A babysitter realizes that one of the children she looks after is being physically abused by his mother.A babysitter realizes that one of the children she looks after is being physically abused by his mother.A babysitter realizes that one of the children she looks after is being physically abused by his mother.
- Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy
- 1 win & 1 nomination total
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Patty Duke
- Barbara Reynolds
- (as Patty Duke Astin)
Sean De Veritch
- Matthew
- (as Sean DeVeritch)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWhen filming a scene in which Brian (Sean Astin) is being abused by his mother (Patty Duke), Astin found it very hard to cry, instead he would laugh hysterically as it reminded him of situations their family had been in. This was until his mother (Patty Duke is Sean's mother) took him aside and told him, "Look, I took a chance on you. What do you think you're doing? This is my career, this is my life... These people are counting on me. They're counting on you." Astin promptly burst into tears and Duke signaled for the cameras to keep rolling so that they could complete the scene.
- ConnectionsEdited into ABC Afterschool Specials: Please Don't Hit Me, Mom (1983)
Featured review
afterschool cautionary tale courtesy of Patty Duke and Sean Astin
This movie, which I believe was originally an afterschool special, concerns a family dealing with the reality of child abuse. Patty Duke is a single mother dealing with the difficulties of raising two sons alone in a new community. She hires teen Nancy McKeon to babysit her youngest son (Sean Astin in his first film appearance). Through the course of the movie, as McKeon gets to know her young charge, she realizes that he is, in fact, being physically abused by his mother. Duke, as usual, turns in a great performance as the conflicted mother, struggling to control the rage that prompts the abuse and feeling guilty over the results. While it may have seemed cutting edge 20 years ago, the film comes across now as a bombastic public service announcement, watering down the complexities of the nature of abuse presumably to make the situation understandable to kids and teens. It might be shown somewhere like the LIFETIME network, which seems to have a soft spot for Patty Duke TV movies.
helpful•176
- thomandybish
- Aug 27, 2002
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