No doubt it can be hard being the child of a famous film or TV star, but there's one big advantage these offspring have that the rest of us don't - they can use their Hollywood clout to make a heavily-biased, thinly-disguised hate movie about the parent who slighted them, be it in real life, in a changed will, or in the child's own tortured imagination. And if, by dint of being dead for eight years before the movie's release, the subject parent has no right of reply to what amounts to a good dose of celluloid libel, how much sweeter the slighted one's revenge must feel.
There are two things about this movie I am grateful for: that I didn't pay money to see it and that Landon Jr qualified the title with the words "The Father I Knew". If he hadn't, I would never had recognized the main character as Michael Landon Sr.
John Schneider's portrayal of the charismatic and charming Michael Sr is so shallow it results in a comic caricature that is painful to watch and tosses credibility straight out the window. Cheryl Ladd as Lynn Noe Landon limps along in a soap-opera role tiringly over-weighted in the opposite direction of wronged innocence that finally wanders into weary saintedness. Boring! Some more thoughtful moments of human complexity are revealed in the problems developed by Landon Jr and his sister Leslie. Her behavioural responses to the family dynamics ring true until we remember that research has shown the causal factor to be a dysfunctional relationship with the mother rather than the father.
If Landon Jr's movie was an attempt to garner sympathy for his difficult life, it failed. If its aim was to inform the public of the objective truth about Michael Landon Sr, Wikipedia does it better. If it had audience enjoyment or entertainment as a goal, it missed that mark as well, although the younger kids were cute, the sets were nice, and the scenery eye-pleasing. If making this movie served to work out Landon Jr's psychological devastations, let's hope it succeeded because a high price was paid in the character assassination of the highly-regarded Michael Landon Sr.
It is interesting that the main thrust of Landon Jr's argument is his father's hypocrisy. Landon Sr played well-loved television characters of impeccable integrity, most notably in this film the beloved and near-perfect Pa Ingalls in the Little House on the Paririe series. Meanwhile in real life he apparently destroyed his first two marriages through an affair. He allegedly barely functioned as an emotionally-resistant parent who either refused to hear or chose to ignore his older children's pleas for love and recognition.
These days his son, Landon Jr, enjoys a successful career as a film-maker. His movies win Camie awards. Family groups applaud his life choices. He actively promotes Christian values of love, respect, loyalty and forgiveness. It seems a tad hypocritical on the Junior Landon's part that he could not apply these very principles to his one and only film memorial of his father. If nothing else, it would have made for a much better movie.
There are two things about this movie I am grateful for: that I didn't pay money to see it and that Landon Jr qualified the title with the words "The Father I Knew". If he hadn't, I would never had recognized the main character as Michael Landon Sr.
John Schneider's portrayal of the charismatic and charming Michael Sr is so shallow it results in a comic caricature that is painful to watch and tosses credibility straight out the window. Cheryl Ladd as Lynn Noe Landon limps along in a soap-opera role tiringly over-weighted in the opposite direction of wronged innocence that finally wanders into weary saintedness. Boring! Some more thoughtful moments of human complexity are revealed in the problems developed by Landon Jr and his sister Leslie. Her behavioural responses to the family dynamics ring true until we remember that research has shown the causal factor to be a dysfunctional relationship with the mother rather than the father.
If Landon Jr's movie was an attempt to garner sympathy for his difficult life, it failed. If its aim was to inform the public of the objective truth about Michael Landon Sr, Wikipedia does it better. If it had audience enjoyment or entertainment as a goal, it missed that mark as well, although the younger kids were cute, the sets were nice, and the scenery eye-pleasing. If making this movie served to work out Landon Jr's psychological devastations, let's hope it succeeded because a high price was paid in the character assassination of the highly-regarded Michael Landon Sr.
It is interesting that the main thrust of Landon Jr's argument is his father's hypocrisy. Landon Sr played well-loved television characters of impeccable integrity, most notably in this film the beloved and near-perfect Pa Ingalls in the Little House on the Paririe series. Meanwhile in real life he apparently destroyed his first two marriages through an affair. He allegedly barely functioned as an emotionally-resistant parent who either refused to hear or chose to ignore his older children's pleas for love and recognition.
These days his son, Landon Jr, enjoys a successful career as a film-maker. His movies win Camie awards. Family groups applaud his life choices. He actively promotes Christian values of love, respect, loyalty and forgiveness. It seems a tad hypocritical on the Junior Landon's part that he could not apply these very principles to his one and only film memorial of his father. If nothing else, it would have made for a much better movie.