The Dollmaker

Jane Fonda plays a Kentucky hillbilly with five children who knows no reality besides the constant obedience to her husband in The Dollmaker. Take a moment to absorb that sentence. If you're shaking your head thinking she could never pull a role like that off, rent the TV-movie that won her an Emmy. She's practically unrecognizable in her transformation. Gone is the beautiful, strong woman who helped millions of women exercise, and in her place is a frumpy, useful homemaker who works herself to the bone every day to keep her family afloat.

The Dollmaker takes place during WWII, and when Jane's husband Levon Helm gets drafted, Jane thinks her life will begin again. She's been secretly saving money for years from whittling dolls out of scrap pieces of wood, hoping to buy a farm while her husband's fighting in the war. When he comes home, he'll see how the family's thrived on the farm and he won't question her decision. However, Levon doesn't get accepted by the army. Instead he gets a factory job in Detroit and demands his family join him. Jane's mother, Geraldine Page, pressures her to obey her husband, so Jane packs up her five children and her nest egg and moves to Detroit.

In her new life, Jane lives through unspeakable horrors. She gives such a heartfelt, harrowing performance, at times you'll forget she's Jane Fonda. This is a once-in-a-lifetime performance, and it truly takes you back in time to an era when women blindly obeyed their husbands. Modern feminists will probably feel betrayed that Jane took on such a role, but they might feel better if they look at The Dollmaker as a cautionary tale, which it absolutely is. It's an extremely heavy drama, and it might not be for everyone. But if you like terribly depressing stories by Tom Hardy or John Steinbeck, you'll be in a better place to appreciate this tragedy. Get out your Kleenexes and get ready for the best performance of Jane Fonda's career.

Kiddy warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to some upsetting scenes involving children, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.

I haven't been able to find this movie available on DVD anywhere, so if you'd like to watch it, click here to watch it on YouTube. And thanks "astrosbaseball2012" for posting!

It's almost the end of 1999 and I've just seen this film for the first time - had never heard of it. I was pleasantly surprised that it was not a 'sappy, tear jerker'. Also pleasantly surprised at Jane Fonda I think she did a wonderful job in this film. It's a simple story. WWII sharecropper's wife reluctantly follows hubby to Detroit where he is going to 'make his fortune'. Needless to say, there are some major and minor misfortunes. See it to find out if all ends well.

This is hands down, one of THE best movies/show ever shown on TV. I've only seen it a handful of times but I remember it so vividly. There isn't a single thing wrong with this movie. The acting, the directing, the script, costumes, everything is...well...perfect. Easily the best performance of Jane Fonda's career. I hope to come across it soon on DVD.

This is a movie you'll want to watch again and again. Jane Fonda has created memorable characters throughout her career but her portrayal of Gertie is so achingly authentic and original, Fonda, as you may have seen her in other roles, is all but unrecognizable here.

Originally made for TV, I hope this movie will be released on DVD and be re-run frequently on TV and get some of the attention it deserves (I caught for the first time as a late night rerun.) Fonda's Gertie represents a very real American woman who is too rarely seen in movies, presented here with such stark realism, you'll take her into your heart.

This movie and Fonda's performance can stand along side the very best of American films. And it is simply a beautiful story - I hope more people get a chance to discover The Dollmaker.

"The Dollmaker" deserves to be considered a classic. The story itself would be memorable and moving with or without Fonda, but her portrayal of Gertie Nevels, the mother, is very true to the type. There is no hint of the bumpkin in Fonda's interpretation of the uneducated, backwoods mother of five, who moves from the Kentucky hills to Detroit, where she and her family endure great hardships. Fonda plays the part of a strong Appalachian woman with dignity. Although "The Dollmaker" has not been picked up and replayed as one of the "modern classics," it truly deserves a place alongside other classics, such as "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Coal Miner's Daughter." It has been quite a few years since I saw the film--probably at the time of its original release in 1984--but it touched me deeply enough that I have never forgotten it.