White Mama (1980) (TV)

Director:

Jackie Cooper

Writer:

Robert C.S. Downs (writer)

Release Date:

5 March 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A poor, elderly white woman living in a tenement in a black ghetto is befriended by a neighborhood boy...

Plot Keywords:

Neighborhood | Poor | Survival | Boarder | Boxing

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy.

Cast

Bette Davis	...	Adele Malone
Ernest Harden Jr.	...	B.T. Williamson
Eileen Heckart	...	Three Bag Lady
Virginia Capers	...	Gorilla Sydney
Anne Ramsey	...	Heavy Charm
Lurene Tuttle	...	Mrs. McIntyre
Tony Burton	...	Black Fighter
Peg Shirley	...	Judge Alice Quentin
Ernie Hudson	...	Counsellor
Dan Mason	...	Father Gannon
Vincent Schiavelli	...	Medic
Cheryl Harvey	...	Probabtion Woman
Jesse D. Goins	...	Intern
John Hancock	...	Tall Black Man
Lanyard A. Williams	...	Young Man

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Tomorrow Entertainment

Quotes:

Adele Malone: I'm being evicted from my home, and I don't know what to do.
Father Gannon: Surely you've got relatives... friends?
Adele Malone: Haven't anybody.
Father Gannon: I see... Of course you've applied to Welfare.
Adele Malone: I won't take Welfare. I'm not indigent. I'm not poor. I... I just run out of money.
Father Gannon: Perhaps one of the women in the Parrish will take you in... at least for a time.
Adele Malone: And then what? For thirty-five years, I've haven't missed a Sunday mass. Every year, Easter duty. A dollar in every collection plate that was passed. And I come to you for help, and you tell me that "some woman in the Parrish" might take me in for a while?
[...]

Touching television film.

White Mama is a fine and well made television film starring screen legend Bette Davis, as a poor aging old woman living in a decaying apartment building in the black ghetto of the city. She is befriended by a black boy, who treats her like she was his own mother. Touching and sometimes sad, this made for TV film earned Davis an Emmy Award nomination and has good a good supporting cast including Oscar winner Eileen Heckart (Butterflies are Free), Oscar nominee Anne Ramsey (Throw Momma from the Train) as well as fine African American actors Ernie Hudson and Tony Burton. This film is sometimes hard to find, but should be viewed and recommended for touching stories and fans of Bette Davis's fine work, especially here in television which was even rare for her.