Touches You

A Masterpiece!

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

I saw this in the theater when it came out. Then I saw it this afternoon on streaming. I remember kind of liking this one as a teen, but still there was something about it that nagged at me through the years and convinced me not to go to any great trouble to see it again. Today I was reminded what that was: the characters are such unpleasant people. Yeesh. I'm glad I don't have friends or family like this.The dad has his head in the sand and will do just about anything to prevent his only child from taking a brave risk to better herself. The boyfriend is a self-centered jerk and a quitter who drops out of medical school and semi-pro hockey in the first 30 minutes of the film, and who also seems to resent Lexie's potential to succeed in life, the same potential he himself has squandered twice already. And the ice rink owner is a shrieking harpy. I don't think too many ice rink owners are Care Bear types, really, but Beulah did altogether too much screaming and cussing. (Funny thing: from seeing the film in the theater, I remembered Colleen Dewhurst as "the fat lady"... guess what? 35 years later I see she wasn't at all fat. She was a middle-aged woman. She looked... ahem... rather like I do now. "Stupid" clothes and all.) The one exception to the unpleasantness is Lexie herself; I thought Lynn-Holly Johnson played her very believably, with great exuberance while skating and credible depression after the accident. She was a joy to watch on the ice... I'm not a sports or skating fan at all, but I streamed it twice just to watch her skate. Wow. The film would have been a total zero without her.There are confusing plot issues: what about that boyfriend of Lexie's new trainer, who not only gravitates from the trainer to Lexie herself, but the trainer doesn't seem to care or even notice? And continuity issues: towards the end, see Tom Skerritt on the pond wearing boots, then skates, then boots again, while helping Lexie regain her skating ability. And as I said, just too much nastiness between the characters: okay, I get that Robbie Benson (who is in serious need of an eyebrow waxing) wants Lexie not to feel sorry for herself, but the way he screams "Shut up!" at her when she asks for help getting up is really not going to help matters any.I wouldn't have bothered with this one again if not for Lynn-Holly Johnson; she made the whole film and she was a joy to watch. If I had a flower, I'd throw it.

What I love about this film, is the way it captured the fragility and innocence of youth. I'm not sure that a trained actress could have done that any better than Lynn-Holly.In perhaps her first movie at a tender age, she probably shared the real fear and wonderment of her character. In a sense, as a skater, a new actress, and a new Ice Capade star in real life, she was going through some of the same stuff that her character Lexi was experiencing.I was a person for whom youth was full of wonder, fear and innocence, so I can relate to our protagonist's gentle nature. Her lack of world-wise savvy formed the core of the plot. She had a sheltered childhood punctuated by tragedy, with the premature death of her mother. Suddenly she was thrust into the predatory world of competitive skating and sports media. Add to the mix, romantic peaks and valleys, and abandonment issues.Epic main themes manipulated the emotions of a generation of 70s film watchers, and gladly so. I credit the music here for hitting the tear-jerker grand slam. I also loved the woodsy, "farmie," "ranchie" setting in winter. Ice skaters practice year round in indoor rinks, so theoretically this movie could have been set in summer, but it would have had a totally different feel. Winter MADE this film. The weather fit the sport and personified the freshness of the rosie-cheeked Lexie.I still don't understand exactly what the father, played very aptly by Tom Skerritt, did for a living. Was it a dairy farm, cattle ranch, or what? He asks Robby Benson's character about his dad's cattle ranch. That was the only hint.The Colleen Dewhurst character was supposed to have been a winning skater herself "25 years ago," but if you look up the actress's real age, she would not have been a young woman, even 25 years prior to 1978. To me that was so obvious. 25 plus 16 is 41, and this character was way older than 41.Also, Dewhurst's character hated her life. She bemoans running a crappy bowling alley and skating rink. But I would love to live in a small town and run exactly that kind of business. Sounds like a great life, although you never see the place in full use by the public.We never hear anything about Lynn-Holly's school situation. It is not summer, so presumably she would have to go to school. That was a huge error.Also, we see the older sportscaster guy come up behind her and put his arms around her, kissing her bare neckline, as lovers do. But we had no prior warning that a relationship like this ever existed. They just pull it out of nowhere. She was legally under age, and he was the boyfriend of her coach, yet neither of those issues comes up.We are supposed to assume that they slept together. That was a major part of her personal drama, yet it is left very vague. We are to assume that he only cared about her skating, yet after the accident, he called her several times. It was clear to me that he really did love her, but in a crucial scene, she implies that he was a fair-weather friend. I didn't get that at all.Initially, we have no idea whatsoever that Robby Benson's character plays hockey, or that he is good at it. Then we see him score one goal in a local game, without even knowing that he was on a team. After that goal, he gets a tryout with a pro team. Where did that come from? I understand that it was a plot device to parallel his girlfriend's sporting aspirations, but you have to set it up better than that.I do like how we see that people are not perfect or cardboard in their nature. People in this film act self-centered, grow emotionally, and correct their misdeeds. That is true to life when people mature.I'm not sure why the crowd reacts so emotionally toward the girl in the final scene, if they don't even know that she is blind. (prior to the roses issue.) I guess we are to assume that for whatever reasons, crowds just love this girl on ice. Her prettiness no doubt helped her otherwise unlikely rise to fame, given her mature age for a skater.I'm o.k. with the choice of Robby Benson, although he did not look like a Midwestern farm boy, nor a hockey player. I think he did a splendid job of conveying his character's genuine emotions, including jealousy, love, and confusion. His facial expressions were key to the effectiveness of the drama.Yes, the plot device of showing that people can overcome adversity, using sports as a metaphor is a cliché, but that's o.k. How you execute the plot is more important. While blindness is a bit heavy-handed, some key performances, memorable music, and a frosty setting help tell this story with considerable style and grace.

I have Ice Castles on DVD as well as the old school "fotonovel" of the movie published back in the day. The movie is OK, but I am and always have been fascinated with "Beulah's Ice Castle and 5 Star Lanes", the rink and bowling alley. I would love to own such a place. Does anyone have any idea where this place is/was? I would love some info on that place. I have done all kinds of searches but came up empty! The other locations were interesting as well, Do any of you know where the various arenas are? Anyways...maybe the movie wasn't Oscar material, but it was a nice movie with a beautiful girl in it! I understand Lynn-Holly Johnson was in Ice Capades around this time. I wonder what she looks like today!

This is far from a believable story: a top ice skater losing her sight and then becoming even a better skater after becoming blind! I don't think so.However, the girl - "Alexis Winston," played by Lynn-Holly Johnson - is such a beautiful and sweet person that she alone makes the movie worth watching. Johnson was an accomplished skater in her own right, so she makes the skating scenes look realistic.The bad news was the character, "Beulah Smith," portrayed by Colleen Dewhurst, an annoying butch-like foul-mouthed woman, the opposite of Johnson. Her bad mouth prevents this from being a good family film, which it could have been. She isn't the only offender, but is, by far, the worst....and all of it was unneeded, but that's Hollywood in the 1970s for you. Familiar '70s actor Robby Benson plays Johnson's boyfriend, but he's not all that likable, either.This is mainly Johnson's film. She never really was that much of an actress, but her other qualities and talents overcame that shortcoming.