Waiting for the Light (1990)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Christopher Monger

Writer (WGA):

Christopher Monger (written by)

Release Date:

2 November 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

A former vaudevillian magician (MacLaine) moves her straight-laced niece (Garr) and her two mischievous children to a small town...

Plot Keywords:

Hoax | Independent Film

Cast

Louis Guzzo	...	National Newscaster
Colin Baumgartner	...	Eddie
Teri Garr	...	Kay Harris
Hillary Wolf	...	Emily
Shirley MacLaine	...	Aunt Zena
Jeff McCracken	...	Charlie
William Dore	...	Reverend Jones
Amanda Arguello	...	Screaming Girl #1
Michelle Wartman	...	Screaming Girl #2
Robert Hardwick	...	Dr. Kelley
LeChelle Anne Goncalves	...	Screaming Girl #3
Robin Ginsburg	...	Miss Hicks
Arthur H. Cahn	...	Mr. Patterson
Lyn Tyrrell	...	Woman in Crowd
Matt Magnano	...	Tommy

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Germany:12 | Iceland:L | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Buckley, Washington, USA

Company:

Epic Productions

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In a scene set in 1962, characters tell the box-office clerk at a movie theater they want two tickets to The Miracle Worker. Prior to the introduction of multiplex cinemas years later, it was unnecessary to specify which movie you wanted to see because the theater was only showing one picture.

Soundtrack:

Dance By The Light of The Moon

MacLaine delivers another magical comedy-drama

Shirley MacLaine in another tailor-made role. As the aunt to a single mom in a 1962 working-class Chicago neighborhood, the veteran character actress gets another work-out as a gutsy woman who won't let any set-backs defeat her spirit of success. The children, a pre-teen boy and girl, are drawn to their spirited Aunt Zoe, although the many magic tricks and practical jokes learned from her, and applied at all the wrong opportunities eventually get them expelled from school.

The plot is cleverly enveloped in the Cuban Missile Crisis, with all of the social implications. Men building bomb shelters, people watching news programs on what seemed to be the only TV set, at a diner, and a general mist of uneasiness and fear in the air. When a "harmless" miracle is blown out of proportions, the climactic conclusion nonetheless makes the viewer feel good. Yes, Virginia, the sun will come up tomorrow! Clearly a small-budget production, this is still a sweet little film, filled with the magic that Sunday Matinees were made of. With a few choice "Oldies" thrown into an effective Sound Track, the whole family is sure to enjoy this one.****