Baxter! *** (1973, Patricia Neal, Scott Jacoby, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Britt Ekland) – Classic Movie Review 10,286

Director Lionel Jeffries’s sympathetic 1975 British drama Baxter! stars Patricia Neal as speech therapist Dr Clemm, who tries to solve the problems of disturbed, speech-afflicted 12-year-old Roger Baxter (Scott Jacoby), upset after his parents’ breakup.

The boy struggles both to overcome his speech impediment (rhotacism, a difficulty in pronouncing ‘R’ sounds) and his strained relationship with his parents. But he makes friends with Chris Bentley (Britt Ekland), the model who lives upstairs, and her French boyfriend, Roger Tunnell (Jean-Pierre Cassel).

Reginald Rose’s screenplay is based on Kin Platt’s book The Boy Who Could Make Himself Disappear.

Neal and Jacoby grab their opportunities to be entirely believable, and Reginald Rose’s screenplay keeps the tearful, heart-tugging film full of incident and interesting characters.

Unfortunately, for all its warmth and appeal, it was apparently not targeted accurately enough to become a major box-office hit.

Baxter! also features Jean-Pierre Cassel, Britt Ekland, Lynn Carlin, Paul Eddington, Sally Thomsett, Frances Bennett, George Tovey, Paul Maxwell, Ian Thompson, Ronald Leigh-Hunt, Dorothy Alison, Frank Singuineau, Mavis Villiers, Nicholas Smith, John Caulfield, Larry Cross, Hal Galili, John Bay, Reed De Rouen, Frank Mann, David Cargill, Aileen Lewis, Marianne Stone and Allan Warren.

It was made before Jeffries’s third film as director, The Amazing Mr Blunden, but released afterwards.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,286

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