The Promise (1979)

7/10

Mark-12917 March 2000

The Promise is a production that deserved better than the shabby treatment that shows up on screen. Although the screenplay is cobbled together by a talentless hack and directed with indifference by Gilbert Cates, the performances are winning from Stephen Collins and Kathleen Quinlan. Their onscreen chemistry is obvious. The story IS compelling, but the screenplay shoots itself right from the start by not letting the audience get to know the two lovers before tragedy appears. For those interested in reading a more complete and personal version of the story, try to find a copy of the novelization by Danielle Steele. One of her first works, the book fills in all the gaps in the story and in only a few paragraphs, gives a much more satisfying ending.

Well, I have finally been able to screen this movie in widescreen and on blu ray. While its still a flawed production, it finally looks like a real movie, not some tv knockoff. Looking back, my feeling are still the same. The ending needed something more. Danielle Steele saw this as well and expanded the finale a bit, adding emotional fireworks and a more pleasing conclusion in her adaption. Cheesy? Yes, but still an enjoyable experience for the romantic in us all.

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7/10

movie is available on netflix dot com

TanteWaileka24 June 2012

I like this movie because I love the actor S. Collins.

The movie is also lightweight enough that I can have it on TV in the background whilst working (as I work from home). It's not quite old enough for me to need to watch it to see the furniture design and clothing of the time since I have furniture AND clothing from that era right now (and the hairdo, :)).

The only thing I don't have are the big sunglasses (actually I DO have them but I don't know where they are packed away).

Well, back to work, while this movie plays in the background, right now.

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5/10

Sleeper with a OK cast:

george-marshall16 January 2008

The fact that the actual year that this movie was made is listed wrong, it's 1978 not 1979. Gives you the impression that this movie didn't hold much interest to anyone :) I have to say that the key cast members Stephen Collins and Kathleen Quinlan really try hold this sleeper of a movie together. They did a great job for what that had to work with. Both of them have had some great success in the later careers. I think the most interesting thing about this movie is the fact that it was the late 70's. The last frontier of a simpler time. This is the type of movie that you would end up watching at 3:00am in morning cause you couldn't fall asleep and your wondering what your doing up watching this movie, then you simply start to laugh and say. Wow.... the 70's were a trip - that's for sure.

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One of the Great Romantic Movies of All Time

Pianoman-812 September 1999

If you are looking for an emotionally-moving movie about love and commitment, this is one you should consider seeing. Kathleen Quinlan and Stephen Collins are absolutely great in their roles. And the story, which is about commitment, deception, and misunderstanding, is excellent. When Stephen Collins says to Kathleen Quinlan, "I made a promise," you'll know why I consider this one of the great romantic movies of all time. It's right up there with "Sleepless in Seattle," "You've Got Mail," and "A Letter to Three Wives."

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7/10

Sensitive Performances Save It

dansview22 September 2013

You gotta love the 70sness of any film with Melissa Manchester belting out the emotional title love track. (Ice Castles, The Promise)

I always include a qualifier. If you were watching this when it came out, the 70s aspect is not going to affect you, because you are living at the moment and don't even realize that your time period will be considered cool in the future.

But for people watching now, the 70s aspect is part of the fun. Remember when middle class Americans actually lived in cities? Or when cars had interesting shapes, music was catchy and stylistic, carpet was green, and lounge chairs were made of orange leather?

The performances by Stephen Collins and Beatrice Straight made this film. Kathleen Quinlan is good too, but the other too conveyed sadness better.

I can't help noticing the similarity to the movie Love Story. The photography is the other aspect that made it worth watching. There are amazing shots of coastal New England and San Francisco.

If you're an old fashioned romantic, you will allow some of the over-the-top coincidences in the name of fate and love's destiny. If you want to judge this film by strict artistic criteria, that's a different story.

I would have appreciate more story development regarding how they get together in the first place. After a short montage of puppy love settings, they are already talking marriage.

In summary, the title track, if you like Manchester's shouting style, the photography, a couple of key performances, and the 70s style make it worth my while and perhaps yours too, although you better be female in most cases.

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8/10

This one will engage your emotions

susan710 February 2001

I first saw this movie on TV about 15 years ago. It has haunted me ever since, in part because of the story itself, and in part because the editors bungled their job and nearly destroyed what could have been a truly great film. What they gave us instead is a good film with a great story line. It is that story, along with the acting ability of Kathleen Quinlan and Steven Collins, that saves the film. If you have not read Danielle Steele's adaptation of the original screen play, do so. It will fill in some of the answers to the questions left open by the insensitivity of the film's editors.

This is a love story, and a good one, about two individuals whose love for each other is pure and true and ultimately stands the test of both time and tragedy. If that makes it syrup, then so be it. I like it. I wish I could get a DVD edition of this movie.

A movie does not have to be full of vulgar language and gratuitous sex to be good; it doesn't have to be filled with blood and guts and action sequences; and thank God this one has none of the above. Without resorting to the seamer side of life, this story will engage your emotions and embed itself in your mind and your soul, leaving an impression that can last a lifetime. This alone is enough to make it a movie worth two hours of your time.

If you have not seen this movie, try to find a copy of it. After viewing it, I think you will agree that this movie has been underrated by the IMDB rating system.

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4/10

Oh God, I actually sort of like this movie...

suessis6 January 2003

In 1979, I was 14, and I can remember that this was the big movie that all the kids at school wanted to see. I actually remember loving it then. Years later, all I can do at the age of 37 is cringe with embarrassment that I actually still like this thing.

How unrealistic can you get? With the exception of some make up and hair manipulation, there really is no difference between the Nancy and Marie faces. Most of the change is effected through Quinlin's acting ability (as well suddenly changing her wardrobe to the 70's disco chic that was popular at the time). It's not the only lapse in reality in the film, but it's by far the biggest. It takes a great deal of work on the part of Quinlan, Collins, and Straight to get you to come anywhere near believing the difference exists.

Laurence Luckinbill plays a truly predictable character as the Pygmalionesque doctor who creates the physical Marie. His character is more or less a plot device (as is Bibi Besch's), and his performance reflects it. On the other hand, Beatrice Straight (who was always one of the most underrated actresses in the business) gives a fantastic performance as Michael's mother. Her face says it all when she runs out of the hospital room and the impact of the lie that she has just told hits her.

Gibert Cates, who unfortunately has not been able to truly repeat his critical success in "I Never Sang for my Father", at least tries to do something with the script. It is hard, however, when the story is basically formula and schmaltz. In the end, it is Quinlan, Collins, and Straight who succeed in getting the film to rise above it. Their performances get you to continue to watch and find something good even though you really want to hate it.

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10/10

Terk Jerker!!!

swest27 April 2009

Love, love, love this movie. One of my favorite rainy Sunday afternoon treats. I even have the book which was written by Nora Roberts based on the screenplay so it follows the movie very closely. I remember seeing it when I was 27 and I will be 57 this month, so it has been a 30 year "love affair". Stephen Collins is every body's boy next door.

It was on television late, late, late recently and I watched it again and taped it even though I have purchased a DVD copy and was gifted a VHS copy years ago! Ha, ha! Never know when you'll need a backup I guess! Ha, ha! The plot is very simple and the characters are very straight forward. The acting is probably a 7 or 8. I especially enjoyed the music and found it very haunting. The locations were beautiful.

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3/10

A farce that could use a few twists

pinkybanana200020 December 2013

Warning: Spoilers

******SPOILER ALERT****

What is the difference between this movie and "Mrs. Doubtfire?" Bear with me, I am just making a comparison. It is this. The latter was a comedy, so you could laugh at the antics of a father disguised as a woman to get access to his kids. And his ex-wife does not notice. Okay, it suspends disbelief a lot, but it is a comedy.

Movies suspend disbelief, that's why they are movies. Stars Wars is fantasy, and we know that before we start to watch. For the length of the movie we pretend that such space ships exist and that aliens abound. We leave the theater and face reality. It never pretends to be anything else.

In this movie, Michael is so in love with Nancy and wants to marry her against his mother's wishes, but loses contact with her for a year after an accident involving the two of them. Michael's manipulative mother enters a pact with her not to marry her son if she pays for reconstructive surgery. She undergoes reconstructive surgery and her face is somewhat transformed.

So what? When they next meet, he does not recognize her facially nor by any other attribute which he is bound to be very familiar with. Therein lies the plot of a completely silly, implausible set of circumstances that should get the movie laughed out of theaters. Even identical twins have different mannerisms that allow their loved ones to tell them apart in the darkness.

So Michael is fooled not only by Nancy's new looks, but fails to notice, a. her mannerisms, which are pretty unique to every individual and were unaffected by the accident, b. her voice, also unique, c. her artistic disposition which matches that of Nancy, his girlfriend, WHILE STANDING IN HER GALLERY.

Add to that other silly stuff, like a. the mother was arranging for a plastic surgeon for Nancy who she swears can restore her looks, even though she has never met him, all while the wounds were still fresh, b. the fact that Michael just accepted the explanation that Nancy died in the accident and so never asked to visit her grave site, or even ask where she was buried, especially since he knows what his mother is capable of, c. Michael all of a sudden develops an interest in working for his mother, even though he was so ready to forgo all that to marry Nancy, d. the fact that Michael's friend, Ben, who was also familiar with her, and was a passenger in the crashed auto did not ask any of these questions, even though he was the least injured of the trio, d. Ben just so happened to stumble upon her gallery while driving by, and interacts with her but never recognizes her.

So, pray, who does recognize her? Well, glad you asked. His MOTHER, who is not shown to have met her at all until right after the accident, with her face heavily swadded in bandages and tiny slits for eyes and mouth.

Like I alluded to, a few more twists would have helped. This movie would have made sense if Ben had recognized her right away, but promised not tell Michael, after all, there is the pact with the mother. Or Michael having failed to recognize her, Nancy takes offense and ends up in the arms of another man, particularly the one who was helping her rehabilitate. There is no explanation why a strikingly beautiful Nancy was still unattached at this time. At first, I thought it was an episode in The Young and The Restless. When I realized it was a full blown movie, I had to laugh.

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10/10

A very memorable movie

rebio22 March 2001

I saw this movie when I was twelve. I've seen the movie several times. Its one of my favorite romantic drama. The story is so enchanting. There maybe some holes in the plot, but still gripping. I like Kathleen Quinlan as the photographer/artist. She makes the transformation of the ugly duckling to a beautiful woman so authentic. And Stephen Collins was great too. They really look good together.

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4/10

It promises to be mawkish and idiotic...and faithfully keeps its word!

moonspinner5530 May 2009

Young couple in New England, on their way to get hitched despite the groom-to-be's disapproving mama, are involved in a horrible car accident; the man lapses into a short coma, during which time his mother sends his disfigured girlfriend to the West Coast for extensive plastic surgery on her face--providing she never contact her fiancé again! Will they eventually cross paths, and will he recognize her if they do? Hard to believe anyone with any self-respect will care, especially after an excruciating opening: a lyrical montage of 'coupling' culminating in a love-pact made on a cliff overlooking the sea! After her triumphant performance in 1977's "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden" failed to make her a star, Kathleen Quinlan probably saw this cornball venture as an opportunity to break into the big-time. Sad to say, it's an obvious throwback to the 'woman's weepies' of the 1940s, hopelessly out-of-date and out-of-touch. Quinlan spends the first 30 minutes of the picture in an ill-fitting wig, a false nose and funny teeth; still, she isn't changed THAT much after surgery! For the movie to work even on the most basic of levels, the audience is required to completely suspend their disbelief--whilst throwing logic and credibility out the window. Perhaps nimble handling, some self-effacing humor, or even a knowingly camp undermining might have saved the film. Alas, it takes itself far too seriously--and is far too strenuous--to be any fun. The performers (Stephen Collins, Beatrice Straight, and most especially Quinlan) are reduced to dummy-level, while a mind-boggling romantic song (Oscar-nominated!) wails away on the soundtrack. "The Promise" is best described as 'icky'. *1/2 from ****

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The meaning of true love....

itswindee27 January 2003

This is one of the best true love stories I have ever seen. It is one of my favorites. The plot summary is much more than what the fellow above wrote. While yes a girl & boy fall in love and the girl gets her face torn off in a car accident, the real core of the film is that true love, pure love doesn't come along everyday. It is very rare, very precious and it should be valued and not taken for granted. The plot synopsis is this: the boy comes from a very wealthy influential family with a very dominering mother who forbids her son from marrying the girl who doesn't have 2 cents to rub together but is a struggling artist trying to make it. The boy trying to break free from the tight grip his mother has on him wisks the girl away and plan to elope. On the way to a chapel tragedy strikes and they are involved in a horrible car accident. Both are taken to the hospital, the boy is injured and the girl's face is terrible disfigured. While they lie in their hospital beds in different rooms, his mother decides to pay the girl a visit. The girl's entire head & face is bandaged, all you recognize is her voice. His mother expresses how sorry she is that this has happened to her and offers the girl a chance to have reconstructive surgery, all paid for by her with all of the necessary therapy needed physically and emotionally. While this sounds to good to be true, the catch is, if she agrees to have this done she must promise to NEVER see her son again. The devious and controlling mother continues by saying, if she doesn't have the surgery done her son wouldn't want her anyway with her grotesque face. At least this way, her son can move on and have a life and she too can move on and have a life. With a heavy heart, the girl agrees to his mothers terms. I don't want to ruin the rest of the film so I won't say anymore. For those of you who might not believe in love, this movie might change your mind. It is worth seeing.

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10/10

Can You Keep a Promise?

peas_n_okra9 June 2004

The story isn't really unique, but it's the assemblage of players that makes it work so well. It's a love story, a story of deceit and a story of revenge, of sorts, that relies on more than one promise. The beginning is a montage that shows the viewer the uncomplicated, yet intense, love between two young college students. Enter the complication, a near-fatal car crash.

Then, enter mother. Beatrice Straight plays "matron" so well, it almost creeps one out. Authoritative, hard, selfish. One has to believe that the two lovers, Nancy (Kathleen Quinlan) and Michael (Stephen Collins) just couldn't be stopped had the car accident not shattered their lives. Fate intervened, choices had to be made, situations were controlled with undeniable uncaring. But life has a way of stepping in; destiny will not be driven from its path. The cast is perfect and the music is obvious, but not intrusive. This is a film I've watched several times and have never been disappointed in.

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3/10

Nonsensical foolishness

jjnxn-115 May 2013

Warning: Spoilers

Young couple in love, his mother objects. They suffer a horrendous car accident during which her face is destroyed, his mother pays her off with reconstructive surgery. She emerges looking...remarkably similar? He doesn't notice when they met. Uh..right. Gooey nonsense at least has nice San Francisco locations and decent actors working with a silly script.

While Kathleen Quinlan, Stephen Collins and Beatrice Straight are all talented professionals they can only do so much with a story that stretches credibility to the breaking point. This was inexplicably a big hit upon its initial release, romantic films are fine but they should at least have a sensible premise which this most surely does not.

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10/10

Love Love Love this movie

smalls042830 July 2012

One of the best romantic movies ever made. I first watched it in 1979 when I was 14. Yeah it was cheesy then and it's even cheesier now but WOW what a great love story! Love is about overcoming! And man do these two characters overcome! Very few movies today connect with me like this one did!

The beginning of the story is such a great set up of how in love Nancy and Michael really are....he's willing to give up his wealth and family for her. His mother, Marion is pure "evil" (Nancy/Marie's words) for trying to manipulate their lives. But I think in the end, Marion (after seeing her son's lonely existence)realizes what she's done and (to me) seems to almost push the two lovers back together by encouraging Nancy/Marie to accept her son's offer to work for the company. One of my favorite parts is when Michael sees the finished painting that Nancy had started but never got to finish because of the accident. Stephen Collins is such a great actor and is just spot on, capturing the emotion of Michael's realization that Marie Adamson is Nancy. And of course finally the ending when Michael has the necklace and confronts Nancy/Marie.....huh...oh so sappy but beautiful. Tears begin to flow. The only down side to the ending is the only thing Nancy could think to say is, "Michael" (in her Nancy voice) after Michaels pours out his heart to her. Sorta'anticlimactic.

I loved it anyways and shared this movie with my kids when it came on cable. I just bought the DVD and will be watching it with my much younger co-workers so they can see what a good classic love story is about!

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1/10

Unlike Marie's photos..... This is NOT art

661jda25 July 2020

Warning: Spoilers

This picture should be on the syllabus for the class on how NOT to write a screenplay. There are so many huge holes in this story line that a spider would fall through it. #1 how does a well brought up guy who kills his fiance in a car wreck just hours before the wedding NOT want to go visit her grave????? Kathleen Quinlin and Stephen Collins get a nod because, while their acting wasn't good, they were in the sunrise of their careers so give them a bye. But Beatrice Straight????? The woman won a Oscar in 76 for NETWORK - the woman "should" know how to act or not overact - this performance belongs in the Honeybaked Ham Stores. I've thought about this for a while and I just can't think of anything constructive to say about this picture.

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9/10

Touching but not too syrupy

HK Cat21 February 2000

I've seen this film about three times and find it to be one of the better TV-made love stories. The shell that Marie Adamson builds around herself is impenetrable and the strong performance by Kathleen Quinlan is what sold me on the story. She fights so hard to remain strong, that her confrontations with people in her past is both powerful and touching.

I love Kathleen Quinlan, and think this is her best performance, be it film or TV. Her transformation from soft and loving to betrayed and unforgiving is sizzling. Adamson's face-to-face meeting with her former lover's mother, years after her beauty has been restored, is wonderful. Just to see the mother's expression is priceless. Reminds me of the scene in Madame X when Constance Bennett realizes that she has done irreversible damage in blackmailing her daughter-in-law. Money cannot erase an undying love. Wow.

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5/10

Um, what did I just watch?

erikfelton15 October 2017

Warning: Spoilers

SPOILERS galore

So it's a lazy Sunday morning and I'm half asleep with the TV on and all of a sudden a new movie starts and I hear Melissa Manchester. That woke me up enough to see the opening credits to a movie called "The Promise". Starring Kathleen Quinlan, one of those actresses from the 70s and 80s that you'd recognize but wouldn't know her name. The movie starts and it's a montage of YOUNG LOVE. However, I was like "That's not Kathleen Quinlan is it? I thought she was prettier than that!" Well, I'll get to that in a bit. But she had these impossible buck teeth that she couldn't close her mouth or speak normally, a fake nose appliance, and a poorly fitting wig that looks like something from John Waters' Hairspray. Anyway, the story is this: Young love meets up against boy's domineering wealthy mother. The couple decides to elope anyway and on the way their 1976 BMW gets in a head on collision with a MAC truck. Boy gets banged up, and girl has her face destroyed. The evil mother makes a deal with girl that she will pay for her extensive plastic surgery so long as she never speaks to her son ever again. Okay... Mother tells her son that girl died in the wreck, and THIS is when the film gets unbelievable... Girl comes out of surgery looking like Kathleen Quinlan with a fashionable hairstyle and duds. ONE YEAR LATER the two lovebirds randomly meet up and he doesn't recognize her! (I was constantly wondering why he just randomly accepted her death without trying to find her gravesite or a death certificate, but I was thinking too much, not a good thing for this movie). Anyway, yada yada yada, in a "An Affair to Remember" throwback, he realizes that she is actually his love that he made "The Promise" to that he would never say goodbye (they kept playing that song over and over and over that I started getting annoyed by it). The ending is that they get back together and kiss, and goddangit my eyes started watering. I'm cynical as hell, but dang I am easy prey for a schlocky, impossibly manipulative chick flick. I made it through the entire film, so that's worth 5 out of ten.

My complaints: Basically the film is so implausible and unrealistic that you really have to suspend disbelief to a level not known before to swallow this one. Bladerunner is more realistic. But here's the thing, loverboy did not recognize his lovergirl after only one year! She had plastic surgery, but she didn't have a personality transplant too! I mean, come on, if I got into a disastrous accident and had plastic surgery, I would expect my partner to recognize me with a new nose, teeth, and hairdo. I still have the same eyes, voice, mannerisms, and well, everything that makes me me. Anyway, don't try to overthink this one. It really could work in a campy way, and having Melissa Manchester belting out every now and then is a hoot. Her voice is special, but at the saddest and sweetest part of the film, her booming voice was shocking and distracting to the final scene. Melissa Manchester was to this song as Faye Dunaway was to Mommie Dearest, total overkill!!!

Not worth your time unless you are trying to get out of bed and looking for a reason not to...

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Still a great Chick Flick!!!

jillbeth5810 November 2004

I remember watching the Promise when we first got cable and it was on a movie channel in about 1982 I was 22 at the time and had a year old daughter, I just loved the film and thought it was a great story. A few years back I bought the tape, I forget if I found it at a store or on the internet but anyway I watched it again and after so many years I still enjoyed it, my daughter who was so young when I first watched the movie is now a young woman herself and she watched the film and said she really liked it, so it might be a bit sappy and outdated but the story is still great and even relatable, the man's Mother anyway, I think it's a film that has stood the test of time and it will always be one of my favorites.

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10/10

Hopeless Romantics

frankiarmz21 October 2005

I am a fifty two year old hopeless romantic and I believe you need to believe in love conquering all to truly appreciate this beautiful movie. I still have Melissa Manchester singing " I'll Never Say Goodbye" playing in my mind, it is one of the most beautiful love songs ever recorded in my opinion. I am not embarrassed to say I fell in love with this movie years ago and still get choked up thinking about it. This movie doesn't have any graphic sexual scenes, what it has is a well acted love story. You are taken on a journey with these two young lovers as they lose each other but are eventually reunited thanks to true love. Watch "The Promise" with your true love, or watch it by yourself but watch it!

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4/10

Too had to swallow almost comical

phd_travel13 March 2019

Warning: Spoilers

It's ridiculous but okay for one watch. It's just so hard to accept he can't recognise her. What about her voice?

Anyway it's quite funny how Kathleen Quinlan looked before with fake teeth and nose and how much better she looked after the plastic surgery.

Early Danielle Steel.

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10/10

good tears are a guarantee

leastofhis17 June 2002

This is my all time favorite romantic movie, along with "Random Harvest" with Ronald Coleman, and Greer Garson, I still get goose bumps at certain points in this movie, and I have seen it over 10 times. It has a wonderful ending, but I wished they didn't pan the camera away at the end. Good tears are a guarantee If you like this movie check out Random Harvest.

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1/10

Poor Hallmark Drama

jahlavay21 December 2022

I saw this movie at Radio City Music Hall in New York city when it came out during Easter 1979 and the audience was laughing out loud during the movie. Over-the-top Hallmark drama, even before Hallmark was a thing. And combined with the poor prosthetics of the accident victim make for an almost parody of the romantic-drama genre. The acting from all three of the main characters was nothing better than made-for-television quality. The prosthetics was the equivalent of a grade B science-fiction movie from the 1950's. It would be entertaining as a cult party classic with all of the trimmings including couple's therapy and a lot of alcohol.

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10/10

Camp classic

ftm68_9925 December 2016

I'm giving this title a 10, but not the kind of 10 I'd give to a movie like, say, "Wizard of Oz," or "Casablanca" or "Double Indemnity." No, I'm giving "The Promise" a 10 for its camp and for its camp alone. It's a mother-lode of camp is what it is. From the beginning through the middle to the end. And for that, I believe it deserves a 10.

That's all I'd need say about The Promise but that IMDb.com insists my review have ten lines of text? Really? Why? Five lines, sure; but ten? So what am I supposed to write about now? Well, let's see, this movie "Stars" Stephen Douglas and Karen Quinlann (sp?) and a woman who really had some acting chops but somehow found her self in this dreck: one Miss Beatrice Straight. Okay, is that ten lines yet?

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Chick flick but not made for tv

actonkat26 January 2004

Very good chick flick even with the bad nose and teeth for Kathleen Quinlan. I saw this movie at Radio City Music Hall when it opened there in March of 1979 (I believe it was St. Patrick's Day). Somewhat predictable all the way thru but the actors do a great job in making you care that it turns out right in the end.

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