A Girl Named Sooner

I have to echo the statements of *almost* everybody else. This movie will STICK WITH YOU. It's VERY haunting but I have to wonder... do I really want to feel haunted?? It's not pleasant! Seriously, it was a weird movie. So weird it drew me here to the internet almost 30 yrs later to look it up cause it was WEIRD and scary. I remember being COMPLETELY tormented by my wanting to watch it but being repulsed by the depressing aspects.

The bird scene is devastating. I don't really remember much of anything else in the movie but I know there were some happier parts. While I do have a "thing" for having my children experience some of my own childhood memories I've Disneyland, etc.. I don't know if reliving A Girl Named Sooner is something I want to burden them with! Just like I was torn when I watched it so many years ago, I'm torn now wondering if I should share it with somebody else!

Funny, how like the other reviewers, I still remembered this movie and have a great desire to see it again. After seeing this movie when I was only about 10, my mom said that I told her I wanted to adopt. Now, I don't remember saying that, but I do think it was funny that, not remembering that being said, I grew up to adopt a sib group of 3. I guess that says how much a movie can seriously affect a life, or many lives. I have been looking off and on on the web to see if I could find the movie to purchase and I have finally found a place. Not knowing the company, I know I am taking a chance on ordering it, but to me it is worth the chance. Here is the link if anyone is interested: http://www.onlyclassicmovieworld.com/Agirlnamedsooner.html

My sister and I remember watching this incredible telefilm when it came out, and for years afterwards. We were heartbroken when they stopped airing it regularly. It is an outstanding story of a poor, uncared-for young girl and what happens to her. It is stunningly acted, and incredibly moving. Some images are still with me to this day. The sight of Cloris Leachman, unrecognizable, playing this loathsome woman, unkempt, her bosom sagging (with rice!) was so shocking to me as a 7-year old that I have been unable to see her any other way since then, in anything, and Mel Brooks' "Young Frankenstein" is totally ruined for me. There is a scene where Sooner, in an attempt to make friends, does something shocking, and thinking about it 20 years after last having seen this, I am still getting upset and a lump is forming in my throat. It was also available as a book, and I read my paperback copy of it until it fell apart.

This is a terrific thing to watch as a family. It sure will make your children realize how lucky they are, but more, how much you love them, because you won't be able to stop hugging and kissing them when this is over.

I saw this movie back in the 70's, and like the other reviewer, I will never forget the scene where Sooner wants to be accepted by the other girls. For years I have thought of this movie, and particularly that scene, and even wished I never saw it, because the scene haunted me! Yet it was so beautifully done! It is a heartbreaking, yet terribly understandable, scene. I continually check the TV guide to see if it is on again. I'm surprised that it has not shown up in the video stores, or on IMDb. Cloris Leachman is amazing, as is the little girl. I read that the girl never made another movie. I wonder why..... I would love to find this movie on DVD. I will never forget this movie. I'd like to see it again. I hope others who have seen the movie will advocate for a DVD!

I am from Switzerland County where this movie was filmed. Sooner lived with the old woman on a hill in a small town called Bennington. The Hill was called Schuel Hill. Bennington was around six miles from Vevay. That is where Sooner lived with the married couple who had no children. The school that Sooner attended in the movie is called the old gym and is still used today for basketball games and carnivals. My sister in law was an extra in this film. She was a little girl on the playground. It is wonderful to watch a movie and to be familiar with the surroundings. This is a very touching film. You will laugh and cry while watching it.