User Reviews

This TV movie mostly takes place in time-span between the 1960s and the early 80s but you wouldn't know it from watching this film about the enduring love between a simple-minded farm-girl Crystal (Jennie Garth) and a returning soldier with political ambitions, Specer ( Craig Bierko). What I found odd about this film was the lack of attention to historical detail.It feels as if it was meant to be done in the late 80s. The nostalgia of 60s and 70s is not present and for this reason the film feels strangely out of time. Jennie Garth's appearance does not change - not even her hair! She looks as young as she did in the beginning, while her co-star Craig Bierko is given specs to make him look older. It's hard to invest in the story because it's obvious what is going to happen, but what did you expect with Danielle Steele? Moreover, the film feels rushed. It's economical with time transitions and I do not believe Spencer failed to contact Crystal for 5 years, even though she was pregnant with his child. The same could be said for Crytsal. The happy ever after rural idyll presented at the end strains credulity too. Why wasn't Spencer angry with Crystal for not telling him about his son? The darker elements presented elsewhere are negated. Spencer's wife played by Terry Farrel vowed revenge on Crystal. That promise was never fulfilled and thus the dramatic impetus the film promises fails to materialize. Although the film is disappointing on many levels Garth, Bierko and Farrell rise above the stilted script and deliver watchable performances. It's just a pity the whole project had a sense of unfulfilled promise. Maybe it should have been a mini series instead.

SPOILERS THROUGH:

I'm not a major Danielle Steel fan but have seen maybe three or four of her movies. This was not my favorite. I did not read the book before hand but it wasn't hard to figure out relatively quickly, where this one was going. The movie itself was not that long and that was the biggest problem. This didn't feel like a movie, more a series of events. There was absolutely no story development whatsoever.

This story, taking place over so many years, really needed to be at least another hour maybe more. It just didn't work here. There was a "This happens, then this happens" quality. Nothing was developed, to the point where I really wondered what I was still doing watching this when there really was almost no story there.

What WAS there was a vivid and throughly captivating performance from Jennie Garth as the main character Chrystal. She elevated the movie but it seemed so little effort was put into making this absorbing or giving it any sense of realism whatsoever, that it was quite disappointing and whatever one thinks of Danielle Steel, the other movies I've seen of her work did NOT have that element.

Craig Berko seemed miscast but that may not be him, the character development was weak too. The character of Elizabeth, the wife, was developed pretty well though.

I liked the scene where Chrytal goes into the bar when she firsts get to San Francisco looking for work but then it seems like overnight she is a major success which was rather difficult to believe. And I REALLY didn't buy that chance meeting between Garth and Berko. But the whole movie is pretty much like this.

I have a feeling the book is much better but the movie itself is probably no more then a 5. Five is ultimately my vote and one thing I will say is having Garth in the lead role was a big positive. This actually would have been better as a miniseries or even a television series. Decent but skippable and 5 out of 10.

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This movie is utter crap. Do not watch.

There is no one in this movie to root for, or even like, except for the wife, and she wins by default. Everyone is selfish, and many things happen that make no sense.

The acting is mediocre at best and everyone breathes too heavily about everything. No one can even cry believably.

If you leave the room for even a second, then something totally out of left field will happen, and it will make NO SENSE WHATSOEVER.

For example, I left the room for a second, while Jennie Garth's character was sleeping with her manager. I come back, seriously about 4 minutes later, (also I'm pretty sure there was a commercial somewhere in there) and she's sleeping with that Berko guy.

I gave up on this movie around the time that Berko was being an ass to his fiancé in the car, because she didn't want to call off the wedding.

I wasted 2 hours of my life. You shouldn't.

I love watching these silly TV specials...it's a good way to do nothing when I'm in a lazy mood. However, I didn't see this one on TV, I saw it on DVD because my friend had it. I thought it had to be somewhat special. Oh boy !!! It sure is special.. I've watched it twice in 24 hours. And laughed myself silly both times. And totally ruined it for my friend. Like I told him, I've seen science-fiction movies that were more plausible than this ! Let alone the fact that they didn't bother trying to age the characters over the 15 years or so the story takes place over. The outfits don't change either. And the story... Pleaaase ! it's ridiculous. They have met a total of 3 minutes over a two-year period and she tells him that she wants to ride upstream with him, where the only sound you hear is the wind through the trees and where the sky is so blue it hurts. That line killed me ! (I'm not sure about the accuracy of my quote because I saw it in french, but that's the literal translation...) And the Cinderella-like story with the mother ! and the brother-in-law, and the brother !! And i just loved how she thanks Pearl for "everything she does for her" after 3 minutes of knowing her. There is so much to talk about and to make fun of ! I love this film. To me, it's a classic !!

I haven't seen many movies worse than this one. The story line, the dialogues, the acting: it's horror! The story just jumps from a to b to c without any logical steps in between. Every time you think you've missed something, but no: that was the way it was intended to be. And why on earth is the character that Jenny Garth portrays so in love with that no-no loser guy (who actually now plays in the movie Cinderella Man with Russel Crow!)? O well, it's no Spielberg, of course... I have to write ten lines to get posted. This movie really isn't inspiring enough to write 10 lines! It's a romantic feel good movie with a lousy story, so if you're up for that: you'll have a ball.

I accidentally happened upon this movie when I was looking for something to watch while eating lunch. I actually turned to the WE Network because it said it had the last 20 minutes of some movie about the importance of "sticking it" for some gymnastics team -- I figured cheesy goodness. Well, I got cheesy alright.

First, I missed a good 20-40 minutes at the start of the movie. Luckily, most of it was recapped fairly quickly, especially in the bedroom scene where Crystal admits that she felt responsible for the death of her rapist.

I love Jenny Garth and will watch her in just about anything. She's just so pretty, and I want my lipstick to look as perfect as hers always does. She looks great throughout this movie, and doesn't really age over what seems to be more than a decade.

Overall, I felt bad for the actors as I watched this movie. All of them tried to sell their parts, but all were so poorly written that it was a constant struggle. Frankly, I was surprised to see Terry Farrell and Mitch Ryan (Greg's dad from Dharma & Greg) in this.

But the writing was not the worst part of this movie. About a half-hour before the end, her mother dies, and when they show the headstone the death date is 1979. Having missed the beginning, I had gotten the impression from the wardrobe that this was taking place in the 80s. Not one leisure suit or bell bottom in sight. Shame on the person who did wardrobe for this film! Don't get me wrong -- all the outfits in this movie were beautiful, but they were completely wrong for the time period. It almost makes me wonder if they told the wardrobe person that it was a period piece.

Bottom line -- good for a laugh or to feed a Jennie Garth fix. :)

This is a sweeping tale of a poor country girl who becomes a singer and her long lasting affair with a man. Fate just seems to keep them apart. At first he's too old then he's about to be married then he's married. Then she's not ready and with another guy.

As a melodrama about a long lasting love affair is fairly watchable.

Jennie Garth acts quite well although her girlish speaking voice doesn't match the singing voice. Terry Farrell plays the wealthy ambitious wife quite well. Her character is surprisingly sympathetic. Craig Bierko plays the man caught in the middle white trash and upper crust.

It's an okay watch though not one of the better Danielle Steele movies. The subject matter may be distasteful to some.

OK, I read the book before I saw the movie......It is NOTHING like the book......Pretty much the names are the same, but that is where the similarities end.....The book takes place post World War II, not Pre-Vietnam.....The book also took place over many years, the movie only a span of about 3 or 4.....There are a lot of holes in the movie that the book doesn't leave....In the movie, Spencer gives Crystal a heart necklace, that doesn't happen in the book.....In the book Spencer gets drafted to Korea the day after the honeymoon, in the movie, its an earthquake in China that never happened....In the book, Spencer was a lawyer who left a high powered job in Washington when John Kennedy was murdered, and in the movie, it was when a daycare bill wasn't passed......And for crying out loud, Crystal never cut a record in the book!!!! Spencer and Elizabeth go to California to vacation, not The Hamptons.....And last but not least, Crystal gets her start in a nightclub named "Harry's"..Not "Larry's".....It was just a horrible waste of my time, but I do love Jennie Garth :-)which is what made it bearable!!!!

I am jaded in terms of love, and yet I discovered this and fell back in love. Society seems to make us all believe that at age 16 you cannot fall in love for the rest of your lifetime. It's now considered pedophilia. And as that 16 y/o I can say I knew what I wanted. And so I accepted the love story.

I can only say that I loved this movie. Probably from personal experience. But I loved Terry Farrell in this. Maybe the cast acting wasn't the best, but I look past that for the story. And I cried several times.

I think Danielle Steele is an okay authoress. I don't read much of her books. But NBC seems to have a knack of making her books into meaningful movies.

I wouldn't give this a ten. But I give it a nine. When something makes me cry, it's at least an eight. I just loved the storyline. Yes it's soapy but I connected with it. I recommend it, if you can deal with those movies of the week that was so popular in the 80s and 90s.