While the story is cliched and has been told many times, the third part of the "Sarah, Plain and Tall" series is a moving conclusion to an excellent saga with the now established family led by Christopher Walken and second wife Glenn Close (as Sarah) growing by one when Walken's long lost father, Jack Palance, returns out of the blue, having left Walken's mother when he was just a young boy. Walken only see things from his perspective, not realizing that his mother had drove Palance away, dissatisfied with life as a farmer's wife which meant that she had to stick around and run the farm while Palance had assorted adventures elsewhere and eventually was believed to be dead. The family is brought more together by this as the grandchildren instantly love having a grandfather, and thanks to the love of Close (the loving stepmother to two of the children and mother of one), they make it through all sorts of hardships including an argument which causes Walken to break his leg and issues surrounding a bad winter.
Solid performances and a beautiful screenplay truly makes this a very moving drama, and you don't have to have seen the prior to films to understand all the relationships although that does help. Close plays a character whose love for her family has brought them closer than before together and her warmth makes you see into the soul of both character and the actress who has a passion for the beauty that Sarah reveals not by either just words or deeds but simply by her presence. She's a saintly woman without being too sickly sweet, and the flaws of the other characters are made to be understandable as an inate stubbornness of all of them shows a strength that only a hard life while still surrounded by love can establish.
Palance is perhaps a bit too breathy in each of his lines, and at times, that's a little hard to listen to, but that also gives a reality to the worn out essence of his character who has health issues that he doesn't easily reveal. The flaws are minimal as the emotions of each of the characters draws the viewer in, and while the three films can be watched individually and appreciated on that level, putting it all together as a miniseries is a rewarding experience that shows how people in a different time truly working together to make all of the hardships worthwhile and how the strength of love made everything work out in spite of all the tragedies along the way.
Solid performances and a beautiful screenplay truly makes this a very moving drama, and you don't have to have seen the prior to films to understand all the relationships although that does help. Close plays a character whose love for her family has brought them closer than before together and her warmth makes you see into the soul of both character and the actress who has a passion for the beauty that Sarah reveals not by either just words or deeds but simply by her presence. She's a saintly woman without being too sickly sweet, and the flaws of the other characters are made to be understandable as an inate stubbornness of all of them shows a strength that only a hard life while still surrounded by love can establish.
Palance is perhaps a bit too breathy in each of his lines, and at times, that's a little hard to listen to, but that also gives a reality to the worn out essence of his character who has health issues that he doesn't easily reveal. The flaws are minimal as the emotions of each of the characters draws the viewer in, and while the three films can be watched individually and appreciated on that level, putting it all together as a miniseries is a rewarding experience that shows how people in a different time truly working together to make all of the hardships worthwhile and how the strength of love made everything work out in spite of all the tragedies along the way.