The Promise (1979)

THE PROMISE

Two college students, Nancy McAllister (Kathleen Quinlan) and Michael Hillyard (Stephen Collins), want to marry. But Hillyard comes from a wealthy family and his mother, Marion (Beatrice Straight), disapproves of their relationship. Then the couple are in a car accident that leaves Nancy disfigured and Michael in a coma. Marion offers to pay for Nancy's reconstructive surgery if she moves away and promises never to contact Michael. Nancy painfully agrees. Will their paths ever cross again?-WWW

Initial release: 8 March 1979

Director: Gilbert Cates

Music composed by: David Shire

Production company: Universal Pictures

Screenplay: Garry Michael White based on the story by Fred Weintraub, Paul Heller.  Incidentally, this writing duo also produced this movie.  They approved Gary Michael White's screenplay with some minor tweaks from the two of them.

There are songs that identify the movie and there are movies that are identified by the song.  In the case of THE PROMISE, it goes both ways.

This is a song I sing during weddings

Lyrics

Say goodbye
Why, I can barely say good night
If I can hardly take my eyes from yours
How far can I go?

Walk away
The thought would never cross my mind
I couldn't turn my back on spring or fall
Your smile, least of all

When I say always
I mean forever
I trust tomorrow as much as today
I am not afraid to say I love you
And I promise you, I'll never say
Goodbye

We're dancers on a crowded floor
While other dancers live from song to song
Our music goes on
On and on
And if I never leave your arms
I really will have traveled ev'rywhere
For my world is there

When I say always
I mean forever
I trust tomorrow as much as today
I'm not afraid to say I love you
And I promise you, I'll never say
Goodbye

If I can barely say good night
How could I ever say goodbye

Songwriters: Alan Bergman / David L. Shire / Marilyn Bergman

I'll Never Say Goodbye lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

#MartinNievera Martin Nievera's version of the theme song of this movie is very moving.  Hope you get to listen to it.  

THE MOVIE (filmed in 1978, released in 1979):

It starts with a montage of their love and romance.  Their are from different ends of the social diagram.  Michael Hillyard(Stephen Collins) is from the upper crust, but I don't think Nancy McAllister(Kathleen Quinlan) is from what we call crumbs and or in another description, the bottom of the barrel, but let's just say he's out of her league.

The story's material is somehow the favourite topic of soap operas and telenovelas, and sadly, I know real people who experience this kind of entanglement where people try to keep them apart, just because society thinks they don't belong together.  Ergo, this story could be anyone's story and even if this is a work of fiction, a lot, maybe not all, but a lot, can relate to this.

Nancy is a free-spirited woman with New Age like beliefs.  She uses the beads(featured in the montage at the start of the movie) to be a symbol of their love. They have a little ceremony by the sea and pledge their love.   Michael promises never to say goodbye. Then they bury the necklace.  They just removed the rock...I didn't see them dig a little, but when they placed the necklace, there seemed to be a little hole, to assure us that the necklace could remain undisturbed, unless there's an earthquake/tsunami or something...I checked the bottom of the rock---hehehe---it wasn't shaped like it could have produced a whole like that one...anyway, who else cares?  Probably no one.

Love is in the heart.  Physically, during the start of the story before the surgery,  I couldn't imagine them together, if I were in the same age bracket as they are in this film, but it works.  They look like they are truly in love and that's what matters.  

Kathleen is even more beautiful nowadays.  She has aged gracefully, and Stephen is still as handsome as always.

Marion(Beatrice Straight), the matriarch of the Hillyard family, Michael's mother, is a control freak.  So when that vehicular accident happens leaving Michael in a coma, she took this opportunity to remind Nancy that the Hillyards are on the top of the food chain and she's not even a part of it.  Worse, she's pond scum, though not contemptible.  It's not just her financial status she hates.  It is who her parents are and her ways.  

What choice did Nancy have?  Of course, she wanted her face to heal, but she did not have the means to.  She just had to accept "the offer" out of practicality. At first, she did not want to accept a gift so expensive, but... 

It's heartbreaking.  Power tripping is evil.  Evil comes in many forms and sometimes it comes in the form of a very rich mother who deludes herself that their riches were acquired through honesty.  

I'm glad before the accident happened(caused by the bright lights of the truck that was being overtaken by a car---it couldn't be caused by the happy singing because...), Michael fought for Nancy and called his mother's airs and his grandfather's legacy built on honesty a bunch of crap.

This is a poster for The Promise (1979 film). The poster art copyright is believed to belong to the distributor of the film, the publisher of the film or the graphic artist.

Anyways, the surgery happened, Michael eventually got out of his coma.  He was made to believe she's dead...

I was in elementary the first time this was released, so the first time I wrote this blog entry, my mind mixed some scenes, so I had to jog my memory a bit by watching it again.

Now, I am more convinced that this is a timeless classic, but there's one thing I never thought of before, but maybe the others who watched this were able to grasp it.  If Marion was dead set in keeping them apart, why would she send Michael to California? Ah, it's because it's "safe".  Or maybe she was so guilty that deep in her heart, even if she won't admit it, she wanted to make it right.

THE SOUNDTRACK

Thinking she's dead, Michael doesn't recognise her voice...maybe he did, but...

Anyways, their first meeting, Michael was stunned for a few moments, but dismissed that thought.

Nancy felt more betrayed than ever because she doesn't know that Michael thinks she's dead.

Anyways, even if four decades have passed since filming and almost forty years since it was released, maybe you don't want me to spoil the whole thing so I guess that's all I'm going to share right now.  I hope you get to watch this very beautiful movie.  It would surely be worth your while.

📖📖📖

Thanks for your time.

May you have a great day!

CAST:
Kathleen Quinlan as Nancy McAllister/Marie Adamson
Stephen Collins as Michael Hillyard
Beatrice Straight as Marion Hillyard
Laurence Luckinbill as Dr. Peter Gregson
William Prince as George Calloway
Bibi Besch as Dr. Faye Allison
Michael O'Hare as Ben Avery
Paul Ryan as Dr. Fenton