Customer Reviews

Jesse [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Dry and humorless"? Kind of like your review. While I would agree that Jesse is not the best movie ever filmed, or the best Lee Remick movie ever filmed (and I notice you have reviewed several of her movies on imdb.com, and I thank you as I have not seen them), Remick is neither dry nor humorless. There were times that her delivery of certain lines, particularly when Jesse was on the stand, that I smiled and laughed at along with the courtroom audience. "Small emotional range"??? Remick never acted poorly in any movie she was in and if anything, she elevated them with her immense acting ability. I would scoff at "Jesse" too and probably would not have even watched it all if it wasn't for Lee Remick's talents or her performance. The movie is not the greatest and you are right, petershelley, when you call out some of the dialogue of the townspeople and the stereotypes of them. You ponder whether it was director Glenn Jordan who failed the film, or Remick and vice versa. I would assert the former if I were to "lay blame." I'd want Remick (as Jesse) as my nurse/lifesaver. I think both as a medical professional and as a human being, Jesse served her fellow citizens just fine and as a witness on the stand, though you say she was overly pious, helped her own cause and showed dignity and class. Remick made Jesse likeable and heroic. Even though I thought Jesse overstepped her bounds at times as a nurse (and this is a real life story), her heart was in the right place and she was acquitted because Butler, the bureaucrat, entrapped her. She, in my mind, was techincally guilty of wrongdoing, but if you or I was in a life or death situation, what would we do? Remick played her very well and I enjoyed when Jesse stood up to her ridiculous husband played by Scott Wilson, who was completely self-centered and immature, not to mention inconsiderate. Context is everything as this was set in 1965 and women still were expected to be in the kitchen cooking their husbands' suppers every night. Anyhow, this is not a great movie, but any movie with Lee Remick automatically elevates it and makes it worth watching.

I knew the lady, and she was anything dry and humorless,the movie was well written but did not cover the whole story of her, she was responsiable for saving many lives including mine. back then she was all we had for medical help in case of sickness or accident, the closest Doctor was 180 miles away, Just for the record she was a Retired Army Nurse who got her experiance during the Korea in a MASH Unit. Working in a mine makes a mananything but over sensitive, Like I said earlier, the story is good, but so much was left out, so before you judge the person you ought to know her,

Jesse whose real first name was Patsy was my great aunt and was raised with my father by my grandmother since they were of similar age. They lived in a number of mining towns; I believe my father went to 27 different schools to finally finish High School in Leadville, Colorado. At one point, they lived so remotely in Montana; it could only be reached by river raft. As a child, my grandmother was the informal town doctor, mortician and one of the first certified woman postmaster's in the United States in a small mining town in northern Nevada. These women to include my great-grandmother were the last of great pioneering woman who did what was necessary for survival. They were from another era, people today cannot understand but they had strength, honor and integrity. These are admirable qualities rarely seen in our culture today. You have to meet the person to know what the movie really was about. Well, as they used to say when I was a child, I gotta go see a man about a horse...

This movie is out of print and is only available on VHS. A decent Lee Remick film worth watching again. My wife liked it.

Found this by accident but when I read one review I decided it was right up my alley. A true story and I like true stories but it had happened to the reviewers aunt. From the beginning you were wondering if the California government agents could really be so stupid to pursue Jesse. She didn't think she was wrong so she went to trial. The rest is for you to find out what happened. But, I'll tell you this you won't be disappointed when you watch this movie. Has a great cast lead by Lee Remick.

I have admired director Glenn Jordan, particularly his work with actors in Mass Appeal, Only When I Laugh, Echoes in the Darkness, and the Jessica Lange A Streetcar Named Desire, but this title is Jordan at his lowest. There is an air of Disney-fication about this story of Jessica Maloney, a "practical" nurse in Meredith, California who is sued for practicing medicine without a licence. Since Meredith is a desert community in Death Valley, the inhabitants have a folksy twang and use expressions like "I don't know what horse you're ridin', but you better put a break on, real quick". The lack of depth to this scenario can be partly attributed to the writer James Lee Barrett, he continually repeats the charge in moral outrage, though the trial scene does pick up things a bit. But what can you say when Jesse's questioning is interrupted by someone screaming from the audience "Leave her alone!"? Since the whole town packs up to join Jesse for the trial and children need to have the situation explained to them, we can guess the outcome. Another guilty contributor is composer David Shire whose enobling score is ghastly. But Jordan is mostly to blame. He lingers over the traffic on route to the trial so it reads as fake spirit of the people, and represents the State officials who are prosecuting Jesse as cartoon "bad guys". There is an awful house on fire scene where a baby dies whilst a crowd stands and does nothing, which seems to exist so Jesse can dispense homely wisdom, and the trial soon degenerates into Jesse on the stand being pious and her lawyer (Kevin Conway) yelling at the jury. We aren't told what differentiates Jesse as a practical nurse from a registered nurse, though it is clear that she is less qualified, and the idea that her arrest comes as a result of entrapment is dubious. The year of this event is said to be 1965, which may explain Jesse's son calling his father "sir", but what about Jesse's husband's Norman Maine-ish lack of identity complaint? I guess working in a mine makes a man overly sensitive. As Jesse, Lee Remick is dry and humourless. Perhaps this is how she does practical nurse heroic. Remick's small emotional range may suit this no nonsense woman, but I'm not sure I'd want her by my side if I was sick. Jordan has previously enabled some of his actresses to fly. Think of how wonderful Marsha Mason is in Only When I Laugh, but he fails Remick here. Or is it that Remick fails him? Either way, this is an experience not to be repeated.