Waste of time

Simply Perfect

Memorable, crazy movie

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

This film is so beautifully crafted that it deserves to be recognized as one of the most inspiring and uplifting films ever made. You cannot watch The Other Side of the Mountain and possibly feel sorry for yourself. The film demands the viewer to find his or her own strength within no matter what his circumstances are. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN was a surprise hit for Universal back in 1975. With no advanced publicity, the studio hurried it into movie theaters after a private screening at Universal that left all it's top executives in tears. I remember it as "the film that would not go away". Word of mouth spread about how effective and moving it was keeping The Other Side of the Mountain playing in various movie houses off and on for years. This new DVD transfer under the VAULT SERIES collection is GORGEOUS. The sound crisp and the widescreen colors intact. I think the film holds up better today than it did in 1975. It may not be a critics picture but The Other Side of the Mountain works in the way THE SOUND OF MUSIC works or TITANIC or even Douglas Sirk's IMITATION OF LIFE. Yes, it's glossy, but the story touches on all the elements that a person going through this experience would face in reality. Only the hardest of heart will not be moved. Without giving too much of the plot away, the main character is forced to deal with an accident that leaves her paralyzed from the shoulders down. There's the ineffective parents who can only give her love and little else. The best friend that reminds her of how bad everything is. The boyfriend who dumps her because he cannot come to terms with her handicap and then the man who re-enters her life to reconnect her with the spirit she thought she had lost. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN is a movie about the individual, a loner on her own path and the struggles she must endure and overcome in order to find her true spirit. This film contains Beau Bridges best performance. The entire film rests on the shoulders of Marilyn Hassett who holds the film together triumphantly. It's a stirring performance that inspires hope, not pity. A lot of top notch supporting work her also, Dabney Coleman, Nan Martin, Belinda Montgomery and the wonderfully funny Dori Brenner. The effervescent score by Charles Fox is one of his best and enhances the beauty of David Walsh's stunning cinematography and the emotion of Larry Peerce's sensitive direction. This film should be in the library of every veterans hospital in this country, that's how important it is. Definitely deserves to be reevaluated. I recently showed this film to a friend from Lebanon and even though he figured out the ending before the film was over, he still ended up crying like a baby. And just for the record, NOBODY makes crying look more beautiful than Marilyn Hassett.

I became a paraplegic at the age of 23 on May 10th. 1979. When I came home from the rehab center the movie The Other Side of the Mountain came on. I had no idea what the movie was about. My girlfriend and I watched and cried through the whole movie. I could not believe how close it hit home and what my family and friends were going through. It is and always will be one of my favorite movies. I taped both one and two, but through out the years the tape is hard to watch and would love to get a new version of the movie. I wrote a book ( Rolling through Life )about my life after 30 years as a paraplegic, married for 25 and two beautiful children latter, life is good :) Sincerely. Lorraine "Scott" BainRR#1 Arcadia Box 4660Yarmouth Ns CanadaB0W1B0

The true story of skier Jill Kinmont, processed through a Saint Machine. Well-scrubbed young woman, an Olympic hopeful, is paralyzed in a terrible skiing accident and has to learn to adjust to life as a quadriplegic. In hindsight, writer David Seltzer was certainly an odd choice to adapt this story (his next project was "The Omen"). Larry Peerce was another strange pick for director; having had success earlier with the benign "Goodbye, Columbus", Peerce followed that up with "The Sporting Club", which featured orgies and biker gangs. Here, he guides lovely newcomer Marilyn Hassett (later Mrs. Peerce) through one excruciatingly tender moment after another, but neither the director nor the actress can break through the film's plastic coating. It's so overtly sincere that it isn't sincere anymore; it's swill. ** from ****

Oscar Wilde wrote: "In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what you wants, and the other is getting it."To rephrase his thought, Jill suggests there are likewise only two joys... One is having God answer all your prayers, the other is not receiving the answer to all your prayers...The four words: Your injury is permanent' slam into Jill Kinmont's consciousness like a bullet... She was a ski champion, full of life, action and beauty... Now, almost totally paralyzed after a bad fall... Being Quadraplegic, means that every aspect in her life is different from that point on... Her total care is left up to other people: She cannot bathe herself, feed herself, or dress herself... Jill automatically suffers the effects of having no arms and no legs, and becomes incontenant as well...Marilyn Hassett makes Kinmont a fighter whose determination initially explodes and inspires some to have unreasonable expectations of her limited recovery... She tries to reach a state of empowerment, the right to feel proud of herself, and what she is, and what she does, and to have that pride recognized as acceptable by her love ones... The tender romance between her and Beau Bridges provides some fine moments...The film, a tearjerker based on a real case, is altogether too much of a good thing...