Ice Castles **** (1978, Robby Benson, Lynn-Holly Johnson, Colleen Dewhurst, Tom Skerritt) – Classic Movie Review 4990

Co-writer/ director Donald Wrye’s sweet 1978 drama stars Robby Benson as a boy who helps an aspiring Iowa Olympic ice figure-skating girl (Lynn-Holly Johnson) to overcome her handicap to pursue her dreams after she is blinded in a freak accident.

This teenage tear-jerking weepie is as good-looking in Bill Butler’s cinematography as its stars, both of whom perform with total conviction and great gusto. It is well written by Wrye and Gary L Bain.

Tom Skerritt helps as Johnson’s sympathetic dad, and so does Colleen Dewhurst as the ice-rink operator. Good skating scenes and Marvin Hamlisch’s lively score are other pluses. The film’s theme ‘Theme from Ice Castles (Through the Eyes of Love)’ was nominated for an Academy Award – Marvin Hamlisch (music) and Carole Bayer Sager (lyrics).

Also in the cast are Jennifer Warren, Diane Reilly and David Huffman.

Wrye died on 15 May 2015, aged 80. He was twice Oscar nominated for Best Documentary, Short Subjects. His remake of Ice Castles (2010) is his last film.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 4990

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