The Five People You Meet in Heaven (TV 2004)

On his 83rd birthday, Eddie (Voight), a war vet and a maintenance worker at the Ruby Pier amusement park, dies while trying to save a girl who is sitting under a falling ride. When he ... See full summary »

Director:

Lloyd Kramer

Writers:

Mitch Albom (teleplay), Mitch Albom (book)

Stars:

Jon Voight, Ellen Burstyn, Jeff Daniels

Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy. Another 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jon Voight	...	Eddie
Ellen Burstyn	...	Ruby
Jeff Daniels	...	Blue Man
Dagmara Dominczyk	...	Marguerite
Steven Grayhm	...	Young Eddie
Michael Imperioli	...	Captain
Callum Keith Rennie	...	Eddie's Father
Rebecca Jenkins	...	Eddie's Mother
Callahan Brebner	...	Eddie - Boy
Nicaela Weigel	...	Tala
Shelbie Weigel	...	Tala
Darcy Cadman	...	Joe - Young
Tim O'Halloran	...	Mickey Shea
Zak Santiago	...	Dominguez
Emy Aneke	...	Willie

Storyline

On his 83rd birthday, Eddie (Voight), a war vet and a maintenance worker at the Ruby Pier amusement park, dies while trying to save a girl who is sitting under a falling ride. When he awakens in the afterlife, he encounters five people with ties to his corporeal existence who help him understand the meaning of his life.

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Plot Keywords:

pier | heaven | amusement park | birthday | afterlife | 

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Taglines:

All ending are beginnings. We just don't know it at the time...

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 April 2005 (Hungary)

Also Known As:

Mitch Albom's 'The Five People You Meet in Heaven'

Filming Locations:

Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Five People Productions Inc., Hallmark Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

180 min 180 min 160 min (2 parts)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Tala beckons Eddie to come to her in the river, she calls him with her palm facing up. In Asian cultures, including Filipino culture, it is incorrect to call someone over with the palm facing up. A Filipino girl would only call another person over with the palm facing down, reserving the 'palm up' gesture for animals.

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Goofs

When Eddie's mother tries to get him out of bed after his leg injury, his left leg is bandaged instead of the right leg. Then in next scene the right leg is bandaged.

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Quotes

Eddie: The little girl at the pier, did I save her? I don't remember I just felt her hands... little hands... I just wanna know.
Captain: I can't tell ya. But someone can.

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Soundtracks

"Swinging On A Star"
written by J. Burke and J. Van Heusen
performed by Bing Crosby

User Reviews

The best adaptation of a novel I've ever seen.

On my summer reading book list one of the choices was Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet In Heaven. The story sounded interesting and there was a lot of fuss about it, so out of curiosity I decided to read the book and see for myself. The book was a stunning and fascinating piece of drama I have ever read and will always remain one of my favorite books. After finishing the book and hearing there was a movie version of it on DVD I just had to rent it. In all my life, I had never seen a movie more loyal to the book. The dialog was straight from the book, no ab libbing that was close to the story. The description was better than I pictured the images in the book. But the best part was the actors in the movie. I would have never imagined Jon Voight as Eddie Maintenance, that was a smart move. Another part that I would suggest to the people reading this review is the lesson learned in this film. Maybe your life means nothing to you, but you'd be surprised what your life means to others.