I'm 47 and I saw this movie on TV when I was 10. I remember the gist of the story- the mother and daughter running away, and the grumpy old man at the diner with the neon ceiling, but the scene I remember the most is when the old guy lets the girl practice driving; it seems to me like she was going around and around the diner, blowing up dust and cussing his old truck. I guess I identified with her. I also remember the old guy's face when he would light up the neon ceiling- he had a look of rapture, and even at 10 years old I recognized that he was opening up to them a part of himself he had kept hidden away, protected. I just liked the movie when I saw it, and would very much like to see it again. For whatever reason it made a lasting impression on me.
19 Reviews
Where to Find "The Neon Ceiling"
IBronson8 February 2011
Several posters have been wondering where a copy of this movie can be found. There is a website called modcinema.com that specializes in hard-to-find films (including made-for-TV movies) from the '60s and '70s. "The Neon Ceiling" is available from that website. The movie is well worth seeking out.
The work of all three main characters is first-rate. Gig young just came off of his Oscar-winning role in "They Shoot Horses, Don't They" and here delivers a completely different performance as a grizzled, lonely greasy-spoon diner owner who is effected by the mother & daughter visitors. Lee Grant was at the top of her game at this time. She had just gotten nominated for an Oscar for "The Landlord", then won an Emmy for this movie. 4 years later, she won an Oscar for "Shampoo". She, too, plays a lonely soul looking for an escape. Denise Nickerson was the true revelation here with a performance that exhibits the transition between childhood and maturity. Her next acting job would be as the gum-chewing Violet Beauregarde in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory".
"The Neon Ceiling" makes the most of its locations, from the clean, white, antiseptic and confining suburbia to the expansive, darker and freeing spirit of the desert.
The work of all three main characters is first-rate. Gig young just came off of his Oscar-winning role in "They Shoot Horses, Don't They" and here delivers a completely different performance as a grizzled, lonely greasy-spoon diner owner who is effected by the mother & daughter visitors. Lee Grant was at the top of her game at this time. She had just gotten nominated for an Oscar for "The Landlord", then won an Emmy for this movie. 4 years later, she won an Oscar for "Shampoo". She, too, plays a lonely soul looking for an escape. Denise Nickerson was the true revelation here with a performance that exhibits the transition between childhood and maturity. Her next acting job would be as the gum-chewing Violet Beauregarde in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory".
"The Neon Ceiling" makes the most of its locations, from the clean, white, antiseptic and confining suburbia to the expansive, darker and freeing spirit of the desert.
A Classic TV movie
stevecliff11 March 2005
I agree that this movie and other 70s TV movies (ABC Movies of the Week like Tribes, Duel, That Certain Summer, etc.) have been unjustly neglected both in reruns and movie guidebooks. However, I think perhaps the person who wrote the other comment is thinking of another movie. The movie I remember was certainly NOT a thriller. It was a very human story about the developing relationship among the three main characters. I admit that I was only thirteen years old at the time and could be wrong about this, but I was particularly fond of this movie since I had read the script before the movie was aired and remember looking forward to seeing how the final film would come out. I hope some of these great films will make a comeback. Thank you IMDb for remembering them!
Hauntingly Terrific Movie
amarim6 November 2005
This movie has been haunting me for years and I'd LOVE to find a copy to see it again. Perhaps contributed to my love for the desert and a life that has definitely been on a lesser traveled road. Both performances by Gig Young and Lee Grant were memorable. This movie also contributed to a fascination with neon lights. Somewhere in Portland Oregon there is a house on a corner with a changing display of neon lights that during my 10-year tenure there reminded me of what am impact Neon Ceiling had on me. Current attempts to capture the unfulfilled lives of desperate housewives pale by comparison to this excellent drama. You can almost taste the barren beauty of the desert!
They need to make more movies like this.
smboullion28 September 2004
I was very young when I seen this movie. For years I could not remember the name of the movie. I would talk to my late husband about it and he said he had never heard of it.(this was surprising because he had seen just about every movie made from the 30's to the 90's and the fact that his father was a projectionist in Redondo Beach, Calif). I will never forget two parts of the movie; when Jones would turn on the 'Neon Ceiling' and when he taught the daughter to drive & she dressed up and left to go back to her father. I think this movie is what made me like neon fixtures so much. Great movie, great story line, great actors, just all around great movie. If only they would make movies like this now.
A very memorable film
inframan9 June 2002
I've been trying to find a video or even a review of this film for years. I recall what a deep impression it made on me when I first saw it. Definitely Gig Young's best part. Lee Grant was excellent,as usual & the story had an almost European bittersweet flavor to it. But best of all was that ceiling. Not long after I had accumulated a couple of dozen antique neon signs & constructed my own neon ceiling. Those were the days...
The Neon Ceiling
londonmidnight5 May 2013
Warning: Spoilers
"Fix Me". Such bleakness in the affluence of America in the early 70's. I saw this film a few days ago for the first time in over 20 years and it still stays with you. Hopefully TCM will play it soon, if they haven't already. The performances are superb. Gig Young, a very under appreciated actor, plays the polar opposite of the glamour boy roles I usually remember him in. He manages to pull off a beer buzz in his speech and acting throughout the entire movie. He was also in my favorite and Rod Serling's favorite Twilight Zone episode "Walking Distance". Can't say enough about Lee Grant. She is always mesmerizing to watch ("Well you CAN'T be thinking about nothing!") and Denise Nickerson is riveting in her own awkward adolescence. So many movies of the late 60's and early 70's were full of unresolved loose ends and few people ending up being happy. So much searching...such bleakness in the affluence. Watching the movie I was reminded of Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, The Last Picture Show, and Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring. This movie is a true gem, the acting is phenomenal, and a capsulization of the early 70's ennui. "What I'm going to do is, what I'm going to do is....." ?????????
Looking for a copy of this movie
nelson101824 January 2007
I saw the movie in 1971, I suppose, on TV and never forgot it. I would very much like to have a copy of it. Can one be purchased from any source anyone knows?
Never play cards with a man named pops and never eat in a café called mom's or words to that effect, so you see, even though I am now 71, I remember part of the movie quite well after 30+ years. I remember the driving scene when the girl was learning and the incredible private show that Gig Young's character had arranged for himself and which he did not really care to share with others. It was an unlikely love story that had to end as it did.
Never play cards with a man named pops and never eat in a café called mom's or words to that effect, so you see, even though I am now 71, I remember part of the movie quite well after 30+ years. I remember the driving scene when the girl was learning and the incredible private show that Gig Young's character had arranged for himself and which he did not really care to share with others. It was an unlikely love story that had to end as it did.
Somewhat esoteric drama with natural performances and dialogue...
moonspinner551 October 2009
Henri Simoun and Carol Sobieski wrote this teleplay from Sobieski's original story about the unstable, unfulfilled wife of a dentist who occasionally takes off with her 13-year-old daughter for adventures on the road; this time they end up in the desert near Nevada, at a roadside café run by a drunken cook/mechanic/loner who takes a shine to the two ladies and invites them to stay. The premise for this TV-made character study sounds formulaic, though the results are anything but. Loaded down with talent (including director Frank R. Pierson, producer John Badham, and actors Gig Young, Denise Nickerson and Lee Grant, who won an Emmy), the film is sometimes scarily precise about the ways in which we interact with one another. It is predictable that the two adults will find solace with each other--and that the youngster will disapprove and want her father back--however the conversations which lead up to the final events are heartbreakingly real (if at times facetious). Grant's chronic irresponsibility and sadness isn't played for big melodrama--she's more like a wilted flower; Young, gaunt and grizzled, comes to appreciate her company and soon finds himself through helping her. Nickerson (who went on to play Violet Beauregarde in 1971's "Willy Wonka") is a precocious kid who talks like a grown-up, carries around a self-help tome about sex, and makes all the actual adults very uncomfortable with her probing questions. This is a sterling performance from the child actress, although there's too much emphasis on her near the end and she becomes an unreal creation by virtue of her actions. I have no idea what the filmmakers were trying to say with their confounding conclusion. Baffling, unsatisfying and off-putting all at once, it will surely leave most viewers scratching their heads, wondering what the point of the whole exercise was. Still, for a television enterprise, "The Neon Ceiling" is mature and impressive, with excellent cinematography and wry horse-sense. It's worth finding.
Carrie doesn't live here any more.
mark.waltz8 December 2020
Warning: Spoilers
It's ironic that Alice Hyatt of the big screen (and later small screen) and Carrie Miller of the small screen were played by actresses who seemed quite liberated and ahead of their time. Ellen Burstyn and Linda Lavin are definitely actresses who suffer no fools, and the TV movie counterpart of Alice (Carrie) is played by someone equally as commanding, the often controversial Lee Grant who crossed a few lines in her day and always came out a winner. Both Alice and Carrie are troubled women stuck as the shadow of their man, mothers of one child, and suddenly striking out on their own, Alice as a widow and Carrie on the verge of a breakdown, certain that husband William Smithers is having an affair. Instead of a sarcastic teenaged son, Carrie has a young daughter, the outspoken Paula (Denise Nickerson), and like Alice and her son Tommy, Carrie and Paula rely on each other for constant support. Often, Paula seems like the adult with Carrie finding that she is unable to meet her husband's expectations for running the house, and that leads to a near breakdown right in front of Paula.
Fortunately, the script allows Smithers to show some sympathy to his wife, asking her while in bed if she thinks that he is too hard on her. This gets Carrie thinking that she does need a break from him, and gets daughter Paula up and takes off, obviously not the first time this has occurred. They stop off at a highway hamburger joint where Carrie promptly passes out while still behind the wheel and Paula takes on the adult responsibility of getting some grub, even making a few pennies, as she befriends the bedraggled proprietor, Jones (Gig Young). When Carrie comes to and meets Jones, she is surprised as to how fast he has bonded with her daughter, and they spend the night. Jones and Paula become confidantes, Carrie begins to gain some insight into the changes she needs to make in her life, and for the first time, all begins to seem right in her world as she finds adventure in Jones' little dream world which includes a neon ceiling that seemingly brings him to life every time he turns it on.
The powerful performances by Grant, Nickerson and Young makes this TV movie one of the first classics of that genre, the movie of the week, and the number of acting nominations it received from the Emmys were truly deserved with Grant deserving her prize. She's more than just another diary of a mad housewife. She's an analogy of all of the smart women forced to hide behind apron strings and pies and grouchy, unappreciative husbands, someone who deserves so much better but seems forced to stick with what she's got. None of these characters are perfect, and neither are they clichés. Grant goes off on Young for disciplining Nickerson with a smack, and is shocked when he responds that he's doing what she should have been doing all along.
Fans of "Willie Wonka" and "Dark Shadows" will be thrilled to see the young Denise Nickerson who is quite a natural young actress and deserves to be remembered for something more than just a big blue outfit that turned her into a blueberry. It's a remarkably intelligent performance for someone so young, and while she's smart mouthed and often bratty, she's not obnoxiously annoying. In fact, she's a bit of a guardian angel for her troubled mother, and if you can act opposite Lee Grant and come off looking good, you know you've succeeded in your job. As for Young, he allows his troubled personal life to really make his character work all the more, showing how years of a far too active party life have impacted him, particularly in a scene where he confronts Nickerson without a shirt on. This isn't a glamourized portrayal of a much troubled man, but someone with a soul whose disappointments are still hiding his hopes to find his dreams. The screenplay and direction are superb which makes this one of the very best TV movies of all time.
Fortunately, the script allows Smithers to show some sympathy to his wife, asking her while in bed if she thinks that he is too hard on her. This gets Carrie thinking that she does need a break from him, and gets daughter Paula up and takes off, obviously not the first time this has occurred. They stop off at a highway hamburger joint where Carrie promptly passes out while still behind the wheel and Paula takes on the adult responsibility of getting some grub, even making a few pennies, as she befriends the bedraggled proprietor, Jones (Gig Young). When Carrie comes to and meets Jones, she is surprised as to how fast he has bonded with her daughter, and they spend the night. Jones and Paula become confidantes, Carrie begins to gain some insight into the changes she needs to make in her life, and for the first time, all begins to seem right in her world as she finds adventure in Jones' little dream world which includes a neon ceiling that seemingly brings him to life every time he turns it on.
The powerful performances by Grant, Nickerson and Young makes this TV movie one of the first classics of that genre, the movie of the week, and the number of acting nominations it received from the Emmys were truly deserved with Grant deserving her prize. She's more than just another diary of a mad housewife. She's an analogy of all of the smart women forced to hide behind apron strings and pies and grouchy, unappreciative husbands, someone who deserves so much better but seems forced to stick with what she's got. None of these characters are perfect, and neither are they clichés. Grant goes off on Young for disciplining Nickerson with a smack, and is shocked when he responds that he's doing what she should have been doing all along.
Fans of "Willie Wonka" and "Dark Shadows" will be thrilled to see the young Denise Nickerson who is quite a natural young actress and deserves to be remembered for something more than just a big blue outfit that turned her into a blueberry. It's a remarkably intelligent performance for someone so young, and while she's smart mouthed and often bratty, she's not obnoxiously annoying. In fact, she's a bit of a guardian angel for her troubled mother, and if you can act opposite Lee Grant and come off looking good, you know you've succeeded in your job. As for Young, he allows his troubled personal life to really make his character work all the more, showing how years of a far too active party life have impacted him, particularly in a scene where he confronts Nickerson without a shirt on. This isn't a glamourized portrayal of a much troubled man, but someone with a soul whose disappointments are still hiding his hopes to find his dreams. The screenplay and direction are superb which makes this one of the very best TV movies of all time.
Probably culturally significant...
AlsExGal10 December 2018
... in spite of all of that navel gazing! This film was a good effort among a string of mainly made for TV films made from 1967 until about 1973 in which middle class people opined and whined about how unhaaappy (yes I know that is a misspell) and unfulfilled they were. These people were usually too old to be boomers and too young to be the greatest generation, having been born during the Depression but not having many memories of hardship. Thus their earliest childhood memories were of WWII, so they did not contribute to that effort, and up until the 70s they had plenty of material comfort that sprang from that effort and the 25 year postwar boom that came with it. During the late stage of this material comfort, these kinds of films came along.
So Carrie Miller (Lee Grant) is a very pretty very bored 30 something California housewife married to a dentist who is equally bored and has discreet affairs with his nurses to cope. Carrie copes by taking off on unannounced adventures across country. The night she leaves with her daughter -apparently she takes Paula with her with no regard for her schooling - her husband is awake and knows she is going. He just lies in bed. He is OK with it if it diffuses the tension for awhile.
Both mother and daughter have their car break down at a desert gas station/lunch counter run by a gruff ruffian known only as "Jones". At first, stranded there, nobody gets along with anybody. But Paula breaks down Jones' defenses, because underneath the explosive temper and the hermit demeanor is a guy who seems to want a family, but that never came his way. Played by Gig Young, this is the kind of part that Robert Ryan would have excelled at in his day. You wonder just who is this guy? And you never get a complete answer to that question.
Paula plays the kind of kid you find in so many 70s films - she is thirteen going on a thousand as she is much more together than any of the adults. She actually wonders "What will mom do when the money runs out?" Meanwhile mom is happy to sit in the sun in a semi comatose state and sing "Hallelujah". The neon ceiling in the title? It is a ceiling in the desert diner full of antique neon signs that Jones has wired together into a Reddy Kilowatt kind of spectacle. It seems to be the only thing in his life that gives him pride.
The finale is very open ended, and you see lots of things in this film you would never see today. No mom would trust her daughter alone with ruffian hermit strangers today. In 1970 this still seems like a non threatening thing. To me the actual story is about a 6, but as an example of the changing culture of the time it is an 8. I average the two to give it a 7/10 rating.
So Carrie Miller (Lee Grant) is a very pretty very bored 30 something California housewife married to a dentist who is equally bored and has discreet affairs with his nurses to cope. Carrie copes by taking off on unannounced adventures across country. The night she leaves with her daughter -apparently she takes Paula with her with no regard for her schooling - her husband is awake and knows she is going. He just lies in bed. He is OK with it if it diffuses the tension for awhile.
Both mother and daughter have their car break down at a desert gas station/lunch counter run by a gruff ruffian known only as "Jones". At first, stranded there, nobody gets along with anybody. But Paula breaks down Jones' defenses, because underneath the explosive temper and the hermit demeanor is a guy who seems to want a family, but that never came his way. Played by Gig Young, this is the kind of part that Robert Ryan would have excelled at in his day. You wonder just who is this guy? And you never get a complete answer to that question.
Paula plays the kind of kid you find in so many 70s films - she is thirteen going on a thousand as she is much more together than any of the adults. She actually wonders "What will mom do when the money runs out?" Meanwhile mom is happy to sit in the sun in a semi comatose state and sing "Hallelujah". The neon ceiling in the title? It is a ceiling in the desert diner full of antique neon signs that Jones has wired together into a Reddy Kilowatt kind of spectacle. It seems to be the only thing in his life that gives him pride.
The finale is very open ended, and you see lots of things in this film you would never see today. No mom would trust her daughter alone with ruffian hermit strangers today. In 1970 this still seems like a non threatening thing. To me the actual story is about a 6, but as an example of the changing culture of the time it is an 8. I average the two to give it a 7/10 rating.
Awww, Wish the Folks Could See this NOW
stoneyburke13 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
This movie haunts my memory. I so remember Gig Young dancing with Lee Grant and making a comment about smelling clean hair. The kid, driving back and forth (she's NOT license-ready but determined,) and the ceiling and of COURSE the story of being lonely, love and how things can happen when it's least expected. It has been some decades since my previewing same but...Perhaps it'll show-up again on some late-night TV station and if it does I'd wager it'd be enjoyed by more NOW than THEN. Maybe those that are interested in unavailable movies can do something? Gig Young was a wonderful actor (Lee Grant is great and still is with us) and in lieu of bedroom farces, see Gig in an understated sensitive movie.
I have the VHS
jwjwjwjw131 January 2009
I have been looking for this video for years and years and years. I only saw it once on network television as it is a made-for-TV movie. There was always something about this movie that I couldn't get out of my head. I, too, wanted to see it again. In fact I purchased a movie script many years ago. It is available for sale as well. I have posted many places asking if they had it available. Once someone told me that he had a 16 mm version, but I didn't have a projector. The owner had some health problems and was unable to convert it. This comment section is going to be quite lengthly as the comment section must be ten lines of information before it can be posted. I have been told it is in the public domain and available for purchase. Anyway, to make a long story short, I have a very good quality of this movie on VHS. If you are interested in seeing it again and owning it, feel free to contact me. I would be willing to sell the video and movie script to you and you can view it as many times as your heart desires. My log in is same on ebay. Contact me there.
Dark movie, despite the title
rudy-3020 October 2001
This movie has many darkly lit scenes despite the title. Herb Edelman truly proves he can act in this tour-de-force drama of a bored housewife seeking adventure. Lee Grant is excellent also, but the stand-out is Denise Nickerson, who showed quite an acting range.
Low resolution copy on youtube available
mike-ryan45518 December 2013
OK, that's a strange title for a review. But it's true - there is a low resolution copy of The Neon Ceiling on youtube. Search for it! The video claims to be 480x360 resolution but it looks like a VHS rip. However, the tremendous quality of the movie trumps the poor quality of the video.
To think this was done as an ABC movie of the week. I guess the writer kept polishing the script until it sparkled. The cast is excellent, with Gig Young and Lee Grant in the lead but Denise Nickerson stealing the show.
It's a small movie with a very small cast and limited sets. It looks a lot like a G rated Indie art movie about relationships, marriage and growing up, if you can imagine that. It's so simple it doesn't even look very dated. I do not want to spoil it by giving any clues as to what happens but if that mix sounds interesting try it.
To think this was done as an ABC movie of the week. I guess the writer kept polishing the script until it sparkled. The cast is excellent, with Gig Young and Lee Grant in the lead but Denise Nickerson stealing the show.
It's a small movie with a very small cast and limited sets. It looks a lot like a G rated Indie art movie about relationships, marriage and growing up, if you can imagine that. It's so simple it doesn't even look very dated. I do not want to spoil it by giving any clues as to what happens but if that mix sounds interesting try it.
Looking for a copy of the movie
kimzson13 August 2007
I too have been looking for a copy of this movie but I am not sure whether it was ever released onto sell-able media. I saw this movie when I was a kid and have never forgotten it. It lingers in my memory like something I wish I could remember more about. Anyone with knowledge of how to obtain a copy - thank you in advance for your help.
I remember how odd it was that the girl could drive.
I also remember that Lee Grant was taken with this odd character who owned the diner with the neon ceiling but that he was some what of an leery character, but I don't seem to remember much more beyond that, except that the Denise Nicholsen also played the gum-chewing Violet in the movie "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory".
I remember how odd it was that the girl could drive.
I also remember that Lee Grant was taken with this odd character who owned the diner with the neon ceiling but that he was some what of an leery character, but I don't seem to remember much more beyond that, except that the Denise Nicholsen also played the gum-chewing Violet in the movie "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory".
Obsessed by Neon
sprasa0325 December 2008
My name is Neon Jones. I have been haunted by this movie for years. I'm interested in obtaining a copy of this movie. I'll take this movie in DVD or VHS. If someone taped it off their TV thats fine. Must have this movie. Can't rest till I get it. Also looking for a neon phone. I'm running out of things to say. I do nothing but eat, sleep and think of this movie the Neon Ceiling constanly. My house is full of Neon now. Now I'm obsessed with finishing this Neon story. Buying the Neon fan today. And also found the Neon phone. Still in love with Neon. Ever so gratefully yours. Recemtly I got a pug. And it's now named Neon pug. And my pug is love with Neon as well. In love with Neon. Gratefully yours,
Can now watch..
jude78-916-3113124 July 2021
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