Let's be realistic.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This is the benchmark to which all TV shows should be judged.book 1 far superior but still a classic .So many stories entwined and a history lesson thrown in.Will never EVER be bettered.Essential viewing for any wannabee film producers, directors and actors.For me Bill Bixby was astonishing in his portrayal of a man who lives on past glories and Ray Milland runs away with every scene he is in.Nick Nolte and Peter Strauss bond perfectly and of course Ed Asner in a TV series is a real treat.Top place of course goes to Bill Smith as the kingpin of psycho- neurotic bad guys Falconetti,A dream to watch over and over again. Live the American Dream...or die trying.

Anyone interested in American popular culture should hunt down a DVD of "Rich Man, Poor Man." With its epic length (12 episodes!), "RMPM" established the television miniseries as the premier way to dramatize popular literature -- for a decade after it aired, every sweeps month bulged with middlebrow seriousness: "Roots," "The Thorn Birds," "Winds of War," etc etc. With its epic cast (half of Hollywood), "RMPM" established the miniseries as a respectable way for an out-of-work TV actor to make a quick buck between game-show gigs (Mike Brady, Darrin Stephens and Stanley Roper all made some residuals off this sucker). Beyond its historical significance, though, "Rich Man Poor Man" is just a soap opera masquerading as some grand statement about the middle of the 20th Century. Don't get me wrong -- as a soap opera, it delivers. There's plenty of sex, scenery and histrionics, the lattermost generally delivered by Susan Blakely ("All I ever see of you anymore is that skinny kiester disappearing through the door!" screams our horny, alcoholic political wife). As art, it falls pretty short.Part of the problem is the Irwin Shaw novel on which it is based. Shaw had plenty of ambition, but was a far better storyteller than moralist so his books are like rivers -- they wander wide but don't run very deep. The title "Rich Man, Poor Man" alludes to the class distinctions Shaw tries (and fails) to explore over 25 years and about 900 pages. TV producers are far more literal-minded than novelists so they assumed "Rich Man, Poor Man" is a description of the book's two main male characters, the brothers Rudy (Rich Man) and Tom (Poor Man) Jordache. This rather limited vision excludes the other Jordache sibling, sister Gretchen, whose character is combined with Rudy's first girlfriend and first wife into Julie, played by the plucky Miss Blakely. Since she's actually three women, Julie comes off as a little schizophrenic -- she careens from dewy young thing to long-suffering wife to desperate housewife to pathetic drunk, sometimes in the same scene. To her everlasting credit, Blakely almost manages to pull it off (why didn't she have a better career after this show? She should at least have scored some 80s nighttime soap or a few memorable disease-of-the-week movies. Were her standards too high? Too low?). Without a stable female character, "RMPM" is forced to make its point by contrasting the wildly divergent paths the two brothers follow. Rudy becomes a successful businessman. Tom becomes a blue-collar drifter. So I guess that in post-WWII America, different men do different things. Wow.Still, "RMPM" is a pretty gripping story, and for the most part it's well-acted. Blakely, as said before, is laboring under some awfully heavy demands and acquits herself admirably. Ed Asner, as the German-born patriarch of the Jordache family, dominates the early episodes and deserves the Emmy he picked up (he must have a room full of them at home, and he's earned every single one of them). Dorothy MacGuire as Mama Jordache, and Gloria Grahame as the mother of the ill-fated Julie, are both a bit shrewish and frumpy but I'm pretty sure Irwin Shaw had some issues with his Mom that he was trying to work out here. Peter Strauss is a tad insubstantial as Rudy but he manages to convey a certain phony charm that makes the character meteoric rise believable. Nick Nolte is brilliant as the gruff, violent but ultimately honorable Tom Jordache. He never appears to be acting, but you always know what he's feeling and his performance seemed to be a harbinger of more great things than the man has delivered over the past few decades ("Affliction" was great, but it seemed long overdue). As for the small army of guest stars who drop in to chew a little scenery and collect a paycheck, well, they look like they're having fun. The only genuinely embarrassing performance comes, inexplicably, from Bill Bixby, who directed this mighty mess. He cast himself as Julie's first husband and figured that playing a frustrated writer meant imitating Charles Nelson Reilly. When Julie catches him cheating, you're surprised to see a woman follow him out of the bedroom.

I think it is incredible that this milestone of television history still has not been released in the US on DVD. The 30th anniversary of the first broadcast of the mini-series has come and gone. It would have been a golden opportunity to release it. I would also hope that they would do it right, with background and "making of" segments. Interviews with the main actors would be a nice touch as well. All of the other highly rated mini-series from the '70s, '80s and '90s have been released on DVD; what is the holdup on this one? I am amazed at some of the lousy television shows which are released on DVD, yet no RMPM. I managed to tape the show when the old Family Channel showed it ten years ago (to commemorate the 20th anniversary!). When I watch it I am impressed with how it has held up over the years. The acting was good, the story was solid. They took a good book by Irwin Shaw, made some changes and improved it. This is a great mini-series and it should definitely be shared with a new generation.

I remember when I first saw this miniseries. Week after week, I would literally swallow the episode in and then hungrily wait for the next one!The storyline was great, the acting was great, and the settings were great. I laughed, I cried, I clutched my chair in anticipation during the tense scenes. In short, I loved it!This was the first time I had seen Nick Nolte and he was GREAT! That year, Ed Asner won the Emmy and the Golden Globe for Best Leading Actor in a series, but I think Nolte was robbed. Nolte was fantastic!