The Neon Ceiling

I'm 47 and I saw this movie on TV when I was 10. I remember the gist of the story- the mother and daughter running away, and the grumpy old man at the diner with the neon ceiling, but the scene I remember the most is when the old guy lets the girl practice driving; it seems to me like she was going around and around the diner, blowing up dust and cussing his old truck. I guess I identified with her. I also remember the old guy's face when he would light up the neon ceiling- he had a look of rapture, and even at 10 years old I recognized that he was opening up to them a part of himself he had kept hidden away, protected. I just liked the movie when I saw it, and would very much like to see it again. For whatever reason it made a lasting impression on me.

I agree that this movie and other 70s TV movies (ABC Movies of the Week like Tribes, Duel, That Certain Summer, etc.) have been unjustly neglected both in reruns and movie guidebooks. However, I think perhaps the person who wrote the other comment is thinking of another movie. The movie I remember was certainly NOT a thriller. It was a very human story about the developing relationship among the three main characters. I admit that I was only thirteen years old at the time and could be wrong about this, but I was particularly fond of this movie since I had read the script before the movie was aired and remember looking forward to seeing how the final film would come out. I hope some of these great films will make a comeback. Thank you IMDb for remembering them!

This movie has many darkly lit scenes despite the title. Herb Edelman truly proves he can act in this tour-de-force drama of a bored housewife seeking adventure. Lee Grant is excellent also, but the stand-out is Denise Nickerson, who showed quite an acting range.

I was very young when I seen this movie. For years I could not remember the name of the movie. I would talk to my late husband about it and he said he had never heard of it.(this was surprising because he had seen just about every movie made from the 30's to the 90's and the fact that his father was a projectionist in Redondo Beach, Calif). I will never forget two parts of the movie; when Jones would turn on the 'Neon Ceiling' and when he taught the daughter to drive & she dressed up and left to go back to her father. I think this movie is what made me like neon fixtures so much. Great movie, great story line, great actors, just all around great movie. If only they would make movies like this now.

This movie has been haunting me for years and I'd LOVE to find a copy to see it again. Perhaps contributed to my love for the desert and a life that has definitely been on a lesser traveled road. Both performances by Gig Young and Lee Grant were memorable. This movie also contributed to a fascination with neon lights. Somewhere in Portland Oregon there is a house on a corner with a changing display of neon lights that during my 10-year tenure there reminded me of what am impact Neon Ceiling had on me. Current attempts to capture the unfulfilled lives of desperate housewives pale by comparison to this excellent drama. You can almost taste the barren beauty of the desert!