80 Steps to Jonah

I watched this movie when I was about 12 years old. I was spending the night with my Grandmother in the late 70's and we happened to be up late talking. This movie came on the late night movie and it has stuck in my memory. My Grandmother and I both loved this movie and we went through many tissues. My Grandmother passed away about 8 year ago and one of my many fondest memories with her was the night we watched this movie together. I would love to see this movie again. I have only saw it once and it made a great impact on me. Any recomendations to where I may be able to rent it would be greatly appreciated. I would definitely rate this a must see movie. (They don't make em' like this anymore.)

I recently ran across a letter that I sent to my mom on 11MAY70 from Da Nang, Viet Nam. 80 Steps must of made some kind of impression for this young Marine to write home about altho 32 years later I have no recall about the movie. I wrote "that it was a real family type film and a tear jerker, but a lot of guys really liked it" so now I need to go find a copy on video and see what impressed me so.

I feel that there was excellent casting in this picture. Wayne Newton handled the lead quite well - he played it with heart, but resisted the temptation to make it overly sentimental. Not afraid of being upstaged by animals or children, he worked well with them to tell us a beautiful story. Brought to the foreground was how independent people with disabilities can really be. The music, too, was a definite plus!

Police chases after a speeding car which crashes. The car is stolen and one of two men gets killed. Mark Jonah Winters (Wayne Newton) is found in the driver seat, but he claims to be only a hitchhiking passenger. The police officers don't believe him. He crashes the ambulance and escapes. He finds himself in a camp for blind children who mistake him for their new handyman. Blind Tracy Rutledge (Diana Ewing) takes a liking to him.

Jonah is really dumb for rushing away from the gas station. There are a couple of issues with the story. Wayne Newton is doing some mumbling acting until he starts singing. He's trying to be Elvis. This is an odd mix of a kiddie movie, a melodramatic young romance, and a high stakes police fugitive hunt. Mostly, this fails as a Wayne Newton vehicle. He doesn't do well especially if he expects to be the next Elvis.

This movie really DID exist. For the longest time, I thought this movie was synthesized from my collective unconscious. I remember seeing this movie on some impossibly late program about 25 years ago and being genuinely moved by it. Unashamedly sentimental, yet not too saccharine treatment of a man on the lam who finds refuge at a summer camp for blind children. A surprisingly well-casted movie with a decent soundtrack that would definitely appeal to the "Grab-a-hanky" set. Not a movie I would go out of my way to see - except for the purpose of reminiscing about the first (and only) time I saw it - but, I would definitely watch it if it appeared on my television while channel-surfing.