Warm Springs (2005) (TV)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Joseph Sargent

Writer (WGA):

Margaret Nagle (written by)

Release Date:

30 April 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Tagline:

The greatest challenge FDR faced was the one we never saw.

Plot:

Franklin Roosevelt, left a paraplegic from polio at 39 years of age, seeks out a miracle cure in the backwoods of Georgia.

Plot Keywords:

Polio | Spring | Rehabilitation | Paraplegic | Georgia USA

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Golden Globes. Another 8 wins & 26 nominations

Cast

Kenneth Branagh	...	Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Cynthia Nixon	...	Eleanor Roosevelt
David Paymer	...	Louis Howe
Tim Blake Nelson	...	Tom Loyless
Matt O'Leary	...	Fred Botts (as Matthew O'Leary)
Matt Malloy	...	Lionel Purdy
Andy Davoli	...	Jake Perini (as Andrew Davoli)
Nelsan Ellis	...	Roy Collier
Jane Alexander	...	Sara Delano Roosevelt
Kathy Bates	...	Helena Mahoney
Melissa Ponzio	...	Lucy Mercer
Quint Von Canon	...	Stephen Teller
Mike Pniewski	...	Hastings, Party Leader
Grayce Spence	...	League Member
Rand Hopkins	...	Dr. Lovett

Runtime:

USA:121 min | Argentina:121 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

UK:PG | Australia:PG | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Singapore:PG | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Company:

HBO Films

Trivia:

Most of the actors playing disabled people in the film are actually disabled.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In the early scenes of the movie, before Franklin Roosevelt contracts polio, he is seen dancing with his private secretary to a recording by Alice Faye of the song "I'll See You In My Dreams". The song was not written until 1924, more than a year after FDR contracted the disease, and Alice Faye did not record it until 1939, by which time Roosevelt was in his second term as President of the United States. Faye recorded the song for the film "Rose of Washington Square", in which she sang it.

Quotes:

[at the train station, Loyless replies he's waiting for a Mr. Roosevelt]
Lionel Purdy: Teddy?
Tom Loyless: No, he's dead.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Quinceañera (2006)

Soundtrack:

Hark, the Herald Angels Sing

Branagh & Nixon Shine in This Superb Film

Branagh gives a deeply moving performance as FDR in this exquisitely directed film by Joseph Sargent. Branagh's brilliant portrayal will acquaint you with many nuances of this remarkable man's personality -- unfaithful husband, political wiz, self-absorbed aristocrat, and champion of the handicapped and downtrodden.

Cynthia Nixon nearly steals the show. Her portrayal of Eleanor Roosevelt rivals that of Branagh's and in some scenes she outshines him.

Paymer, Bates, Tim Blake Nelson, and Alexander all weigh in with very strong supporting performances, as do most of the rest of the cast.

This fine dramatic film succeeds by deftly weaving the political and personal events of the Roosevelts' lives and careers during the late 1920s and early 1930s. By the time the film reaches its dramatic conclusion, viewers will have glimpsed some of FDR's and Eleanor's most formative life experiences -- those which surely enabled him to be "the right man in the right place" during some of our nation's most crucial times and her to be one of the world's leading humanitarians of the 20th century.

Don't miss this superb film.