The Twilight of the Golds (1997)

Director:

Ross Kagan Marks

Writers (WGA):

Jonathan Tolins (play)
Jonathan Tolins (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

23 March 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

When Suzanne Stein has a genetic analysis done on her unborn child, she discovers that although she has a healthy baby...

Plot Keywords:

Homosexual | Abortion | Eugenics | Gay Interest | Gay Brother

Awards:

1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Garry Marshall	...	Walter Gold
Faye Dunaway	...	Phyllis Gold
Jill Bernstein	...	Young Suzanne
Mark Shunkey	...	Young David
Jennifer Beals	...	Suzanne Stein
Brendan Fraser	...	David Gold
Jon Tenney	...	Rob Stein
Sean O'Bryan	...	Steven
John Schlesinger	...	Dr. Adrian Lodge
Rosie O'Donnell	...	Jackie
Patrick Bristow	...	Brandon
Rose Marks	...	Mrs. Stein
Jill Lover	...	Farm Girl / Auditioner
Robert Barry Fleming	...	Randy
Lucas Richman	...	Erik

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements and brief language.

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

USA:PG-13

Company:

Below The Belt Entertainment

Much better and less didactic than I expected...

I have avoided watching this movie (or seeing the play upon which it is based) because I expected that it would be sort of low-quality and very "preachy." But, somehow I ended up with a VHS copy and fortunately in working my way through my VHS shelf, I got to it and threw it in the VCR for a look.

To my surprise, the film is actually pretty good. The number of strong actors in the cast helps a lot. I expected the storyline to feel mechanical but (although it is not wildly original and doesn't veer too far from where you'd expect) it actually is a step or two better than the the normal family-in-crisis-TV-movie. The actions and reactions of the characters feel reasonably realistic and not simply designed to create drama or lay out a series of points of view. And the author seems to assume that his audience has some intelligence, making his points without having any characters stand in front of a camera and "speechify." There are a couple of sort of annoying gay clichés that I would have loved to edit out, but nothing too wildly stupid.

And, of course, the underlying questions raised in the film about the coming problem of genetic engineering are both interesting and scary (and are related to any number of human characteristics beyond sexual orientation.) All-in-all, not a movie to set the world on fire, but a pretty solid and reasonably engaging piece of entertainment.