poster that said that Sarah T doesnt REALLY hit rock bottom. Towards the end of the movie Sarah has sex in a car with a boy she never met before who agreed to buy liquor for her. That sounds pretty rock bottom to me. SARAH T is a made for TV movie that they dont show on TV anymore...and should...cuz its a good one. It stars Linda Blair as a shy girl whose parents are divorced and she's just started out in a new school. She secretly has been drinking behind her parnets back for about two years. Her mom gets cute boy-next-door Mark Hammel to take Sarah to a party and to loosen up Sarah has a few drinks and sings and dances and has fun. She tells the boy its her first time drinking. After the next few times he sees her drinking he realizes that she doesnt drink like a newbee at all,and suspects she's a serious drinker who may be developing a problem. Of course Sarahs in bigtime denial but as the movie progresses she gets worse and worse until finally she does end up in AA. This movie isnt readily available and I had to get my copy of it through someone on eBay who made me a copy. Its a shame that movies like this,The Late Great Me and Afterschool Specials no longer air. If the networks or cable cant play them shouldnt somebody package them and sell them?

Linda Blair gives an accomplished performance in a challenging and at times awkward part as Sarah, a 15-year-old girl who desperately tries to hide and diminish her increasing alcohol dependency. The film treats alcoholism as an illness, not a symptom, which is rather refreshing considering the year of production. Although, claim the filmmakers, her ailment is also not unlinked to her social life and character traits. The picture offers a fairly satisfactory dissection and portrait, even if Alcoholics Anonymous seem to have had a little too much influence on the production, and the predictable ending isn't quite worth the wait. The early scenes in which Sarah interacts with her classmates and her boyfriend (played by a young Mark Hamill) work generally better than the tussles within her family. Directed by Richard Donner - one year before his major breakthrough with The Omen. Michael Lerner is fun in a smallish part as Blair's psychiatrist.