JLRMovieReviews
Wayne Rogers is a company executive who has been getting tired of it, for a long while now and has been car racing on the side for the thrill of the race, the danger, for the high of living on the edge and taking risks. What's life you don't take chances? That's what he tells his wife, Adrienne Barbeau. They have not been getting along lately, and she goes off to restart her singing career, when talking to him about his obsession becomes monotonous. After Wayne has to fire a long-time employee, he finally quits and decides to go to Lake Placid to enter the U. S. Olympics bobsled race. Apparently, he lived there before, as he meets Paula Prentiss, who he went with in their much younger days, and Gary Lockwood who is now married to her. Elke Sommer is manager of the ski lodge, along with husband Mel Ferrer, who is very sickly. Sonny Bono has a supporting role, and, frankly, once he follows Wayne to Lake Placid, his predicament of needing a job but having to be a ski instructor when he's never been on a pair of skis is ridiculous, like an episode of "Three's Company." That is my biggest complaint, that his subplot was unrealistic, the irony of him being in this movie notwithstanding. Aside from that, this production, based on an Irwin Shaw story, was excellent with a great study of the human element. The people here, particularly Wayne, Adrienne, Paula and Gary Lockwood were very real. One could relate and empathize with all of them. They had dreams, regrets, passion. The highlight of the TV movie for me was when Paula told Wayne she had wasted her life continuing to love him, after he had left her. And, also a little later when she told Gary she never loved him, NEVER loved him, despite the fact he had always loved her. She had always loved Wayne. In fact, Wayne seemed to be a magnet for women; they love him. Even Mel Ferrer's character was incredibly real, and he usually comes across a little wooden in productions. Elke Sommer was good, but her character was not as three-dimensional as others. But Paula Prentiss seemed to steal all the scenes she was in. What an actress! All in all, I was very impressed with the writing and depth of this TV movie, despite the corny Sonny Bono plot. I guess that was for levity. And Rae Dawn Chong has a small part in this. She sings, and she's really good. I looked for this, because I had memories! of seeing this when I was almost 10 in 1980. Unfortunately TV movies like this are not on TV anymore. So, it's unlikely you're ever going to see this, unless you try some dvr website. If you do, "Top of the Hill" certainly makes for an entertaining time and a satisfying drama, on the whole.
giuliani-51013
Hi Barbara, my father was a driver on the set of that movie and I do have a ton of memorabilia from it! I have the cover of the script signed by almost the entire cast, including Sonny Bono...I am not sure if that is something you were looking for by my father passed away and a lot of this stuff just surfaced. We found head shots of Denise Du Barry, Craig Wassan (Signed) tons of pictures from the set etc...If you want me to scan anything in for you and email it you can email me @ giuliani21@gmail.com and I will be happy to do so. Also if you are interested in purchasing the original signatures, like I said, I have the whole cast plus a couple extra of Sonny Bono and Craig Wassan. I was barely 4 at the time of the movie but I remember my father bringing me up there! That place is absolutely fantastic! Anyway, if you need anything or want anything, let me know..
barbaratransue
I have fond memories of this movie (especially of Sonny Bono, who was a really nice gentleman). The setting of this movie was supposed to be Lake Placid because of the Olympics, but much of it was filmed in Mt. Tremblant because there was not enough snow at Lake Placid when they were filming. We were there on a high school trip when they were filming and a few of my classmates and I were paid extras in some scenes. We were paid something like $27 a day for a couple of days to sit in the bar, drink Molson, play backgammon (with Sonny) and walk through scenes. For HS kids, that was great drinking money at the time! If anyone knows where to get a copy of this, I'd love to know about it! Footnote: Mt. Tremblant is where Natasha Richardson had her fatal skiing accident.
hawkeye269
Breathtaking scenery, incredible car scene driving on frozen mirror lake in lake placid, decent story line, great winter time movie. i wish i could find it on tape or dvd. if anyone owns a copy of this movie i would be interested in buying it
