Ice Castles (C+ or 2.5/4 stars)
I love figure skating, so when I sat down to watch 'Ice Castles', a classic, sentimental figure skating melodrama directed by Donald Wrye, I hoped for the best. 16 yr. old Lexie Winston (Lynn-Holly Johnson), from the small town Iowa, is a gifted figure skater who does it ... because she loves it. She is coached by Beulah Smith (Colleen Dewhurst); inheritor of the local run-down bowling alley/ice rink. Beulah had been regional figure skating champ 20 yrs. ago and realizes that she can only teach Lexie so much. Believing Lexie has the stuff of great champions like Peggy Fleming or Dorothy Hamill, Beulah tries hard to convince Lexie's widowed father, Marcus (Tom Skerritt) to allow Lexie to skate competitively at the Upper Great Lakes regionals.
Marcus, who is leery of competitive skating due to the pressures & unrealistic expectations reluctantly agrees. At regionals, world-class coach, Deborah Machland (Jennifer Warren, so good in 1975's Night Moves), takes-on Lexie; believing she can win the next Olympics. During this time, Lexie also falls for Brian Dockett (David Huffman), a sports reporter working on a piece about her skating career trajectory. Along with getting caught up in fame & adulation, Lexie gets thrown into the cutthroat world of skating, which includes narrow-minded judges, intimidation tactics by other skaters, & win-at-all-cost coaches. Her long-time beau, Nick Peterson (Robby Benson), is upset about losing her, while also going through his own identity. But when a terrible on-ice accident threatens her future, an embittered Lexie must buck-up and, with the help of genuine friends & family ... try to fulfill her dreams.
'Ice Castles' is little more than a tear-jerking, schmaltzy weepy. But the performances keep it on the level. And Bill Butler's cinematography makes it look awfully nice. Lynn-Holly Johnson - a Novice Free Skating Silver Medalist from 1974 & Ice Capades member - does a good job conveying the complex emotions of a teen who is torn btwn. her rural roots & the prospects of big-time success & celebrity. When she can't handle the success, the freak accident that befalls her gives her an 'out', but only until she {with the help of others} musters up the courage to overcome her disability.
Tom Skerritt is quite good as Lexie's father, the widower who puts aside his possessiveness to allow his daughter to mature. Colleen Dewhurst is pretty wonderful as Lexie's 1st figure skating coach who helps pull the teen out of her post-accident malaise. And Robby Benson is touching as Lexie's supportive boyfriend. I just think that the inherent sappiness of the story had me rolling my eyes too much. So, too, did some of the ice skating scenes which looked both inauthentic {at times] & cobbled together with iffy editing. All that said, the movie is bolstered significantly by Marvin Hamlisch & Carole Bayer Sager's spirit-lifting, life-affirming Academy Award-nominated theme song sung by Melissa Manchester, "Through the Eyes of Love".
Marcus, who is leery of competitive skating due to the pressures & unrealistic expectations reluctantly agrees. At regionals, world-class coach, Deborah Machland (Jennifer Warren, so good in 1975's Night Moves), takes-on Lexie; believing she can win the next Olympics. During this time, Lexie also falls for Brian Dockett (David Huffman), a sports reporter working on a piece about her skating career trajectory. Along with getting caught up in fame & adulation, Lexie gets thrown into the cutthroat world of skating, which includes narrow-minded judges, intimidation tactics by other skaters, & win-at-all-cost coaches. Her long-time beau, Nick Peterson (Robby Benson), is upset about losing her, while also going through his own identity. But when a terrible on-ice accident threatens her future, an embittered Lexie must buck-up and, with the help of genuine friends & family ... try to fulfill her dreams.
'Ice Castles' is little more than a tear-jerking, schmaltzy weepy. But the performances keep it on the level. And Bill Butler's cinematography makes it look awfully nice. Lynn-Holly Johnson - a Novice Free Skating Silver Medalist from 1974 & Ice Capades member - does a good job conveying the complex emotions of a teen who is torn btwn. her rural roots & the prospects of big-time success & celebrity. When she can't handle the success, the freak accident that befalls her gives her an 'out', but only until she {with the help of others} musters up the courage to overcome her disability.
Tom Skerritt is quite good as Lexie's father, the widower who puts aside his possessiveness to allow his daughter to mature. Colleen Dewhurst is pretty wonderful as Lexie's 1st figure skating coach who helps pull the teen out of her post-accident malaise. And Robby Benson is touching as Lexie's supportive boyfriend. I just think that the inherent sappiness of the story had me rolling my eyes too much. So, too, did some of the ice skating scenes which looked both inauthentic {at times] & cobbled together with iffy editing. All that said, the movie is bolstered significantly by Marvin Hamlisch & Carole Bayer Sager's spirit-lifting, life-affirming Academy Award-nominated theme song sung by Melissa Manchester, "Through the Eyes of Love".