The Loneliest Runner

stomer Reviews 4.8 out of 5 stars (4) 4.8 out of 5 stars 5 star 3 4 star 1

I saw this TV movie when it first aired back in 1976. Lance Kerwin, in some really good acting, plays early teen John Curtis who has a bed wetting problem. The movie lures you in with sympathy for the boy and it is very effective. Michael Landon plays John Curtis as an adult, an ace runner, who we see breaking through the finish line at the start of the film . While pondering the question of his track abilities during an interview, he stares into a wall clock that triggers a childhood flashback. The story unfolds as we witness young John Curtis rising early and scampering to gather his bedsheets for washing. Johns father(Brian Keith)who internally wants to help his son, lives in a household where he appears to be verbally dominated by his wife. As a father with a secret, he tries with heavy machismo to reach and cure his son. At the age of 12 or 13, John's fear of being ridiculed for bed-wetting by his parents and friends is monumental, and understandably so. He desperately tries though shear will and lack of sleep to end or hide his condition to please his parents. You really feel his pain.

This may all sound like a boring or outdated topic, but stay with it to see a family dynamic exposed and some great acting as well by Brian Keith. John obviously has a condition that can't be helped. You could almost apply any embarrassing ailment, or even an addiction to the story and get a good message from it. His mother is downright mean and determined to embarrass her son by hanging his urine stained bed sheets out the window for all his friends and neighbors to see. The film takes place in the 50s so you can somewhat understand the naivete'. To avoid ridicule John bolts home from school everyday to take the sheets in before they can be seen. Doing this daily, he develops great speed and is recognized by the school track coach as a standout. A wonderful and eventually forceful showing of compassion by dad makes it all worthwhile. As we return to the adult John Curtis at the films end, he makes a bittersweet and humbling statement (in true Landon fashion). The Loneliest Runner is a surprisingly interesting and entertaining movie. If your in the mood to stir up emotions, this well done and probably forgotten seventies TV movie will do it. Watching it as a parent by yourself could be a learning experience. The Loneliest Runner deserves a quality DVD release.

There's no way I would have ever come across this movie but for belonging to a film club that views movies dealing with the theme of running. Landon has admitted that this poignant bed wetting story was autobiographical; frankly I doubt the squeamish subject matter would have ever been broached (let alone made into a feature length TV movie) without the backing of someone as powerful in television as Landon was in the 70s. Obviously the pain of the experience stayed with Landon because there are strong psychological conflicts and images at work here that seem likely to have come from real life, including the stained bedsheets hanging out the window and the pained, carefully modulated performance by Brian Keith as the father who can't quite stand up to his castrating and selfish wife or his own private demons.

Is it credible and well acted? Definitely. Does Landon demonstrate startling balls and emotion in his blazingly frank depiction of the material? Unquestionably. Is this studiously observed treatise on the ultimate in childhood embarrassment and ridicule going to be uncomfortable and maybe even a bit of a bummer for you? Probably.

The mother and ostensible villain of the piece is overly caricatured and some of the attitudes of the 1940s are oversimplified but still, I have to admit I was moved by the story. The ending packs power and Landon the writer provides Landon the actor (looking very Bruce Jenner-like in his Olympics clothing) with a wonderful line when Rafer Johnson asks him how he got into running and Landon responds by saying he owes it to his parents. That line cuts in several directions at once. Good movie for fans of Landon or Keith, who both turn in excellent work and whose lives were both ironically cut short years later.

Very sweet film about the humiliating beginnings of a marathon runner (adult played by Michael Landon). Young Michael, played by Lance, was a bedwetter. As he grew, his mother, a dominating woman, would humiliate him by hanging his sheets out the window to dry, so Lance would run home as fast as he could to pull them in before any of his school chums saw it. Movie expresses the hidden humiliation behind teenagers who are bedwetters, and makes an important statement on the longlasting affects of handling this problem in an unhealthy way.

Turns out it is and it isn't.

It's a good small simple 70s movie. It was produced by that boring Prairie show actor.

Overall a nice nugget of a film that explores bed wetting, self-esteem and parenting.

The sound track put me to sleep. That's good though because if you can put me to sleep then you are a good movie exceptional to DC movies.

Simply Wonderful performances on a difficult topic. I really liked the actors, and its a shame that Lance Kerwin stopped acting not too long after that, but I hear he is happy on the Christian Ranch he went to, so, There are many good child actors who for some reason or the other have gone on to do other things, but I'm glad for him. I know after reading this comment you might click no, that it was no helpful, and though thats bad, its your choice. However, my purpose here is to backup the comments already stated. (Should I paste it all in again when so many other people have already stated the facts.) No, I didn't think so. So, go watch it, you won't regret it.