Off the Minnesota Strip

I remember this movie well and always think of it if I see Mare Winningham in other movies. It's a portrayal of a troubled teenage girl who runs away from a bad family scene only to have to return and deal with the issues in her life. I haven't seen this movie since the early '80s, but it's a memorable one. It was never shown in repeats, even during late night movies for some reason. It would be nice to see this made-for-tv movie available on DVD someday.

When I saw this, I was deeply impressed with the young actress, Mare Winningham. Everything she did (as an actress) was brilliant -- even when she smoked (blowing smoke from the side of her mouth).

If I'm correct, she had been sexually abused by her father (Hal Holbrook) when she was a little girl, but didn't hold it against him after she became a teenager. Yes, she was troubled, but I think her biggest headache was a very critical mother (Michael Learned), who, obviously put up with the abuse.

When Mare comes back from her New York jaunt as a prostitute, she bravely goes back to high school. She even dabbles in a little hooking upon her return. Boys, of course, are "after" her sexually, and then she has to deal with her NY pimp, who arrives to take her back to the street. Leon Isaac Kennedy as the pimp gave a marvelous performance.

Funny, why a great film like this is allowed to get lost in the shuffle. This should be restored and put on DVD. I'd love to hear comments from Miss Winningham and the other living cast members about their experience while making the picture.

I have seen Winningham in many TV movies since, including the wonderful, "Amber Waves," and felt that she could be the next Bette Davis or Shirley Booth. What an actress! "Off The Minnesota Strip" was certainly Mare Winningham's finest hour.

Rarely have television-made movies explored misguided youth so well as in "Off The Minnesota Strip". Mare Winningham gets to utilize her full-range as an actress, portraying a young runaway who is forced to return home to her confused, exhausted parents and go back to school. Mare Winningham is tender, stubborn, annoying, maddeningly smart but easily swayed. She's an exciting presence on the screen, singing "Just My Imagination" in the police station or auditioning for the school play. The parents, played by Hal Holbrook and Michael Learned, are pretty much the standard forehead-rubbers that we usually get in youth movies, and Holbrook's line-readings are occasionally overwrought, but the film is extremely well-directed and presented.

There are a hand full of TV movies from the 1970's, that are truly outstanding. This is one of them. "Off the Minnesota Strip" steers clear of exploitation by starting this sordid tale of a teenage prostitute, at the point there she has just quit the business, and has returned home to her rural town. Many people see this movie as some kind of unofficial sequel to "Taxi Driver," this story following the prostitute Iris as she goes home to her family in the Mid West. But Mare Winningham is playing Micki Johansen, a girl hardened to life on the streets of New York, as well as some things from her past, (some kind of shocking) that have robbed her of her innocence.

This is a hard film, that pulls no punches. The mother growls at her daughter like an animal, while her father tries to make up for past mistakes, everybody smokes cigarettes, which is something you would NEVER see today, and we have the mother, the father smoking with their 15 year old daughter, who is also puffing away, and NOBODY acknowledges anything unusual about that. I love this film and it's certain 70's atmosphere. The parents are played so realistically with no sugar coating, that their behavior was more shocking than their daughters'actions. We even have Leon Isaac Kennedy as the angry pimp who hunts down the girl and tries to take her back to New York. This was directed by Lamant Johnson, so it has a professional, theater film quality, rather than like a TV movie. Johnson also directed "Lipstick" starring Margeaux Hemmingway, another seedy, sexually potent drama about rape. Finally, this movie does NOT have some predictable, happy ending, and that is what makes this special. Another teen drama from this time. "Born Innocent," also chose to end on a dark note, as did the brilliant "Death of Ritchie" with Ben Gazarra, which ended in horrible tragedy. The films that wrap everything up nicely, have no power, and are forgotten today. Definitely worth tracking down if you are a fan of any of the other movies I mentioned; this is up there with the best of them..

This is one of the best made for TV movies I have ever seen. It could very easily have been an exploitation flick and come across as cheap and tawdry, but it doesn't

It treats its characters, including the black pimp with respect and creates an image of a world in which all the characters are struggling with their inner demons. It is a movie which I have not seen for 20 years, and I wish that I could get to see it again.