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THE LEFTOVERS (Dir: Paul Schneider, 1986).
If there is a more 1980's way to open your movie than with Howard Jones' New Song, than I do not know what it is. I am also unsure as to who this lightweight comedy will resonate with, other than 1980's kids.
The Leftovers stars singer turned actor John Denver as Max Sinclair, director of The Middleburg Orphanage and surrogate father to the ragtag bunch of kids who live there. Cindy Williams is the live in help. Together they fend off plans to redevelop the home by underhanded means, while the kids do all they can to keep from being adopted.
Originally aired on television as part of ABC's The Disney Sunday Movie weekly series in November 1986. It's not hard to imagine that a decade earlier The Leftovers would have been released to cinemas, with Dean Jones and Sandy Duncan as possible leads. It is old fashioned, inoffensive but not without charm.
It may be a generational thing, but I did enjoy this movie. It is nothing spectacular but the leads are likeable and while the plot has a few too many contrivances and conveniences for its own good, most of its laughs are genuine.
However, it is low-key in the extreme and although I had seen this movie at around the age of 12 or 13, only one scene stuck in my head and that was the opening, probably because my tweenage self was a big fan of Howard Jones!
I am sure I enjoyed The Leftovers as a kid because I lapped up anything Disney. Revisiting it as an adult I am aware that it is no classic, even by 80's Disney TV movie standards. But it is an entertaining 90 odd minutes; if you are in the mood for some gentle 1980's nostalgia you might find it hits the spot. Just don't expect to remember much about it afterwards!
Visit my blog jinglebonesmovietime.blogspot.com for more reviews of vintage Disney movies!
They have a point. I'm a teenager and as a kid my parents used to let me & my sister bike around the block (not a city block, not even a mile) or let us walk to the park which was down the street and round the corner and bike to camp. But a lot of the neighborhood parents would clutch their pearls at the very thought of it.
Where I live dispite there being 3+parks and 2 pools there is seemingly nothing to do I'll go to the park on a beautiful day to draw and see all of 7 kids there and all of their parents are hovering near by.
People talk about 'kids these days! Being addicted to their phones!! ' but honest to god I wish I could get off my phone but the only other things to is go to the drug store or play video games and I can only spend so much and can only get so much enjoyment from a walk to the store.
