Sarah, Plain and Tall
Kansas, 1910. Widowed farmer Jacob Witting finds that taking care of both his farm and two children, Anna and Caleb, is too difficult to handle alone. John takes out an ad in a newspaper for a mail-order bride, to which the "plain and tall" Sarah Wheaton answers, soon traveling from Maine to Kansas to become John's wife. Despite the love that grows between Sarah and the family, Sarah finds herself homesick, and she must ultimately choose whether or not to stay.
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- Cast:
- Glenn Close , Christopher Walken , Lexi Randall , Malgorzata Zajaczkowska , Jon DeVries , James Rebhorn , Woody Watson
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Reviews
Overrated
Load of rubbish!!
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
Oh my God is such a wonderful film. I watched it on the channel Hallmark, and i tought that it will be boring, but i started to watch it, because there was Chris Walken (i heard he like Chris better like Christopher), and he is an amazing actor, and strangle sexy. The 2 children's are so nice and lovely, i think everybody wants such kind oh great kids:) Glenn Close is so nice ang beautiful in this film, and her role is also very good. A woman who tried to change old habits and and deep feelings. And there's a lovely ending!! Oh, and Mr. Walken is also great(like almost always). He plays perfectly the man who cant forget his wife and cant find the way to go on with 2 children's who lost their mothers but want live a normal life!! Great film i have seen it 5 times and i still love it!! 10/10
I remember reading the book, Sarah, Plain and Tall, as a small child, probably for school or something. In most cases, movies based on books are usually a let-down, but this movie, in my opinion, was even better than the book itself. It's a wonderful story of a young mail-order bride who travels from her home in Maine to the vast strangeness of undeveloped, prarie-town, Kansas. One of the things I really liked about this movie was that it didn't have any sticky-sweetness that is common in family films. Sarah, the main character, is far from perfect, and there is a constant battle-of-wills between her and Jacob. Probably the biggest conflict in the film, besides the fact that Sarah is extremely homesick, is that Jacob expects Sarah to be like his late wife--who seems to have been a quiet, gentle woman. Sarah is nice, but she is also stubborn and quick to speak her mind. She and Jacob have to come to terms with each other, over and over again. Jacob's character was well-written. He's a man trying to raise his family the best he knows how, but he can't seem to let go of his late wife. He blames himself for her death, and seems almost afraid to let his children remember her. He doesn't have much room in his heart for Sarah, but she barges in anyway, neatly disobeying him and breaking down the walls in his heart. The children were very good as well--Anna struggles with accepting Sarah, and her growing fondness towards her. Calab loves Sarah, simply because he is small and doesn't remember his real mother. I thought the story line was great, as was the actual casting. Glenn Close doesn't usually play such wholesome, family roles, but she actually pulled it off, which proves, of course, that's she's a terrific actress in any role. She was convincing as Sarah, and gave her a little added spice... Christopher Walken, also, was great as the father, who, I think, falls for Sarah without really realizing it. The children, played by Lexi Randell and Christopher Bell, fit snugly into their roles. The whole movie is a very touching family story. I give it ten stars, for a wonderful performance.
They had a real nice feel for the time and place with this one....I remember enjoying it alot. Oceans of grass to replace the Maine woods and shore, different mores and a different way of thinking. Walken really plays against type here, he is quiet and turned inwards...Little House on the Prairie done by Hallmark, if you will.*** outta ****
Nice little movie about life in the Prairie and about how a young widower can make a new life, and how his two children can relate to a new women coming to their home to "replace" their mother. No clichés (there could have been scores of them), sensitive story, good casting. Never before that movie had I sensed how Kansas and Maine, two states in the same country, can be so far apart, geographically and culturally.