Lemon Sky (1988) (TV)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Jan Egleson

Writers:

Lanford Wilson (play)
Lanford Wilson (screenplay)

Release Date:

17 February 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Based On Play

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Kevin Bacon	...	Alan
Tom Atkins	...	Douglas
Lindsay Crouse	...	Ronnie
Kyra Sedgwick	...	Carol
Welker White	...	Penny (as Laura White)
Casey Affleck	...	Jerry
Peter MacEwan	...	Jack

Directed by
Jan Egleson

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Lanford Wilson		play
Lanford Wilson		screenplay

Produced by
Marcus Viscidi	....	producer

Original Music by
Pat Metheny

Cinematography by
James Glennon

Film Editing by
William A. Anderson
Jeanne Jordan

Production Design by
Howard Cummings

Art Direction by
Dianna Freas

Set Decoration by
Katherine Conklin
Debra Schutt

Costume Design by
Barbara Weiss

Makeup Department
Lori Hicks	....	assistant hair stylist
Lori Hicks	....	assistant makeup artist
Hiram Ortiz	....	hair designer
Hiram Ortiz	....	makeup designer

Production Management
Daniel Lupi	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Lori A. Balton	....	second assistant director
Kim Beede	....	third assistant director
Richard Feury	....	first assistant director (as Dick Feury)

Art Department
Coburn Bennett	....	construction supervisor
Dan Bishop	....	draftsman
Tracey A. Doyle	....	property master (as Tracey Doyle)
Fairlie Myers	....	assistant property master (as M. Fairlie Myers)
Jeffrey Scholten	....	scenic artist
Lisa Winick	....	scenic artist

Sound Department
Richard Bock	....	sound re-recording mixer
Mario Cardenas	....	second boom operator
William Lattanzi	....	sound editor
Lawrence Loewinger	....	sound mixer (as Larry Loewinger)
Christopher O'Donnell	....	boom operator (as Chris O'Donnell)

Camera and Electrical Department
Karine Albano	....	electrician
Dan Gillham	....	gaffer
Craig Haagensen	....	camera operator
Elizabeth Hanson	....	additional grip
Shane Hurlbut	....	additional grip (as L. Shane Hurlbut)
Bruce MacCallum	....	first assistant camera
Richard Mall	....	key grip
Robert Tompkins	....	best boy grip (as Bob Tompkins)
Donna Vega	....	grip
William M. Weberg	....	grip
Dick Williams	....	second assistant camera

Casting Department
Patty Collinge	....	casting
Carolyn Pickman	....	casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Betty Besio	....	wardrobe assistant
Melissa Merwin	....	wardrobe assistant
Ruth Hammell Obaoill	....	wardrobe supervisor (as Ruth Hammell)

Editorial Department
Victoria Garvin-Davis	....	first assistant editor (as Victoria Garvin)
Jay Keuper	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Rob Eaton	....	music engineer

Other crew
Tamara Bally	....	production auditor
Alan Breton	....	key intern
Olivia Bruce	....	assistant production coordinator
Carolyn Jacobs	....	script supervisor
Denise Pinckley	....	production coordinator

Production Companies

• American Playhouse
• WGBH

Distributors

• First Look International

Also Known As:

Lanford Wilson's Lemon Sky (Australia)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic elements, drug and sexual content.

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:PG-13

Company:

American Playhouse

Lemon Sky is half that.

Lemon sky is a filmed stage play that transfers poorly to the screen. The actors basically give stage style performances that are meant to reach the last row in the theatre and on film it comes across as artificial and remote.

It is fifties America and its dream and promise is in full ascendancy and nowhere better than the Golden State, California. Alan (Kevin Bacon) has come from Nebraska to live with his father whom he hasn't seen since he was five. Alan is there to go to school and work part time as well as get to reconnect with dad and get to know his new family. On the surface all is well with the family in this sun drenched land of opportunity but underneath they all hold dark secrets that over the course of the play fester and eventually implode this all American brood in the film's climactic moment.

Technically Director Jan Egleson plays it safe with his camera, flatly filming the fabulous fifties kitsch (including a 55 Chevy) set with little or no movement outside of the opening tracking shot of the home that economically establishes place and character. It then bogs down in cliché character development telegraphing most of what's up ahead.

Kevin Bacon gives an excellently measured and powerful performance as Allan. His search to find himself in a generation of conformity evolving from impish teen to social outcast is the film's saving grace. Tom Atkins as the bullying and predatory father imparts a convincing an uncomfortable ugliness. The three lead actresses (Lindsay Crouse, Kyra Sedgewick and Welker White) come across as heavily medicated zombies. Given their talent one wonders if it is Egleson's feeble attempt to define them as battered women.

Lanford Wilson's play is a tepid entry from the endless exposes of societal and domestic hypocrisy. While it might make for a mildly thought provoking and emotional night at the theatre which has the capability of putting the audience in the kitchen it becomes lifeless upon being transferred to screen. Unlike Bergman who was a master at filming memory plays such as this Egleson fails to get his camera fully involved or explore it's possibilities and Lemon Sky gets lost in the clouds.