Customer Reviews

Verna - USO Girl (Broadway Theatre Archive) [VHS]

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

 

 

Sissy Spacek stars as a second rate wartime USO Girl entertainer trying to make the bigtime.It's a beautifully acted feel good movie!!

It was at least 10 years ago when I first saw "Verna - USO Girl." I never forgot this story and the poignant portrayal by Sissy Spacek. I was thrilled when I found I could get it from Amazon. This film was everything I remembered, and more. I'm sharing it with everyone I can get to sit still long enough and we cry every time.
Jere Covington
Claremore OK

I bought this DVD some time ago but only got around to playing it on the occasion of Memorial Day 2009. I'm glad I did. The talent - actors, writers, direction - is top-notch which is rather surprising since it was a made-for-TV production (i.e., small budget). It was shown nationwide by PBS as part of the Great Performances series on January 25, 1978 and then dropped out of sight.

What gives it an aura of authenticity is that it was filmed on location on US Army combat training centers in Germany. I suspect that the soldiers in the film were loaned by the US Army to be "extras." The same with the military equipment.

The cast is top notch. The hard part for them is playing "down" to the talent level of their characters who are essentially vaudevillians. Sissy Spacek in the title role is very convincing as someone who imagines that she is on her way to stardom but really has only "third-rate talent." (Two years later she won an Oscar for her role in "Coal Miner's Daughter" and has received many awards since.)

One curiosity. There is no mention of Howard Da Silva on the keep case and yet he has a big role in the film. Amazon corrects that oversight - deservedly so.

This is apparently a transfer from VHS. Indeed, the original production may have been originally taped for TV. There is a warning screen on the DVD that the conversion to digital exposes the flaws in the original media. Never mind. As the story unfolds, you won't care.

Finally, this little film is a tribute to all the USO troupers - men and women who slogged through the mud, danced in the dirt, sang in the tropical sun and the rain, lived in tents, bounced around in trucks, told bad jokes and took big risks in combat zones and military bases around the world - who gave what talent they had so GIs could have a laugh and see some feminine pulchritude if only for a little while.

God Bless Them All.

I saw this movie when it first came out in 1978 and again in 2010. I thought it was good then and still do, giving it 4 stars. Spacek stars as a not-so-talented USO girl who somehow deludes herself into thinking she has a special gift for entertainment and will someday be a big star. Sally Kellerman and Howard Da Silva complete the main characters (remaining part of the USO troupe) along with William Hurt, who plays a kind of one note "Gee whiz all-American Captain" with too much time on his hands. I found their (Hurt's and Spacek's) romance sort of unbelievable - no US Army Captain on the front line in Germany during the Battle of the Bulge would ever have that much free time on his hands. So the story is a bit rigged in that regard. But it plays out accordingly to its inevitable end - as you are just waiting for something substantial to happen. And it does. I thought that Kellerman and Da Silva gave the most realistic (very good) portrayals in the movie, followed by Spacek (good) and Hurt (average).

There are movies that make you laugh and movies that make you cry. What people fail to understand is that a movie will change because of what is happening in history.

This small movie starring Sissy Spacek is unbelievable. It is the story about a dreamer who is a USO entertainer during WWII. Having never heard the story before in any context I borrowed it because of a recent family interest in WWII in Europe.

"But I have to believe in myself, no one else did..." Verna says as her love interest William Hurt, the Army captain tries to convince her that they need each other enough to get married. Hurts character is from modest America, he can't imagine her life, and she knows or senses that she can never be the wife that he needs. Verna refuses his offer and they spend one night together before parting.

The beginning of the movie is slow and cheesy, but real in the sense that things were different in the time this move was filmed and in the time the events that inspired the movie occurred.

What makes this movie deserving of any stars is what happens next.

The USO is a parable of sorts, about what we need to do in life.

Verna becomes someone that she always knew she was meant to be.

How many of us ever have the sense of this and bravery to live it out.

Verna you are unique, great movie.

In Paul Gallico's VERNA: USO GIRL, totally untalented Verna Vane (Spacek) is hired as third act in a tiny USO troupe set to tour in Occupied France. She spends every waking moment obsessively practicing clumsy dance steps and singing off-key. Kellerman and DaSilva are only marginally better on-stage, but at least they recognize their limitations. Verna, by contrast is convinced she's headed for superstardom and their humble USO show is just a necessary steppingstone to success. Hurt is the captain who's so infatuated with Verna he can't see how awful her act really is.

Verna's moment of glory finally does arrive most suddenly, but it's not at all what she expected.

The cast is exceptional, the story engaging (if a bit melancholy). Highly recommended!


Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 IMDb viewer poll rating.

(7.4) Verna: USO Girl (TV-1978) - Sissy Spacek/Sally Kellerman/Howard DaSilva/William Hurt