Dalva (1996)

When she was a teenager, a woman got pregnant and wound up giving up the baby up for adoption. Now, 30 years later, she sets out to find her now-grown child.

Director:

Ken Cameron

Writers:

Jim Harrison (book), Judith Paige Mitchell (teleplay)

Stars:

Farrah Fawcett, Peter Coyote, Rod Steiger

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Farrah Fawcett	...	Dalva / Sam's wife-Duane's half-sister
Peter Coyote	...	Michael / historian
Rod Steiger	...	John Wesley Northridge II
Carroll Baker	...	Naomi
Jesse Borrego	...	Duane Stonehorse
Laurel Holloman	...	Karen
Powers Boothe	...	Sam
Will Marchetti
Bob Scott
Joy Carlin
Shawn Cady	...	Young Dalva
Rufus Norris
Jace Dillard
Luis Saguar
Nicholas B. Guerrero

Storyline

When Dalva was a teenager, falls in love with Duane and becomes pregnant which later she learns that he is also her half-brother. Her grand-father forces her to give the baby up for adoption. Many years later, Dalva finds Duane and he tells her that he is dying and he rides into the sea in the sunset and shoots himself. Dalva later finds love with a friend of her father's, Sam who encourages her to find her son. She finds her son and the show ends in the arms of her true love Sam.

---

Plot Keywords:

half brother half sister incest | incest child | sex with half brother | sex with half sister | mother son reunion | 

---

Genres:

Drama | Romance

---

User Reviews

High-toned soap with cowboy hats

Dalva is the granddaughter of a rancher in Nebraska, white but with an Indian heritage, who is discouraged by grandpa in her love affair with the handsome Native-American boy she wants to marry and whose child she carries. Seems gramps neglected to mention when the two kids first met that they were half-siblings (that might have discouraged them from making love in the hayloft!). 30 years after the baby was taken away by adoption authorities, Dalva wants to pick up the threads of her past. TV-made adaptation of the well-regarded book by Jim Harrison is filled with acting talent (Farrah Fawcett in the lead, Rod Steiger, Carroll Baker, Peter Coyote and Powers Boothe in support), but is pieced together by director Ken Cameron into some sort of soggy bucolic valentine, dappled with sunlight and morning dew. Fawcett is still doing the little-girl act she began with 1994's "The Substitute Wife", only worse (lots of over-the-shoulder, fawn-like glances and coy, trembling smiles). Fawcett reads Dalva's journal in voice-over as if the lazy-hazy descriptions of love were poetry, but the whole thing is strenuous and draining. Laurel Holloman, as an outrageous flirt with a shovel-wielding father, livens up the scenario--why wasn't the movie about her?

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 March 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dalva - O Desafio de uma Mulher

Company Credits

Production Co:

Goldsmith Entertainment Company

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1