Love Field *** (1992, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dennis Haysbert, Stephanie McFadden, Brian Kerwin) – Classic Movie Review 5829

Director Jonathan Kaplan and writer Don Roos’s 1992 drama stars Michelle Pfeiffer, who was Oscar and Golden Globe nominated for her very considerable performance as ‘Lurene’ Hallett, a married Dallas beautician in a tizzy over President Kennedy and the First Lady’s arrival in town in 1963.

She is devastated when Kennedy is shot a few hours after she sees him arrive at the Dallas airport Love Field. So, ignoring the entreaties of her husband Ray (Brian Kerwin), she decides to take off on the road on a pilgrimage to Washington DC to attend the funeral. Travelling by bus, she gets involved with an African American father, Paul Cater (Dennis Haysbert), and his six-year-old daughter Jonell (Stephanie McFadden). Soon Ray and the law are out looking for them.

Perhaps it is an improbable, schematic story, and maybe neither it nor the film itself add up to all that much, despite the good acting, strong period and local atmosphere and well-meaning intentions.

However, the movie is welcome and valuable as standing out from the crowd, and it is worthwhile for the appealing and impressive Pfeiffer performance, its warm, generous heart and the strongly, sincerely expressed anti-racist theme. Pfeiffer did win the Silver Berlin Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin International Film Festival 1993.

It cost $18,000,000 but grossed a tiny $1,949,000 in the US and went straight to video in GB.

Also in the cast are Louise Latham, Peggy Rea, Beth Grant and Cooper Huckabee.

Pfeiffer is a three-time Oscar nominee – also for Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989).

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5829

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