Katherine (film)

Katherine

DVD cover
Directed by Jeremy Kagan
Written by Jeremy Kagan
Starring Sissy Spacek
Art Carney
Henry Winkler
Country United States
Language English
Release date 1975

Katherine (also known as The Radical) is a 1975 television film written and directed by Jeremy Kagan, and starring Sissy Spacek, Art Carney and Henry Winkler. Intended to portray the time period of the Vietnam War, the title character was loosely based on Diana Oughton of the Weather Underground, who died in the 1970 Greenwich Village townhouse explosion when a bomb she was building accidentally exploded.[1] Reviewers have also noted that Katherine also "borrowed from the then-current headlines involving Patty Hearst, another heiress whose exact level of voluntary involvement with the Symbionese Liberation Army remained hazy in 1975.[2][3][4]

Through a series of flashbacks, the film, told in semi-documentary fashion,[5] retraces the main characters' lives through the years 1964-1972.[6]

Production and cast notes

Katherine was originally telecast in a two-hour slot on October 5, 1975 and was later syndicated in a 78-minute version.[7]

Art Carney, who plays Katherine's father, Thornton Alman, in the film, won an Oscar this same year for the film Harry and Tonto.

Julie Kavner, who plays Katherine's college roommate, Margot Weiss Goldman, in the film, was at the time of this film also playing Rhoda Morgenstern's kid sister Brenda on the TV show Rhoda and would later find fame as a voice actor on The Simpsons.

Henry Winkler, who plays Katherine's mentor, comrade, and lover in the film, was at the time of this film also playing Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli on the television series Happy Days.

References

  1. ↑ By Ed Rampell (2005). Progressive Hollywood: A People's Film History of the United States. Red Wheel Weiser. ISBN 9781932857108.
  2. ↑ Phil Hall (October 31, 2008). "THE BOOTLEG FILES: KATHERINE [BOOTLEG FILES 257 “Katherine” (1975 TV movie with Sissy Spacek, Henry Winkler and Art Carney).]". FilmThreat.
  3. ↑ "Katherine (1975)". TCM (Turner Classic Movies). Retrieved 5 February 2014.
  4. ↑ By Ed Rampell (2005). Progressive Hollywood: A People's Film History of the United States. Red Wheel Weiser. ISBN 9781932857108.
  5. ↑ Hal Erickson, Rovi (2010). "Katherine (1975), Alternate title: The Radical". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
  6. ↑ By Ed Rampell (2005). Progressive Hollywood: A People's Film History of the United States. Red Wheel Weiser. ISBN 9781932857108.
  7. ↑ Hal Erickson, Rovi (2010). "Katherine (1975), Alternate title: The Radical". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 February 2014.

External links