SimonJack
"One Special Night" is about two people who experience the heartbreak of losing a spouse, and then find renewed hope and interest in life. What makes it so special, is the deep love each had for their spouse. And, the grief and aloneness the surviving spouse endures until he or she can recover. The story is a natural one for the holiday season. It takes place from Thanksgiving to Christmas. It's a drama, a tale of deep and lasting love, a picture of grieving while life goes on, a look at family discord and reconciliation, a reminder of the hope and beauty of life when a baby comes into the world, and a budding romance with just the right amount of cynicism and humor to add zest to the plot. Julie Andrews is an MD (obstetrician cardiac specialist), Catherine Howard, who lost her husband to cancer a year ago. She has no family and she continues to visit the Shelby Hospice where her husband had been a patient for a long time. James Garner is Robert Woodward, a builder, whose wife has Alzheimer's and who has been in the same hospice for nearly a year. He has two daughters, one married and one single. Daughter Lori is estranged from her husband, Jeff, and is over seven months pregnant with a baby sibling for young Michael. Daughter Jaclyn has been living in New York, trying to make it as a painter. She has just come home for the holidays. Catherine and Robert meet by chance at the hospice on Thanksgiving while a snowstorm builds outside. Having sent his family home, he tries to get a taxi by phone, but is having no luck. Catherine overhears him and offers him a ride. She has a classic Jaguar, hardly a practical car for winter, Robert comments. The two don't even know one another's name as they drive off into the snowstorm. But it's clear that each dislikes the other from the start. Their conversation is sparse and bickering, which lightens the heavy mood of the film to that point. When Catherine's car gets stuck in a snowdrift, the couple are stranded in the storm. They walk to find help or shelter. They come across a tractor but it has no keys. Robert crosses wires and starts the engine. "I used to be a car thief," he quips. "Really?" she answers. "Rehabilitated," he replies. They find a modern cabin in the woods, but no one is home. So, Robert breaks a back window. The phone and electricity have been knocked out by the storm, but they have a fireplace and hot water from the gas service. With lots of candles and a blazing fire, the couple find some food and settle in to weather the storm for the night. In this one special night, they come to know one another, they share their stories and each one's attitude toward the other mellows. Little doses of humor and some heartfelt discussion make for a night of friendship with possibilities beyond that in the future. At the start, Robert makes a comment about Catherine's marriage. She tells him she lost her husband to prostate cancer a year ago. He apologizes: "I'm sorry. Occasionally I say the wrong thing." She replies. "I noticed that right away." While Robert rustles up some food, Catherine goes to take a hot shower and get into dry clothes. As she heads for the bathroom, Robert asks, "Did you ever see 'Psycho?'" "Yes! Why?" she replies. "No reason," he says. They look at each other with big smiles. Later, Robert says that his wife, Marybeth, doesn't recognize him or know who he is. Catherine says that she does. "In her soul, a woman never forgets a man who has occupied her heart for so many years." Cell phones aren't working in the storm, so Robert and Catherine haven't been able to reach anyone outside. Robert and Catherine fall asleep while talking on the sofa in front of the fireplace. In the meantime, Robert's family has set out to try to find him in the family four-wheel drive SUV. Lori and Jeff finally come across the stranded Jaguar, but they don't find the cabin until the next morning after the storm has ended and plows have opened the roads. After being rescued, Robert and Catherine agree to meet at a favorite café that Sunday for a breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes. Both show up, but before Robert goes in, he gets a call on his cell phone that his wife has had another heart attack. He leaves without going inside to tell Catherine, who waits a couple hours for him to show up. Robert's wife dies and the family has her funeral. Robert and Catherine don't see each other again until Christmas Eve when Lori is in the hospital to deliver her baby three weeks early. Will romance bloom between Catherine and Robert? Will they ever get together? One can guess the answer easily, but the rest of the story of how and when is endearing. There is much more to the story with Robert's family, marital reconciliation, strengthening of sibling ties and the hope and joy of life with a baby born into the world. This is a wonderful Christmas season movie with a refreshingly different theme. "One Special Night" may resonate with more families as the years go by. It tackles the subject of families who have a parent in a nursing home or special care place. It is about couples who lose a spouse to dementia or other debilitating illness. With an aging population growing ever larger, more and more families are likely to have similar situations well into the 21st century. As this film shows, love endures the hardships, and after the grieving, it rekindles hope and joy for the future.
deborah-fill
I bought this film as I love James Garner and Julie Andrews. The Notebook and the Sound of Music I could watch over and over again and have done! I am shocked at how bad this was,I thought the storyline had no morals and the acting shocking.I cannot understand the other reviews that think this was good, I agree that it is lovely to see older actors in a love story and the Notebook if a perfect example of this but this was corny and so not true to life.Things like them finding the tractor and James being able to start it within a few seconds, Julie managing to light a fire and it blazing in a few moments,the loaf of bread not being mouldy, and how he found the necklace when it had not stopped snowing beats me.Buyer beware!
Rosemea D.S. MacPherson
"Robert," James Gardner (Victor, Victoria) and his daughters went to visit his wife in the hospital. There was a snow storm coming and Robert decided to stay at the hospital longer. Later he tried to get a cab but he could not get one. "Millie" Julie Andrews (The Sound of Music), a doctor, overheard his phone conversation. She was driving home in her convertible Jaguar and offered Robert a ride. Not exactly your snow transportation! Her car crashed in the snow. They ended up spending the night in a vacated cabin in the mountains without a telephone. Robert had to break a window to get in. There they started a love-hate relationship. They argued a lot. His daughter and son-in-law were having marriage problems. They went arguing and looking for Robert. They were not able to find him. Millie and Robert decided that they should meet for breakfast. When it was time for breakfast, Millie was inside the restaurant. Robert got to the front of the restaurant but he received a phone call and did not go in the restaurant. The scene reminded me of "An Affair to Remember" and "You've Got Mail" where she waits but he does not come. The next time they meet neither one wants to admit that they were there. It turns out that the phone call that Robert received was that this wife who had Alzheimer's had died. His children meet Millie and thought that she was neat. Millie's husband had died of cancer and she had no children. Robert and Millie fell in love. He purchased the cabin that made that night so special. This was a nice and sweet made for television movie. Favorite Scene: he gives her the scarf she lost in the snow.
