Product Description

Hollywood favorites Robert Redford (SPY GAME) and Michelle Pfeiffer (I AM SAM) sizzle together in this acclaimed story of heated passion and burning ambition! When aspiring news reporter Tally Atwater (Pfeiffer) tries to break into television, only veteran newsman Warren Justice (Redford) will give her a shot. In time, he teaches her everything she knows about news ... and she teaches him how to love again! But with her rise from local TV weather girl to network anchor, Tally and Warren must balance the dream of success ... with their desire for each other. Also featuring Celine Dion's #1 hit single "Because You Loved Me" -- you'll find this entertaining motion picture an absolute must-see!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10921 in DVD
• Brand: Disney
• Released on: 1999-09-14
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 124 minutes

Amazon.com
Here's a classic Hollywood star vehicle. Up Close and Personal--the story of Tally Atwater (Michelle Pfeiffer), an inexperienced but ambitious TV news personality, and her well-weathered journalistic mentor, Warren Justice (Robert Redford)--was carefully tailored to fit its stars. What began as a screenplay based on the biography of troubled TV anchorwoman Jessica Savitch (Golden Girl, by Alanna Nash) took more than eight years to reach the screen, written and rewritten, on and off, over the years by husband-and-wife team John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion, mainly because they needed the work to qualify for the splendid Writers' Guild health-insurance plan. Although the considerable charisma of Pfeiffer and Redford go a long way, in many respects Nash's original nonfiction book (and even Dunne's peculiarly disingenuous "insider" account of the writing of the screenplay, Monster: Living Off the Big Screen) offers tales more compelling than the one that eventually made it to the screen. But, all things considered, that's a little like comparing apples and oranges, since the slick Up Close and Personal bears about as much resemblance to its gritty original source material as...well, an apple does to an orange. Critic Roger Ebert, who awarded the movie three stars, nevertheless said he was reminded of the time producer Samuel Goldwyn commissioned a screenplay about the Lindbergh kidnapping. Only, to quote Goldwyn, "it can't be about kidnapping, which is against the Code. For legal reasons, we have to change the name from Lindbergh. And the kid's father shouldn't fly." Read the book, see the movie, read the book about writing the movie. Anyone interested in how movies are made will learn an entertaining lesson about the studio system by devouring all three. --Jim Emerson

Customer Reviews

A must for all Pfeiffer fans.
Up Close and Personal does the impossible: it manages to jump from different settings within two hours and shift its plot while keeping the audience wanting more and more. Pfeiffer stars as a reporter, Tally, who has always aspired to make it to the top in television news. Along the way, she meets a veteran newsman, Warren Justice (Robert Redford), who gives her a chance at a reporter. As she begins to mature in her stories and her thirst for knowledge heightens, she begins to turn heads in the news business, and ends up moving from a station in Miami to a station in Philadelphia. All the while, Tally and Warren struggle to keep alive a relationship that both know is inevitable. Performances from all actors are very original and heartfelt, under Jon Avnet's wonderful direction. Thomas Newman's score is brilliant, and fits in at every moment to add to the emotional appeal of the movie. A storyline that never stops moving at times keeps the energy alive, which makes this movie one that will please most people.

Redford Does it Again
Robert Redford starred in one of the undisputed great romance films of all time, The Way We Were. Up Close and Personal takes many aspects of this film plus many other great romance classics, like Pygmalion and A Star is Born.

Sally Atwater (Michelle Pfeiffer) is an ambitious woman who wants to break into the nightly news game. She fakes an audition tape and sends it every news department. She gets a bite from a small station in Miami. Channel 9 news is headed by veteran Warren Justice (Redford). He immediately sees through Sally's disguise but he sees something in her.

Sally keeps on trying and absorbing everything about the news. And one day, the weatherman walks off and Warren puts Sally on (but changes her name to Tally.) Tally is an unmitigated flop but according to Warren "the camera eats her up." Warren takes her under his wing and turns her into a first rate journalist. Eventually, she becomes an anchor.

During a sweeps story at a penitentiary, Tally gets caught up in a prison revolt. But this gives her a unique opportunity, she is the only reporter on the inside. Her coverage goes national and she becomes a media sensation. It's not long before the networks come knocking on her door but Warren has escaped that rat race and is not interested in returning.

With Tally a star, Warren decides that it is time to get back into the game but on his own terms.

This is the return of Redford, the romantic actor. He proves two decades later he still has it. Pfeiffer, like her character, was coming still coming up and this helped prove she could handle a romantic lead. This film also features two great supporting performances from Stockard Channing and Kate Nelligan as two of Warren's exes.

This is a great date film or to watch after a break-up. And it has the only great Celine Dion song - Because You Love Me.

DVD EXTRAS: NONE

emotional
This is one of the first movies I can say that I made me cry at the end that I love. Redford and Pfeiffer are AWESOME and it had all the things a movie must have; action, romance, and humor.