Product Details

• Actors: Julie Harris, Jena Malone, Ted Levine, Glynnis O'Connor, Debra Monk
• Directors: John Erman
• Writers: Kaye Gibbons, Maria Nation, William Hanley
• Producers: John Erman, Brent Shields, Gerrit van der Meer, Richard Welsh
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Hallmark
• VHS Release Date: August 17, 1999
• Run Time: 94 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 1574924346
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #152,007 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A powerful story, August 31, 2001

By 

Paul Sayles (Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ellen Foster [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Ellen Foster is the story of a young girl desperately seeking to find a real family. Her real family is an abusive, drunken father and a mother in chronic ill-health. Ellen is, by default, the woman of the house and takes care of two parents. She meets disapproval from her grandmother becuase her mother married against her mother's wishes and grandmother has never forgiven her - at one point she offers the mom the chance to return to the family mansion but without her daughter. "Trash begats trash" is a powerful statement for a grandmother to make about her granddaughter.

Mom eventually dies, dad deteriorates and eventually ends up in jail. As her family disappears, Ellen is given protection by one of her school teachers. There the affection from the adults to Ellen is immediate and enduring. But it doesn't last as Ellen goes to live with her grandmother, on court order.

Life with grandmother is brutal, in it's own way. Ellen is clothed but trreated more as hired help than a granddaughter. She eats in the dining room with gradnmother on sunday afternoon. The rest of the time she eats with the servants. She works for her room and board. But it doesn't last forever as grandmother has a stroke and ultimately dies, miserable to the end towards Ellen.

Then it's off to an aunt with a child of her own and it doesn't get any better. The friction between the girls is palpable, although Ellen is not the instigator.

In the meantime, Ellen has seen a woman with several girls in church. These children vary in age from late teens to a baby. They also vary in race. Ellen is interested in this family and learns they are the "Foster" family. Ellen even rides her bike past the house but is a little confused when there is another name on the mail box. Ellen is also exploring other families. Her best friend in school is a black girl and Ellen gets along well with her family. Ellen gets a reality check when she asks about her staying with the family permanently. The father tells her that white people wouldn't like it if a white girl lived with a black family. Ellen says that it's ok now, we have integration - a truthful and innocent statement. She is aadvised that it won't work. Back to the Foster family.

A blow-up in the aunt's home with the daughter sees Ellen on the move again. This time, it is christmas day and she is wearing her best dress and walking to the Foster home. There she offers the mother her savings so that she can stay there until high school is over. The whole scene at the kitchen table is tremendously powerful and moving. Eventually Ellen gets her family but the scars of her earlier "real" family are still there.

This is a story that ultimately has a fairly happy ending but the trials of this girl within her own family group is discouraging not to say tragic. She meets people along the way who see what is happening and want to help, but the legal system gets in the way. It is a film, while set in the South of a few decades ago, is just as valid to the here and now. It should be a must see for everyone. Tears and anger are evenly mixed. It is a memorable film with excellent performances from all the cast. See it soon.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jena Malone spectacular!, June 4, 2000

By 

Barbara Farr Kelley - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ellen Foster [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Little Jena Malone was superb in her role as Ellen Foster. I've seen the movie twice on the television, and will soon be adding this video to my home library.

It opens up where she claims she lays in bed and thinks up ways to kill her daddy. He is such a mean person, especially when he's drunk. Ellen's mother is very sick, but he insists she have a clean house and supper cooked by the time he gets home from work. Ellen does the best she can to help her mother, whom she loves dearly, so her dad won't be so mad. But it doesn't matter, the poor woman works so hard that she dies and leaves Ellen alone with nowhere to go. Sometimes her dad goes off for days at a time and leaves the little girl by herself.

Ellen's grandmother doesn't want her because the grandmother hated the daddy and thought Ellen would be like him. Same with Ellen's aunt. And Ellen's girl cousin was a jealous little girl and a mama's girl. She did everything she could to get Ellen in trouble until Ellen finally ran away to find her own family.

This movie ended good, just the way I would have ended it, with Ellen finding a home. But don't take my word for it. Get the video Ellen Foster and see for yourself what a wonderful movie it is.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars for Jena Malone, February 4, 2004

By 

Erica Chung (Singapore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ellen Foster [VHS] (VHS Tape)

For such a young performer, Jena Malone gives an unforgettable performance as an unwanted child. She practically carries the whole movie. The rest of the characters are basically caricatures of the evil grandmother, the drunk father, noble mother, do-gooder art teacher, and insensitive aunts. She herself is a caricature of a long-suffering child but Jena more than competently erases the caricature and becomes Ellen Foster.

Jena Malone conveyed a child's depression from her situation and rising beyond the hopelessness by doing something about it. Her subtle gestures and myriad facial expressions equals the performance of an Academy Award winner.

The best part of the movie is the way her face shows sudden shifts in her emotions, the inner conflicts, the fear of rejection and a child's hope, all this in one scene near the end (a rather lame ending, too pat, but then, don't we all need endings like this after such a heart-wrenching movie?) as she talks to Mrs. Montrose.

I hope she is able to get work like this in her future, work that will show her mastery of her craft and her range. So far, I've seen her in supporting roles in big budget movies, but when she gets the starring role and an equally good script, the movie world better watch out!