La Promesse

Among hundreds of nearly worthless made for TV movies, this rare gem shines. James Woods performance as a mentally handicapped adult is one of the best of his career. The script is sensitively written and the dialog will touch your heart. I only wish this film were available on DVD or VHS.

"Promise" is an exceptionally good made for television movie. The acting is wonderful but it also is well worth seeing because it exposes a serious and usually neglected problem...the lack of programs to deal with the millions of folks dealing with mental illnesses.

When the film begins, Bob (James Garner) is dealing with his mother's death. However, what you don't initially see is Bob's brother, D.J. (James Woods)...another responsibility Bob needs to take care of now that their mother is dead. It seems that D.J. is chronically mentally ill and is unable to care for himself...and that sure complicates Bob's life. He clearly wants nothing to do with D.J. but he promised his mother long, long ago that he'd watch over D.J. after her death. Much of the film consists of Bob learning to care about this estranged brother as well as his coming to realize that this responsibility is just too much for him to handle.

This is naturally a sad film. What's worse is that it exposes a serious unspoken problem--that there simply are very few facilities to deal with the severely mentally ill--whether in-patient or within the community. There are waiting lists, expenses and other hurdles the average person might not be able to handle...and the film is about Bob's struggle with this and his promise. Well done in every way but be forewarned...it's certainly NOT a feel-good movie!

It beats me how this excellent film has never been made into a video/DVD. The acting by James Garner and James Woods is superb. It is far and away better than 'Rainman' and deserves a wider audience. Woods character is so three dimensional and believable, I am sure he must have studied long and hard to reproduce the handicapped brother so brilliantly. Garners character , who doesn't want to be saddled with a 'cripple' but gradually is taken over by his love for him, is also fine acting. So many films of no significance , with bad acting, bad scripts and nothing much to commend them, are available . Surely the film company must realise what a commercial success this would be. PLEASE let's have a DVD.

There weren't enough awards to properly honor this great made for TV movie. Whoever cast this film did an amazing job. Garner was great, but Woods was over the top great. He was amazing in this film. And those two actors together created a moving thought provoking story. I came across it by accident on Turner Classic Movies. I was just surfing by and saw James Garner and stopped to see what he was up to in this film. And I was rewarded with this marvelous story. I'm not going to spell the story out as some reviewers do. Enough people have already done that. I just want to add my voice to the others that have endorsed this film. Since it was on TV it didn't have the weight or promotion that a theatrical film might get. Don't miss this film. You'll be well rewarded.

Not often are IMDb reviewers as consistently laudatory as they are here. But that's understandable. "Promise" is a highly affecting family drama deserving of its many awards. I suspect it's also the kind of film Garner long wanted to make, (he's also the co-producer). As the charming rogue of Maverick and the affable PI of Rockford, he was unrivaled. Here, however, he shows vulnerable emotions never called for in those entertaining but lightweight series. Plus he's truly moving as he tries to reconcile to the care of his troubled brother. But then Bob (Garner) does have a promise to keep to his now deceased mother. Up to that point, he's been shirking his brother, leading an absentee, self-centered life, instead. But now he has to confront the reality of a brother mentally unable to care for himself. Can Bob make that life-altering adjustment.

Woods too is excellent as DJ, the brother. Here he's not as sinister as he often is. Still, he does have to run an emotional gamut from frozen silence to raging enthusiasm. Just as importantly, his chemistry with Garner makes us feel what's on screen and not just the words. As a result, we're drawn inevitably into their predicament. Add a still appealing Piper Laurie to the mix and it's an outstanding threesome.

I'm not surprised the material was filmed for TV rather than theatres since the commercial appeal would seem limited, especially if folks were expecting a typical James Garner. The movie's moral is also a strong one— one I take to be that despite DJ's calamities, he brings to the surface the good man that Bob has always been, but has so far remained hidden from others and himself. In short, both brothers are redeemed in a subtly life-affirming way. All in all, it's a fine offbeat film.