PALS

US, 1987, 90 minutes, Colour.
Don Ameche, George C.Scott, Sylvia Sidney.
Directed by Lou Antonio.

Pals is a light, smooth telemovie directed by veteran Lou Antonio. It is a pleasant star vehicle for George C. Scott and Don Ameche to work together, with Sylvia Sidney as Scott's mother.

It is about two retired army men, their dreams, the possibility of buying a charter service and discovering a case full of money. The money changes Scott's life as he wants to enter into Georgia society. It alienates him from Ameche. However, all is resolved well in terms of honesty and returning to a more simple life. A pleasant entertainment and light moral fable.

1.Enjoyable telemovie - about age, about money, about change?

2.Florida and Georgia settings, ordinary way of life, affluent society? Musical score?

3.The title, friendship, the past, sharing, bonds, clashes and reconciliation?

4.Jack, fat, waking up in the morning, sitting at home all day, his relationship with his mother? The contrast with Art and his fitness, winning races, mowing the lawn? Their life together, friendship, comparing notes, going on the boat with Herman and his wife, memories of the army, regrets and no regrets about not marrying? Their prospects?

5.Mom and her eccentricity, her continually watching television, the range of films culminating in The Third Man? Their going to Georgia for the television set? The ride, mother going to the restroom, their finding the abandoned car and the money?

6.The decision about the money, taking it, the shoot-out, Mom in the back of the car and its being stolen, its coming back with Certainty driving? Going together, the irony of their ridiculous disguises? Moving house, buying the charter and the house, the variety of accounts and covering the $3,600,000?

7.The criminal and his pursuit, the FBI following him? The wealthy owner of the money? The track down, the interviews with the variety of people, the criminal catching them in their house, the irony of the TV monitor ruining the criminal's pacemaker?

8.Life with wealth, the big house, the boat, the changing of their names? Jack and his love for society, Muffy and Lance, the gallery, his donation, the growing number of lies, his name in the papers? Art and his irritation with Jack, the ordinary tourists, the break in the friendship?

9.The changes? Mom and Certainty and their reaction? Certainty changing and becoming more normal?

10.Certainty and her going to the party, the intrusion, the relics for the auction, telling the truth and exposing Jack? His having to accept it?

11.The effect on Jack, going back to ordinary life, Art and his speeches about being normal, Certainty and her affirmation of Jack? Honesty? Their decision to give the money to charity?

12.The court case, the irony of their finally getting just over $4 and the state's getting the rest of the money? Mom and Certainty and their punk style? Going back to an ordinary happy life?

13.Money as the root of all evil - a pleasant fable about believing in oneself and ordinary lives?