Themes: Death of a Parent, Families in Crisis, Unlikely Friendships
Main Cast: Vanessa Redgrave, Ray Liotta, Catherine McCormack, Trevor Morgan, Ron Livingston
Release Year: 2000
Country: US
Run Time: 106 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Twelve-year-old James (Trevor Morgan) is haunted by the car crash that claimed his mother's life two years earlier. Estranged from his father (Ray Liotta) and nurturing a deep hatred of his stepmother (Catherine McCormack), James is none too pleased about the prospect of spending his summer vacation at their Maine beach house. With no one his own age for company, he spends his time exploring the surrounding beaches. One day, while playing in the dunes, James accidentally breaks a fence belonging to Maddy Bennett (Vanessa Redgrave), a cranky old woman with a reputation for loony behavior. James embarks on a mission to fix the fence, and as he works, he and Maddy form a deep friendship. But when the boy's family learns of the friendship, they wrongfully blame Maddy for their own problems, prompting Maddy to react in a manner that profoundly affects the entire family. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
George Coe; Michelle Grace - Lillian Neubauer; Ron Liningston - Uncle Charlie; Karsen Liotta - James as infant; Colin Rogers - James as young boy
Credit
Frank Kavanagh - Boom Operator, Liberman/Hirschfeld Casting - Casting, Meg Liberman - Co-producer, Natasha Landau - Costume Designer, Peter O'Fallon - Director, Hubie Kerns Jr. - Second Unit Director, Louise Rubacky - Editor, Brad Krevoy - Executive Producer, John Hamilton - Executive Producer, Barbi Jollota - Hair Styles, Philip Pineau - Location Manager, Glenn Gainor - Line Producer, Tim Simonec - Composer (Music Score), Judy Lovell - Makeup, Michael M. Soos - Camera Operator, Stephen McCabe - Production Designer, Roy H. Wagner - Cinematographer, Lisa Hansen - Producer, Paul Hertzberg - Producer, Peter O'Fallon - Producer, John Paul Pettinato - Producer, Patricia Larman - Set Designer, Georges Hannon - Sound Mixer, MHz Sound Design Inc. - Sound/Sound Designer, David Mylrea - Stunts, Sandy Lund - Stunts, Grant Rogers - Stunts, Randy Boliver - Stunts Coordinator, James Eric - Screenwriter, Jamie Horton - Screenwriter, Peter O'Fallon - Screenwriter, Paula Fairfield - Sound Effects Editor, Carla Murray - Sound Effects Editor, Terada Imaging - Digital Effects, Jayson Clute - First Assistant Camera, Guy LeBlanc - Gaffer, David K. Reilly - Grip, Neil "Mongo" W. Andrews - Grip, Andrew Caney - Grip, Sean Doran - Grip, Maynard Harris - Grip, Carl Nigi - Grip, Kelcey Parker - Grip, Jeff Adams - Key Grip, Guy Godfree - Key Grip, Ashley Revell - Music Editor, Lauren Hertzberg - Post Production Supervisor, Nancy Duff - Production Coordinator, Karla Morash - Production Coordinator, Gary A. Ferguson - Properties Master, Paul Ratajczak - Re-Recording Mixer, Sergio Reyes - Re-Recording Mixer, Jonathan Wales - Re-Recording Mixer, Maggie Thomas - Script Supervisor, Mary Reynolds - Second Assistant Director, Dana Warren - Second Assistant Director, Gary R. Coates - Special Effects Coordinator, Michael M. Soos - Steadicam Operator, Chris Reardon - Still Photographer, Paul Ratajczak - Supervising Sound Editor, Jerry Gilbert - ADR Editor, Ryan Davidson - ADR Recordist, Colleen Ryan - Assistant Hair, Shauna Hatt - Assistant Production Coordinator, Ken LeBlanc - Best Boy Electric, Keith Adams - Best Boy Grip, Katherine W. Evans - Buyer, Marianne Scriven - Buyer, Kim Orchen - Casting Associate, Richard Fraser - Construction Coordinator, Reid Woodbury - Dialogue Editor, Serge Gareau - Dolly Grip, John Scott MacDonald - Dolly Grip, Sandy Grubb - First Assistant Editor, Susan Pusateri - Foley Artist, Emma Osbourn - Greensman, Rosa Hernandez - Post Production Accountant, Maureen P. Mottley - Post Production Accountant, Brenda Kulvietixs - Production Accountant, Mark Nener - Second Assistant Camera, Alan Deveau - Set Dresser, Robert Grani - Set Dresser, Bill Hardwick - Set Dresser, Jaso Shurko - Set Dresser, Grace Duffie Boylan - Book Author
A young boy learns to cope with the death of his mother through his difficult friendship with a cantankerous older woman. The story is based upon the 1918 novelThy Son Liveth: Messages From a Soldier to His Mother by Grace Duffie Boylan. Although the novel tells the story of what a mother learned from her son about death after he dies in a French battlefield during World War I, the movie is set in the later part of the 20th century.[1]