He's one of the few veteran actors who never made an appearance as one of Bea Arthur's boyfriends on "Golden Girls", but Richard Kiley of "Man of La Mancha" fame certainly is a dreamboat as her high school boyfriend home she contacts out of the blue when he doesn't show up for a class reunion. Much to her surprise, he contacts her and invites her out to Long Island to visit him, and the reunion is both comical and sweet as she has to deal with his younger ex-girlfriend, Joan Van Ark, determined to win him back, as well as her own insecurities. As she showed us with the roles of Maude and Dorothy, a seemingly confident woman doesn't necessarily need to be perfectly secure, and while it's often difficult to try to put the sitcom atmosphere out of your mind as well as her importance to that TV artform, Ms. Arthur is quite lovely here and certainly a great catch.
Imagine going to the DMV and finding out that your traffic law instructor is none other than Maude Findlay or Dorothy Zbornak or even Vera Charles, and for the young actor playing opposite her in one of the first scenes, it's a very funny interaction. She's also hysterically funny dealing with the little old lady who wants to drive, ending up in a very sticky situation on Manhattan streets. One of her friends is "Golden Girls" guest star Ann Francis, just as hysterically prickly as she was as Trudy. But it's the chemistry with Kiley that's the important thing, and these two silver foxes certainly have it. It's not easy to get through this without expecting a laugh track, but after a while, I forgot that I was watching one of my favorite sitcom stars and again to see her character. And once again, she was playing someone that I would really want to know in person.
One thing that the plotline hints at that is never wrapped up is Arthur's character's health situation, often questionable when she sees her doctor. Van Ark is hysterically funny as the vain, health-conscious femme fatale, never going over the top into parody. She certainly could have with her primetime soap roots, so even though her character causes a bit of trouble oh, she's not completely unlikable. This is a film that caused me to have a really big smile throughout, and I prayed for a happy ending. No matter what the writers of "Golden Girls" claimed about her looks just to get a cheap laugh, her character here is totally lovely and someone easy to root for to find happiness. It's ironic that what she gets here she would end up getting in the series final.
Imagine going to the DMV and finding out that your traffic law instructor is none other than Maude Findlay or Dorothy Zbornak or even Vera Charles, and for the young actor playing opposite her in one of the first scenes, it's a very funny interaction. She's also hysterically funny dealing with the little old lady who wants to drive, ending up in a very sticky situation on Manhattan streets. One of her friends is "Golden Girls" guest star Ann Francis, just as hysterically prickly as she was as Trudy. But it's the chemistry with Kiley that's the important thing, and these two silver foxes certainly have it. It's not easy to get through this without expecting a laugh track, but after a while, I forgot that I was watching one of my favorite sitcom stars and again to see her character. And once again, she was playing someone that I would really want to know in person.
One thing that the plotline hints at that is never wrapped up is Arthur's character's health situation, often questionable when she sees her doctor. Van Ark is hysterically funny as the vain, health-conscious femme fatale, never going over the top into parody. She certainly could have with her primetime soap roots, so even though her character causes a bit of trouble oh, she's not completely unlikable. This is a film that caused me to have a really big smile throughout, and I prayed for a happy ending. No matter what the writers of "Golden Girls" claimed about her looks just to get a cheap laugh, her character here is totally lovely and someone easy to root for to find happiness. It's ironic that what she gets here she would end up getting in the series final.