Judith Krantz's I'll Take Manhattan (1987)

Note: This is a mini series three decades old so as a viewer you should have that perspective in mind.  If this was made today, it probably would be better, but then again, maybe not.

You might ask, "What about the classics?"  What about them?  The movies, you mean?  Well, this was made for television, produced by Steve Krantz, and adapted from Judith Krantz's novel.
It may not be much appreciated today, but it was the talk of the town during its time.
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Valerie Bertinelli, Barry Bostwick and Perry King star in a 1987 miniseries based on Judith Krantz's novel of a New York magazine publishing empire.

First episode date: 1 March 1987

Theme music composer: Lee Holdridge

Network: CBS

Writers: Sherman Yellen and Diana Gould

Directors:  Richard Michaels and Douglas Hickox

Part 1 (Episodes One and Two)

Part 2 (Episodes Three and Four)

Princess Daisy, Scruples, Mistral's Daughter, and I'LL TAKE MANHATTAN are my favourite Judith Krantz novels that turned into mini series, and I am very happy to watch this again very recently.

People talked about this mini series for days, weeks, months or even more after this was shown on TV, and people really knew who did this, did that.  People watched it for different reasons, and most of them have read the book.  

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PERRY KING who plays Cutter here was known to me as Cody Allen of Riptide alongside Joe Penny's Nick Ryder.

Cutter is a very devious man...a player...very greedy.  I don't even think he loved anyone...not even Lily.  Lily was just an obsession because his brother had her. Anyways, I think by playing Cutter, Perry King proved to be a very versatile actor.

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VALERIE BERTINELLI plays Maxi, the central character of this story.  She is very intelligent, feisty, and a very hard worker, all of which Ms. Bertinelli brought to life.  I used to watch One Day at a Time and she played one of the daughters there.  Although I must admit my memory has been hazy about the TV series, I must say that I remember that Ms. Bertinelli have been very impressive even then and has honed her craft through the years.  What I do remember is that just before watching this series I watched a movie called I Was A Mail Order Bride.  Although presented as a romantic comedy, the topic was serious...it was about a journalist out to look for more than a scoop...a story that could jump start her career and a guy who wanted to win a bit(something similar, but not the same, to How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days).  She did it quite well.  I remember watching it because of Ted Wass, but she made quite an impression, even if the TV movie wasn't really a favourite of the critics.  

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BARRY BOSTWICK could be considered a mini series king in the 1980s because of his appearances in Scruples and A WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE before this one.  Call me crazy, but I think he looks better now than during his days as a leading man because his look has more character nowadays.  Oh well.  That's just me.  Even so, he has a certain charm.  His height and his built made us believe that he was really a Major...a veteran strengthened by the war.  It is also understandable, especially here, why he had a lot of projects back then, and that even today, he still lots in post production.

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TIM DALY is very adorable here as Toby, the eldest son of Lily and Zachary.  He is the pained almost blind chef who was full of pride that impressed critics, but irritated his employees.  That pride almost killed him, but thankfully his employees were able to help him.

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JULIANNE MOORE plays Maxi's best friend, India West.  From the start of their teenaged years, I was wishing she would fall in love with someone, and I was thankfully that I was right, and that it was mutual. India, though very unsure of herself, becomes a very good actress and a household name.

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FRANCESCA ANNIS, whom I mistook for Jacqueline Bisset when I first watched this, is the older version of the very beautiful Lily played earlier by GEORGIA SLOWE, who captivated the broken heart of Zachary, almost making it whole.  Cutter got obsessed by her because his brother had him first.  She fell for him and mistook all the excitement for love, but thankfully, an incident poured buckets of cold water on her, waking her up before she drowned.

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ADAM STORKE plays Lily and Cutter's love child, Justin.  Justin is a very talented photographer, but has a secret everyone close to him knew about, except his father.

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JANE KACZMAREK plays Nina, the first person Zachary wanted to marry, but she chose career over love.  Apart from him she knew she made the wrong decision, but was shattered when during his short London trip, Zachary fell in love with Lily. 

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Last, but not the least, JACK SCALIA.  During the time I watched this, he was the hottest, at least for me, and I'm glad he played Rocco, the first man Maxi ever loved.  He never loved another woman after her, and they have one daughter, Angelica, played by STACI KEANAN(credited as Staci Love). A man driven by his sense of pride, he did not want anything to do with the Amberville fortune.  If his state of life would improve, the reason should be because he earned it, and not because his wife has lots of money. He's the exact opposite of Cutter(and somewhere in between is Roberto, Ricardo Montalban's role in Latin Lovers---LOL). He truly is a sight for sore eyes.

It was made soap opera/telenovela style, so maybe the millennials would say, "Meh!", but hey, for all it's worth, it was a top rated mini series made for television.

Well, I guess that's about it.

This may be thirty-one years too late, but kudos to everyone involved in this project!  

Cast:

• Valerie Bertinelli, Alisan Porter as Maxime 'Maxi' Amberville-Cipriani
• Barry Bostwick as Zachary 'Zach' Amberville
• Francesca Annis, Georgia Slowe as Lily Davina-Amberville
• Perry King as Cutter Amberville
• Lynne Griffin as Candice Alexander
• Jane Kaczmarek as Nina Stern
• Jack Scalia as Rocco Cipriani
• Julianne Moore as India West
• Paul Hecht as Pavka Meyer
• Timothy Daly as Toby Amberville
• Adam Storke, Keram Malicki-Sánchez as Justin Amberville
• Staci Keanan, Hillary Wolf as Angelica Cipriani
• Kate Vernon as Nanette Alexander
• Donald J. Trump as himself (The current President of the United States of America was just a very powerful business magnate back then)