"Bill. That's my name. William. Bill for short." - Mickey Rooney as Bill Sackter
Bill & Bill: On His Own Double Feature DVD Review
By A.J. Carson
Remember when watching a TV movie was actually something of an event? In the days before cable brought hundreds of channels to choose from, it wasn't uncommon to find entire families sitting in front of their lone televisions to watch movies and TV shows together. Such was the case with Bill and my family.
In 1981's Bill, Dennis Quaid (Yours, Mine and Ours) is Barry Morrow, a struggling filmmaker. While attending a Christmas party at the country club where his wife Bev (Largo Woodruff) works as a waitress, Barry meets Bill Sackter (Mickey Rooney, Night at the Museum), the club's mentally disabled kitchen cleaner. Barry's application for a filmmaking grant from the Ford Foundation has been rejected, but in Bill, he sees a film subject that might lead to success. At first, Barry is interested in Bill mostly because of how he will appear on camera. With his bad teeth, unconvincing hairpiece, and simple speech, Bill would make an appealingly unappealing star.
As Barry begins to research Bill's history, he learns more about the man's extremely troubled past. At age seven, Bill was committed to Granville Psychiatric Hospital by his widowed mother. Diagnosed as being "mentally deficient...imbecilic" with no known cause, Bill spent the next 46 years in the hellish Granville. When the medical establishment's views on mental retardation changed, Bill was mainstreamed into society under the supervision of welfare officer Marge Keating (Anna Maria Horsford, Amen). Given a job and a place to live, he was expected to live on his own for the first time in almost fifty years. Because he has the mental capacity of a five year-old, Bill is an easy mark for conmen and street toughs. His slow, drunken speech pattern and befuddled demeanor have also landed him in jail several times because the police mistake him for a wino.
Barry begins to see beyond Bill's external behavior, and as filming continues, he becomes Bill's friend and champion. There's only one problem-Bev is pregnant, and since the family will be losing her waitress income, Barry will have to find a paying job. This will mean both postponing the documentary and devoting less time to Bill. When Barry's job hunt lands him a teaching position at the University of Iowa, he is faced with leaving Bill behind in Minneapolis, a decision that helps him to realize that Bill is now part of his family.
Bill is maudlin and sentimental, but in a good way. Its greatest success is in showing how our fears color our perception of the mentally and physically handicapped. And if you can manage to remain dry-eyed when footage of the real Bill Sackter is shown at the end of the film, then you should probably see a doctor.
Mickey Rooney's performance is a little self-indulgent at times, but it was still strong enough to win him an Emmy and a Golden Globe. Dennis Quaid is charming and moving as Barry, but his performance was overshadowed by Rooney's showier role. Bill also won an Emmy for "Outstanding Writing in a Limited Series or Special," a Golden Globe for "Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV," and a Peabody Award.
Bill: On His Own, the TV movie's 1983 sequel, didn't win anything. From the second its crappy theme song kicks in ("A dream is not a waste of time/When you feel it in your heart"), you'll know that something has gone awry. The movie begins with Barry, Bev, and Clay (now a toddler) bidding adieu to Bill before they head off to California. Bill is still serving coffee at the University of Iowa's student center and living in the home of landlady Mae Driscoll (Teresa Wright, Shadow of a Doubt). Mae now runs a boarding house, providing a home for Bill, childlike Angela (Edie McClure, The Richard Pryor Show), and agoraphobic Kenny (Tracey Walter, Best of the West). Grad student Jenny (Helen Hunt, Mad About You) decides that she wants to satisfy her casework requirement by teaching Bill how to read, count, and use the phone. Mae discovers that too many people are living in the house, forcing her to consider evicting Bill. Bill finds out that his estranged sister is critically ill, and that he's Jewish. By the time Bill celebrates his bar mitzvah, you'll be in tears...hoping that the movie will be over soon.
If Bill is a warm-hearted movie based on a true story, Bill: On His Own is a schmaltzy movie based on a movie that is based on a true story. Everything about it seems calculated to capitalize on the success of the prior film. Since Bill was effective with one mentally challenged adult, imagine how many tears could be jerked with three of them. Even Bill himself has been made cutesy, wearing overalls and a cap that leave him looking like a cross between the conductor from "Conjunction Junction" and Lee Jeans' sometimes mascot, Buddy Lee.
As bad as Bill: On His Own may be, it doesn't take away from the power of the original. So watch Bill and leave On His Own alone.
One double sided disc holds both films. The disc is housed in a standard keepcase which, in turn, slides into a cardboard sleeve. The Mondrian-style design of the packaging isn't exactly a perfect fit with Bill, but it is most certainly eye-catching. The films are divided into chapters, and the DVDs include scene selection menus.
