Tonight on ABC Family coming “Ice Castles” movie. Her father, her boyfriend and a rink operator help a partly blinded Iowa figure skater aim for the Olympics.

This is the movie every girl who was in Junior high in the late seventies will vividly remember! The story about a young skater from a small Iowa town trying to make the Olympics against all odds and the tragedy that befalls her. Although a little sappy and often clichéd, this move is still enjoyable to watch. I know it is one of my wife’s favorites and she wasn’t even born yet when this film came out!

Colleen Dewhurst owns a small bowling alley with a skating rink in it and she coached young Lexie. Tom Skerritt played Lexie’s father. They wore both excellent in their respective parts. In my opinion, they are both very underrated actors.

Robby Benson did fine as Lexie’s boyfriend. He has been in many movies but I am not familiar with much of his work. As for Lynn Holly-Johnson, well she certainly has talent. She is a real skater and her looks and skating ability worked for this movie. She does get a little whiny though. In the film she did the following year, The Watcher in the Woods, one can see her limitations as an actress. I see her more as a skater than an actress. However, I have not seen her in any of her later movies.

I have been to the Waverly, Cedar Falls area in Iowa where this movie was filmed and it is a beautiful area. It made a great setting for this film. I especially liked the winter scenes.

This movie also had a very good musical score by Marvin Hamlisch. Of course, we all remember the theme song written by Hamlish and Carol Bayer-Sager and sung by Melissa Manchester.

Donald Wrye has done many made for T.V. movies. I remember a movie done by him called Born Innocent which starred Linda Blair. Her follow up film to The Exorcist. This was a very depressing and downbeat movie. One last comment I would like to make about Ice Castles is the film’s content.

It would have made a great family movie but their was too much swearing and the content of the relationships would not make this film appropriate for small children. I thought I might add this because this is a film young girls would like. Evidently, Lynn Holly-Johnson was asked to do a nude scene but she refused. To bad—She was kind of cute!

Tags | Colleen Dewhurst, Donald Wrye, Gary L. Baim, ice castles, ice castles abc movie, Lynn-Holly Johnson, robbie benson, Robby Benson, Tom Skerritt