Years after the end of "That Girl", Marlo Thomas returned to TV with this remake of "It's a Wonderful Life" that is surprisingly superb. The character of George Bailey is now Mary Bailey (the wife's married name in the original), and she is married to George Hatch (Wayne Rogers) but it is her who the head of the local building and loan, having inherited it upon the death of her father at the insistence of town miser Orson Welles. He obviously wants to destroy her, both out of pure greed (the building and loan is the only business in town he doesn't own) and pure misogyny. Through the flashbacks told to angel Clara (Cloris Leachman, doing a cockney Bette Davis impression), Mary's past is told, up to her thoughts of suicide.
This gender reversal of the classic story is well thought out, and even being set in the first half of the 20th Century, the fact that a woman becomes successful in business in her small home town makes perfect sense because she's got the ambition to succeed. But the rise to success brings on a tremendous fall, and Mary sees through Clara's guidance what her hometown became because she was never born.
This differs enough from the original to have its own take on the story, and Thomas is powerful as she faces each obstacle and the revelation of what her town would be like without her. Welles is an excellent substitute for Lionel Barrymore, completely ruthless yet manipulatively charming when he needs to be. I couldn't imagine who other than Welles could have played this role in the late 1970's.
As for Leachman, her Emmy nominated performance is in line with the eccentric characters she played in all those Mel Brooks movies, but some audience members might find her laughable. She really doesn't get much screen time, but she is unforgettable. Doris Roberts doesn't get much screen time as Mary's mother either (the Beulah Bondi part), so the impact of the two sides of the character is never felt. But the point of the film is made, and the impact is still there. It may not be an excellent remake, but I couldn't imagine it being anymore wonderful.
This gender reversal of the classic story is well thought out, and even being set in the first half of the 20th Century, the fact that a woman becomes successful in business in her small home town makes perfect sense because she's got the ambition to succeed. But the rise to success brings on a tremendous fall, and Mary sees through Clara's guidance what her hometown became because she was never born.
This differs enough from the original to have its own take on the story, and Thomas is powerful as she faces each obstacle and the revelation of what her town would be like without her. Welles is an excellent substitute for Lionel Barrymore, completely ruthless yet manipulatively charming when he needs to be. I couldn't imagine who other than Welles could have played this role in the late 1970's.
As for Leachman, her Emmy nominated performance is in line with the eccentric characters she played in all those Mel Brooks movies, but some audience members might find her laughable. She really doesn't get much screen time, but she is unforgettable. Doris Roberts doesn't get much screen time as Mary's mother either (the Beulah Bondi part), so the impact of the two sides of the character is never felt. But the point of the film is made, and the impact is still there. It may not be an excellent remake, but I couldn't imagine it being anymore wonderful.