A Month of Sundays [Age-Old Friends] *** (1989, Hume Cronyn, Vincent Gardenia, Michele Scarabelli, Tandy Cronyn) – Classic Movie Review 13,065

Hume Cronyn (July 18, 1911 – June 15, 2003),

Hume Cronyn and Vincent Gardenia come together memorably for the sweet and funny 1989 Home Box Office TV comedy drama film A Month of Sundays about two friends in a retirement nursing home.

Two of Hollywood’s favourite old boys – skinny Canadian Hume Cronyn (aged 80) and bulky Italian American Vincent Gardenia (a mere slip of a lad at 69) – come together memorably for director Allan Kroeker’s sweet and funny 1989 Home Box Office TV comedy drama film A Month of Sundays about two friends in a retirement nursing home.

The tremendously warm and wise film is beautifully played, with the two old-timers just great, and amusingly written with tasty dialogue by Bob Larbey, co-writer of the classic TV shows The Good Life, Please Sir! (1968) and The Fenn Street Gang (1971).

Hume Cronyn stars as retirement home resident John Cooper and Vincent Gardenia plays his best buddy Michael Aylott, drifting towards senility, with Michele Scarabelli as Nurse Wilson and Tandy Cronyn as Julia.

Hume Cronyn and Vincent Gardenia both won Primetime Emmy Awards, Cronyn as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special and Gardenia as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special.

It is made by Granger Productions in association with HBO Showcase, and shot in Shouldice, Ontario, Canada. It premiered in the US on December 16, 1989 and on Central Television in the UK.

George Cole was brilliant in the original production at the Duchess theatre, London, in 1986, but Cronyn is just as good. Geoffrey Bayldon co-starred, The play won the Evening Standard best comedy award.

Bob Larbey was the writing partner of John Esmonde, whom he met at school in Clapham, London.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,065

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My thanks to Michael Darvell.