Sunday, June 24, 2018

SAVANNAH SMILES: KIDNAPPING GONE WRONG


Light hearted family friendly films seem to be a disappearing breed these days. Certainly kid movies are being made but these days they all seem filled with innuendo and subtle adult references in an effort to placate adults unwilling to take their kids to see a movie unless they can get something from it too. In the past a number of independent film makers would make movies released through low budget distributors who reaped decent profits from those films. But those distributors are few and far between sucked up by the majors who don’t seem to understand their own audience. They rely on blockbusters and their smaller films are always fueled by stars seeking pet projects instead of looking to the audience to decide what films to make.

In the late 70s and early 80s that wasn’t the case. Movies like THE ADVENTURES OF THE WILDERNESS FAMILY were released and drew enough of an audience to garner a sequel. Shows like THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GRIZZLY ADAMS did well on TV. And a small independent movie called SAVANNAH SMILES came out in 1982 that captured hearts and did decent business at theaters before it became lost to the world. No longer as the movie is not one of the latest to be resurrected for the MVD Rewind series.

When the movie opens we’re introduced to our two bumbling protagonists, convict Alvie Gibbs (Mark Miller who also wrote and produced the film) and Boots "Bootsie" McGaffey (Donovan Scott) who breaks Alvie out of prison while he’s on work detail. What Bootsie doesn’t realize is that Alvie was set for parole at the end of the week. Now the two are on the run and penniless. Worse yet they’re not the most competent thieves as their first job involves a store where the pilfer less than $15 and some groceries before escaping in a broken down car Bootsie stole with a flat tire.

As this is going on we’re also introduced to Savannah Driscoll (Bridgette Andersen), a precocious little girl whose father Richard (Chris Robinson) is running for the Senate. While he and her mother Joan (Barbara Driscoll) entertain a group of wealthy donors and political allies she feels neglected and sets things in motion planning to run away.

On an outing with friends at the park the next day Savannah runs off, grabs the suitcase she packed and jumps into the back of the first car she finds. That car just happens to be Alvie and Bootsie’s as they steal a purse from an unwary lady. It isn’t until they take off and are pulled over by a policeman that they find out about Savannah in the back seat. Given a warning they’re set free.

When her parents find out Savannah is missing they immediately suspect kidnapping. They bring in a top notch freelancer (Peter Graves) to find their daughter. Working alongside the police he begins to piece together the parts of the puzzle to find out who is responsible.

In the meantime Bootsie and Alvie try to figure out what to do. They want to return the girls but first off Alvie is still wanted and secondly they assume, rightly so, that with their past the police will think they kidnapped her rather than the truth. Biding their time they set up house with the little girl. As they do so they both find themselves drawn to the sweet child. Bootsie becomes her playmate and Alvie finds that he can talk to her about his own rough childhood. Eventually they contact her parents but tell them they don’t want a ransom but would like the reward money. But their plans never go as intended.

Some have said this is a remake of THE RANSOM OF RED CHIEF but I found it completely different. In that story the child was so terrible that the kidnappers, who actually did kidnap him, are willing to suffer the consequences just to return the child. Here the pair don’t kidnap her and are sad to part ways with their “victim”. It seems that Savannah has the ability to get through to the pair and help them out as much if not more than their helping her.

The movie played to audiences that enjoyed the film enough to make decent money on the investment of its producer. It was never a major box office hit but audiences that saw it still remember it fondly. The film is definitely low budget but the quality of the film makers is still there. The acting is better than most and the charm of its young star Anderson is there to see in every scene she’s in.

Sadly Andersen never had the chance to become the major star she could have been. She took a break away from acting for a while, fell in with the wrong crowd and became a drug addict after hitting that time in her life where she was a rebellious teen. After making up with her mother she cleaned up and was acting again but a chance encounter with her old drug dealer led her to use heroin once more and she died of an overdose. We never got the chance to see what she could have become.

MVD Rewind is bringing those movies that were on the shelves of video stores across the country back to life in this series. The packaging looks like the old video store packaging with “Please Rewind” labels and more. But more than just the packaging is the fact that these movies have been missing from DVD or blu-ray, forgotten until they rediscovered them. For that alone they deserve praise.

The film is being released in a 2k hi-def blu-ray transfer from the original 35mm release with a print provided by the Library of Congress. A standard DVD is also included. Extras include THE MAKING OF SAVANNAH SMILES a new documentary with interviews of Miller, Scott, composer Ken Sutherland and her mother Teresa Andersen, MEMORIES OF BRIDGETTE ANDERSEN with interviews of the same, THE SONGS AND MUSIC OF SAVANNAH SMILES with Sutherland, the original theatrical trailer and a collectible mini-poster.

The movie is great family fun and I have little doubt that everyone will have their heart captured by Anderson in the lead role. I’ve only found one flaw with the MVD Rewind series so far and that the lack of subtitles. They can really help in moments where you have to mute the picture, hear jumbled dialogue or are simply in need of an assists as your hearing fades. Perhaps they’ll consider fixing this issue in the future. For now just enjoy this movie.


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