Atchison, Nancy Moore

Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken

This charming Disney live-action picture is a genuine sleeper. It's a variation on the old boy-runs-away-to-join-the-circus story, except this time the boy is a girl. After she joins a traveling show in the 1930s, spunky teen Sonora Webster (Gabrielle Anwar) learns the ropes and eventually lands a plum role in the program: riding a horse off a 40-foot-high diving board into a tank of water. Well, Sonora thinks it's a plum, anyway. Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken has the usual love interest, a brush with tragedy, and some worldly wisdom (the latter doled out by old pro Cliff Robertson, in a nice role as a crusty barnstormer). What makes the movie memorable is the performance of the lovely Gabrielle Anwar, the doe-eyed actress who later danced the tango so memorably with Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman. The movie may be sappy--no surprise with that title--but Anwar provides bright star wattage and a plucky role model. --Robert Horton

Everyone will cheer Walt Disney Pictures presentation of this captivating real-life story of Sonora Webster's determination and courage -- now on DVD. A runaway orphan, young Sonora (Gabrielle Anwar) persists for a menial job mucking stables in Doc Carver's traveling stunt show. Her great wish is to become a death-defying "diving girl," but Doc (Cliff Robertson) refuses her pleas. Undaunted, Sonora's gutsy resolve finally convinces him to give her a break. On the brink of stardom, however, a cruel twist of fate threatens to destroy her dream. With the help of a loving friend (Michael Schoeffling), Sonora must prove that if you want something badly enough, anything is possible!

The Prince of Tides

Barbra Streisand's best film as a director is helped enormously by one of Nick Nolte's finest performances. Nolte plays a football coach who is estranged from his wife (Blythe Danner) and who enters into an affair with the psychiatrist (Streisand) of his suicidal sister (Melinda Dillon). Streisand is acceptable in her star turn, but behind the camera she paces the story very well and provides lots of room for Nolte to inhabit his burdened but likable character. George Carlin is a bit token as a gay New Yorker, although Jason Gould (Streisand's son) is good as a struggling teen in desperate need of a father figure. The whole film is worth watching just to see a great moment near the end where Nolte stands on a street, a bit slump-shouldered and wearing a look of sad resolve. It's great acting at its most minimal. --Tom Keogh

The Long Walk Home

This underrated 1990 film directed by Richard Pearce (Country, Leap of Faith) features exceptionally nuanced performances by both Sissy Spacek (Coal Miner's Daughter) and Whoopi Goldberg (Ghost) in a story set against the backdrop of the emerging civil rights movement of the 1950s South. Spacek plays a Southern socialite who becomes gradually enlightened by the plight of her housekeeper, played by Whoopi Goldberg, as she struggles to raise her family amid the increasing turmoil, prejudice, and violence around her. A well-done treatment of an important period of American history, The Long Walk Home is an effective and accurate period drama. It is also an opportunity to see fine, understated performances by two very popular actresses in an earnest and socially conscious setting. --Robert Lane

The Patron Saint of Liars

From the award-winning director of Paris Trout comes this powerful adaptation of best-selling author Ann Patchett's New York Times Notable Book. Emmy-winner Dana Delany (China Beach) stars as Rose, a desperate expectant woman who leaves her husband and takes refuge in a shelter for unwed pregnant women. She begins a new life, raising her daughter and marrying the shelter's handyman (Clancy Brown, The Shawshank Redemption). But when her first husband tracks her down, she is faced with the agonizing decision whether to flee her past once again

The Long Walk Home

This underrated 1990 film directed by Richard Pearce (Country, Leap of Faith) features exceptionally nuanced performances by both Sissy Spacek (Coal Miner's Daughter) and Whoopi Goldberg (Ghost) in a story set against the backdrop of the emerging civil rights movement of the 1950s South. Spacek plays a Southern socialite who becomes gradually enlightened by the plight of her housekeeper, played by Whoopi Goldberg, as she struggles to raise her family amid the increasing turmoil, prejudice, and violence around her. A well-done treatment of an important period of American history, The Long Walk Home is an effective and accurate period drama. It is also an opportunity to see fine, understated performances by two very popular actresses in an earnest and socially conscious setting. --Robert Lane

Miracle of the Spring

From Stephen Gyllenhaal, the award-winning director of Paris Trout, comes this powerful adaptation of best-selling author Ann Patchett's New York Times Notable Book, The Patron Saint of Liars. Emmy-winner Dana Delany (China Beach), stars as Rose, a desperate expectant woman who leaves her husband and takes refuge in a remote Kentucky shelter for unwed pregnant women. Rose begins a new life, raising her daughter and marrying the shelter's compassionate handyman, Son (Clancy Brown, The Shawshank Redemption). But when Rose's first husband finally tracks her down, she must make the agonizing decision whether to flee her past once again. Academy Award-winner Ellen Burstyn (Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore) costars as a reclusive neighbor whose life was miraculously saved as a child by the healing waters of a spring on her property. The spring has long since dried up, and it will take another miracle to keep Rose and her new family together.

Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken [Region 2]

This charming Disney live-action picture is a genuine sleeper. It's a variation on the old boy-runs-away-to-join-the-circus story, except this time the boy is a girl. After she joins a traveling show in the 1930s, spunky teen Sonora Webster (Gabrielle Anwar) learns the ropes and eventually lands a plum role in the program: riding a horse off a 40-foot-high diving board into a tank of water. Well, Sonora thinks it's a plum, anyway. Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken has the usual love interest, a brush with tragedy, and some worldly wisdom (the latter doled out by old pro Cliff Robertson, in a nice role as a crusty barnstormer). What makes the movie memorable is the performance of the lovely Gabrielle Anwar, the doe-eyed actress who later danced the tango so memorably with Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman. The movie may be sappy--no surprise with that title--but Anwar provides bright star wattage and a plucky role model. --Robert Horton