There Must Be a Pony (1986 TV Movie) User Reviews

Tabloid fodder again

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 8 March 2019]

James Kirkwood's autobiographical novel gets turned into a fine vehicle for Elizabeth Taylor who was getting less and less work on the big screen. She plays a film star attempting a comeback who is not unlike the real Elizabeth Taylor.

Our protagonist has just emerged from a stay at a psychiatric facility. She's gone back to her sponge of a latest husband Ed Winter and also to the person she really loves above all others, her teenage son Chad Lowe.

After a violent quarrel with Winter when he gets shown the gate, Taylor is in a vulnerable state. At the racetrack and introduced by her friend Mickey Rooney playing himself Taylor meets Robert Wagner a real estate salesman who befriends her son as well.

Wagner seems like a dream come true, but when he's found shot to death on her estate grounds by Lowe it's the fragile Taylor who becomes tabloid fodder once again..

I think Elizabeth Taylor given the fact that since the late 40s that woman lived her life rather publicly in supermarket tabloids gave her a life experience that was sadly perfect for this part. She really does bring a unique dimension to the part. Her scenes with Chad Lowe are the best part of this film.

This one is a keeper for Elizabeth Taylor and her many fans still.

How /not/ to adapt a book to the screen

[grizzledgeezer · 6/10 · 9 May 2016]

James Kirkwood wrote the kind of engaging novels you recommend to friends. (He's best-known for the book for "A Chorus Line".) "There Must Be a Pony" is a semi-autobiographical novel about his growing up as the son of a once-popular actress (Lila Lee). The TV movie is a disaster -- not only poorly written, but inappropriately cast.

I've never been a fan of Elizabeth Taylor, but there's no denying that, as a young actress, she was beautiful and talented. Somewhere along the line ("Cleopatra", perhaps) she turned into an edgy b****. Too much of this remains in her portrayal of Marguerite Sydney. She's supposedly a naïve, dependent woman who makes bad choices, especially in men. Little of this comes through in an unsympathetic and unconvincing performance.

Robert Wagner is similarly miscast as a man who genuinely loves Sydney. Kirkwood was likely thinking of Cary Grant, and Wagner doesn't come close to being the elegant gentleman Ben is supposed to be.

James Coco plays a close gay friend, who in the novel is skinny and birdlike. Kirkwood probably had Roddy McDowall in mind; the heavyset Coco just doesn't work.

Of the principals, only Chad Lowe escapes unscathed. His performance throughout is sincere and believable. He makes Taylor and Wagner look quite bad.

A lot of the problems have to be laid at Matt Crowley's door. Josh is the novel's narrator, but you know darn well Liz ain't gonna appear in a film where somebody else is the lead. Crowley therefore had the task of imagining scenes where Josh wasn't present. Unfortunately, his dialog is often boring and/or clichéd.

It doesn't help that Crowley discards the best sequence in the book. Josh is a klutz at just about everything, and his attempt to bake a cake ends in comic disaster. Then, a page later, he finds Ben's body. Kirkwood pulls this off perfectly: "I laughed and I cried". In the movie, Josh is awakened by noises, and finds Ben's body without any contrasting prior emotion.

If you haven't read the novel, you might like the movie. But the movie is poor, for no justifiable reason. Its problems could have been resolved long before the cameras rolled.

liz taylor thing. some fun supporting cast.

[ksf-2 · 6/10 · 22 February 2024]

Liz taylor, chad lowe, robert wagner. Actress margeurite sydney has just spent some time in an institution, but wants to get back to her acting career. She's also caught between her abusive boyfriend and her son, who she hasn't seen in a long time! But it looks like she's falling back into her addictive ways. And son josh isn't sure what to do about it. Until successful businessman ben (wagner) comes into the picture. Things are great for a bit. Then everything falls apart. How will mother and son handle the chaos? It's okay. Rather abrupt ending. Small roles for james coco (murder by death, new leaf) and william windom (murder she wrote). A funny moment when liz's character gets mistaken for joan collins... that must have happened all the time. Directed by joseph sargent. It appears his daughter lia played the secretary.

Why audition to star on a soap opera when your life already is a soap opera?

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 16 April 2024]

Confused for Joan Collins while at the airport, fading movie star Marguerite Sydney simply goes along with the gaf, and indeed, with her big hair, over applied makeup and cherry rose cheeks, she does resemble the star of TV's "Dynasty". The ironic thing about this is that Marguerite is being played by Elizabeth Taylor whom Joan Collins on occasion was probably confused for before she hit it big. It doesn't help that Collins nearly played Cleopatra while Taylor was ill, but guess who recovered. Also more irony is that Taylor appeared opposite Collins and other veteran movie stars in "These Old Broads", her last acting role.

As Marguerite Sydney, she's facing the need for a comeback after being in an asylum, and her temperament is not as its best. She's alternately lovely and self-centered, happy to see her son (Chad Lowe), but fearing that he might be gay, simply because she doesn't want anymore than two grandchildren. Gay pal James Coco wisely suggests that she allows him to live his own life, but when a movie star grasps, no star is too far away to demand that it appear closer. The fact that Lowe overhears this conversation is heartbreaking for any child, especially one of a legend.

After ditching fellow actor Edward Winter who abuses her on her first night home, Taylor takes up with wealthy Robert Wagner, and it's apparent that he's watching every move she makes so he's not pulled into her poison. What's amazing about this for Elizabeth Taylor is the fact that she seems to be aware of her own weaknesses and allows those to be present in her character. It's a very wise move career wise for Liz as this written by Mart Crowley shows her as she is, warts and all. But it's still trashy in many ways, sometimes uncomfortably funny. Mickey Rooney, Liz's "National Velvet" co-star 40 years before, has a cameo in one scene with her, playing himself in an obviously fictional way. After viewing the behind the scenes look at the entertainment industry, you get to see why it's not the dream profession it's falsely said to be. The people who run the business here are presented as very amoral and shallow.

Not an Oscar winner, but still a nice film

[metilley · 10/10 · 15 February 2006]

No one else has commented on this film so I will. "There Must Be A Pony" has an award winning cast about a recovering woman (Elizabeth Taylor) who has suffered from mental illness from years in the movie industry. She is trying to get back into the "business" but her reputation and her attitude prevents her from doing so.

After her son (Chad Lowe) comes for a visit at their rented home in Malibu, she meets up with Robert Wagner after being introduced at the horse track by another close friend, Mickey Rooney. Lowe is befriended by Wagner and a strong friendship develops. James Coco plays her confidante and best friend. It is a sweet movie with excellent acting, but it has a sad ending.

This film should DEFINITELY be available on DVD. I think it is a shame that it isn't (yet).

Based on True Story: Some Background

[ossurworld · 10/10 · 29 May 2006]

The phrase "based on a true story" is one of the most hackneyed in all movie reviews. This film is, however, more than based on a true story; James Kirkwood who wrote the novel and play on which the movie takes its story actually lived the plot. His mother, a former movie star with severe problems, was under suspicion for shooting her boyfriend at Manhattan Beach in the 1930s. Young Jim found the body, and hence you have the heart of this tale. The real question about whether the victim was murdered or committed suicide created tabloid headlines in its day. The question of whether Kirkwood knew the answer may be hidden in his book and, to some extent, in this film version. Updated to a modern Hollywood, the tale still contains fine performances by its major stars and still contains much amusing cynicism about the movie business that was the hallmark of the original play (starring Myrna Loy) in 1962. Many do not know that a revival of the play in 1982 starred producer Dean Devlin who grew up from the boy in the story to become the producer of films like INDEPENDENCE DAY. The film version of Kirkwood's life is well produced by Robert Wagner and is a great introduction to the writings of James Kirkwood.