Retro Film/Television Review: Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story (1995)
Early death is one of the paths to immortality. At least this is conclusion based on the career of various actors and pop stars who became legends simply by dying before their time. This sad truth is not limited to those two professions, since even news anchors can have films based on their prematurely ended lives. One of those was Jessica Savitch, America's first woman-anchor, whose served as an inspiration for 1996 drama Up Close and Personal. A year earlier, Jessica Savitch's life was somewhat more faithfully covered in Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story, 1995 television biopic directed by Peter Werner.
The plot is based on the book by Linda Wagner and begins in early 1970s Texas where young Jessica Savitch (played by Sela Ward) decides to start career in journalism and live up to the standards of her father, respected journalist. She gets the job of reporter in Houston TV station, but that place doesn't look a like springboard for her career. However, her lover and mentor Ron (played by Ron Silver) manages to give her push and send her to Washington where she quickly becomes one of nation's most popular television personalities. However, her meteoric rise only created new, this time unrealistic ambitions. Her attempt to become one of Washington "insiders" would tragically backfire and lead to failed marriages, alcoholism and drug addiction.
Jessica Savitch's life story is probably fascinating, but you couldn't know it based on this biopic, one of the more inept examples of the genre. Like many other biopics, this one tries to stuff decades of someone's life into 90-minute format, which all results in zero character exposition and simplistic plots. Sela Ward tries her best to embody American television legend, but her efforts are mostly in vain, especially in scenes featuring surprisingly bland Ron Silver. Because of this, Almost Golden is waste of resources and good story that could have been better told in the form of documentary.
RATING: 2/10 (-)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on November 18th 2002)
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