A Child Is Waiting (1963)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

John Cassavetes

Writers:

Abby Mann (screenplay)
Abby Mann (story)

Release Date:

1 October 1965 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Burt Lancaster & Judy Garland take an untouched theme - and make it touching and unforgettable!

Plot:

Psychologist Dr. Matthew Clark is the head of the Crawthorne State Training Institute, one of the first...

Plot Keywords:

School | Mental Retardation | Teaching

Cast

Burt Lancaster	...	Dr. Matthew Clark
Judy Garland	...	Jean Hansen
Gena Rowlands	...	Sophie Widdicombe / Benham
Steven Hill	...	Ted Widdicombe
Paul Stewart	...	Goodman
Gloria McGehee	...	Mattie, Teacher
Lawrence Tierney	...	Douglas Benham
Bruce Ritchey	...	Reuben Widdicombe
John Marley	...	Holland
Bill Mumy	...	Boy counting Jean's Pearls
Elizabeth Wilson	...	Miss Fogarty, Teacher

Runtime:

102 min | 104 min (TCM print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved | UK:X | Australia:M | New Zealand:M | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Lanterman Development Center [formerly Pacific State Hospital] - 3530 W. Pomona Boulevard, Pomona, California, USA

Company:

Stanley Kramer Productions

Trivia:

Director John Cassavetes (ofor whom this was the first major studio production) and Producer Stanley Kramer had many creative / economic differences and during the editing phase, Cassavetes was fired.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: As the camera pans to show Reuben sitting in the car at the beginning of the movie, a crew member is reflected in the car window.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Edge of Outside (2006)

Soundtrack:

Snowflakes

One of the most extraordinary filmgoing experiences you'll ever have.

This is a remarkable motion picture. Its subject, mental retardation, is one that most of us avoid as much as possible. But it's a fact of life for millions--those diagnosed with it, their families and friends, and the people who work with them. If they have the courage to face up to it every day, we should at least have the nerve to do something as easy as watch a film. It turns out to be a much more rewarding experience than many might expect.

Judy Garland plays Jean Hansen, an over-thirty woman "drifting" through her life. To give it some purpose, she applies for work at an institution for mentally retarded children, though she has no expertise in the field. Dr. Clark (Burt Lancaster), who runs the place, has doubts about her altruism, but gives her a chance. Miss Hansen soon becomes attached to one young boy in particular--too attached for Dr. Clark's liking. He's a proponent of a modified "tough love" approach, one that calls for the students to do whatever they can for themselves to the best of their abilities.

Unlike the popular style of today, the children aren't played by actors who try to imbue their characters with a Forrest Gump-like "wisdom." They are real children who play themselves and in doing so bring a power to this film that a cast of the world's greatest actors couldn't hope to equal. At the movie's conclusion the students are seen performing a Thanksgiving play before an assembly and the effect on the viewer is staggering. We like to think that in our present-day society we deal much more openly with subjects that were taboo in the past, but no one else to my knowledge has had the courage to take such an unflinching look at mental retardation as this 1963 film does. For that we can thank producer Stanley Kramer for bringing it to the screen and to director John Cassavetes for making it tangible. I can't imagine that there is anyone who wouldn't benefit from watching this movie. I also can't recommend it strongly enough.