A Prayer in the Dark (1997) (TV)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Jerry Ciccoritti

Writers (WGA):

Stanley Ellin (novel)
Andrew Laskos (teleplay)

Release Date:

2 April 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Non Violence | Quaker | Quakers | Society Of Friends | Based On Novel

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Lynda Carter	...	Emily Hayworth
Teri Polo	...	Janet Hayworth
Colin Ferguson	...	Jimmy Flood
Phillip Jarrett	...	Digby
Michael A. Miranda	...	Lester (as Silvio Oliviero)
Karl Pruner	...	Marcus Hayworth
Lindsey Connell	...	Deborah
Matthew Bennett	...	David
Eugene Robert Glazer	...	John Dolan
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
David Bolt	...	Uri Steinman
Bernard Browne	...	Armored Guard
Don Francks	...	Ken
Arturo Fresolone	...	Santiago
Soo Garay	...	Rachel
David Gow	...	Henry Farrow
Jeremy Harris	...	Mike
Thomas Hauff	...	Ray McGarth
Jo Hutchings	...	Teller
Frances Hyland	...	Anna
Lesley Kelly	...	Bobby
Dan Lett	...	Herb Hill
Christine Reeves	...	Ellen

Directed by
Jerry Ciccoritti

Writing credits (WGA)
Stanley Ellin		(novel "Stronghold")
Andrew Laskos		(teleplay)

Produced by
Andrew Laskos	....	executive producer
Noella Nesdoly	....	line producer
Arturs Rusis	....	associate producer

Original Music by
David Michael Frank

Cinematography by
Ron Tannett

Film Editing by
George Roulston

Casting by
Penny Ludford		(as Penny Musarra)

Production Design by
Gerry Holmes

Makeup Department
Regan Noble	....	hair designer

Production Management
Noella Nesdoly	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ken A. Smith	....	second assistant director (as Ken Smith)
Bill Spahie	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Gabriel Lamb	....	set dresser

Stunts
John Stoneham Jr.	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Terry Banting	....	electrician
Chris Schillinger	....	grip
Michael Soos	....	Steadicam operator
Michael Soos	....	camera operator: "a" camera

Transportation Department
Albert Ezerzer	....	driver: Lynda Carter

Other crew
Matthew Gross	....	production executive

Distributors

• Paramount Home Entertainment (????) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Wilshire Court Productions

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence.

Runtime:

91 min

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Iceland:16 | UK:15 (video premiere) | USA:PG-13

Nothing in my life has prepared me for this.

**SPOILERS** Breaking out of a Florida prison Jimmy and Digby, Colin Ferguson & Phillip Jerrett, hook up with their outside contact Lester,Michael A. Miranda. After knocking off two gun runners and taking a load of guns and ammunition from them make their way up north to lake George New York, Jimmy's home town.

In jail for a slew of crimes all over the eastern seaboard, including the murder of the Lake George Sheriff John Dolan's (Eugene Robert Glazer) brother, Jimmy has been planing to rob the Lake George Hayworth Savings Bank all the time that he was incarcerated in Florida.

The bank owned and run by Emily Hayworth, Lynda Carter, is to have a shipment of some 4 million dollars taken out the afternoon Jimmy & Co. arrived in town and even more so he knows and lived with Emily's family before he ended up behind bars.

Lynda Carter sheds her glamorous image for the Quaker matriarch Emily Hayworth who's faith in her fellow man as well as deep belief in a forgiving and loving God is the glue that holds the movie "A Prayer in the Dark" together despite it's somewhat unconvincing ending.

Breaking into the Hayworth's home the three hoods hold Emily and her husband Marcus, Karl Pruner, as well as her daughter Janet, Teri Polo,and two close friends David and Deborah, Matthew Bennett & Lindsey Connell, hostage. Forcing Emily and David to go to her bank and steal the 4 million in cash and threatening to murder her husband and friends if she didn't come back with the money by noon Emily decides not to go along with Jimmy's plan. Knowing that he'll kill them all no matter what she does for him, that's just how crazy and homicidal he is.

Cutting off the electricity ,with the help of her Quaker friends, to her house where the hostages are kept Emily thus has the Jimmy gang in total confusion to what's happening in the outside world and unable to kill the hostages in order not to alert the police if they heard the gunshots. Emily's real reason for her actions was to prevent anyone in and out of the house from being killed; that's just how much she felt for the value of human life.

Emily turned out to be right about Jimmy in his plans to blow up the house with the hostages and well as his fellow hoodlums inside and then make his getaway with a motorboat and have the money all to himself almost impossible. There's also a side plot in the movie between Emily's young daughter Janet and Jimmy who it turns out were lovers when he lived at the Hayworth home five years ago.

Jimmy was thrown out of his house by his drunken father and accepted with no questions asked by the kind hearted Hayworth family before he turned bad and became a hardened criminal.For a moment you get the impression that Jimmy and Janet were really together on this because Janet just happened to arrive home the day Jimmy escaped from jail.

Moving and heartfelt ending, even though it takes a lot of faith to accept it, with Emily showing that love and goodness is more powerful and beats guns and explosives every time.