Sarah T. – Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic (Shout Factory Blu-ray)

[The Great Owl]

I don't see a thread for this, so here goes...



Sarah Travis, a 15 year-old high school kid played by Linda Blair (The Exorcist), is struggling to adjust to the divorce of her parents, played by Larry Hagman (Dallas) and Verna Bloom (High Plains Drifter), and to life in a new town. She secretly indulges in an alcoholic drink for the first time at a party hosted by her mother and stepfather. Since alcohol seems to assuage her feelings of shyness and inferiority, she increasingly sneaks into her stepfather's liquor cabinet and drinks to excess at parties, despite the concern of her new boyfriend, played by Mark Hamill (Star Wars) in his first feature-length film role. Her parents, her school counselor, and a therapist step in, but they may be too late to stop her downward spiral into addiction.

Those who approach the popular 1975 made-for-television movie, Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic, looking for a quaintly outdated or unintentionally campy public service announcement story will likely be taken aback by ability of this surprisingly gritty film to unnerve contemporary audiences and by its unwillingness to pull punches with regard to its subject matter. Director Richard Donner (The Omen, Superman: The Movie) helmed this well-paced drama after, on the producer's request, attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting where an adolescent boy spoke in front of the group about having a drinking problem. His examination of the increasingly prevalent issue of teenage alcoholism during the 1970s, during a time when more and more young people were dealing with broken homes and social pressure, still goes for the throat.

I miss the 1970s and early 1980s heyday of well-made television movies featuring A-list actors and accomplished directors. Of course, these features hail from a time when most people did not have pay cable channels, and, if you stumbled across a movie on a weeknight on ABC, NBC, or CBS, then chances were that most of your schoolmates or co-workers were watching it as well. This particular outing made a mark when network affiliates posted local Alcoholics Anonymous numbers and other helpful information after its showing. To this day, Linda Blair is still approached by fans who tell her that the movie saved their lives.

The supporting role from a pre-Luke Skywalker Mark Hamill is emotionally resonant, and it is an early indicator that he was destined for a good future in cinema. Be on the lookout as well for the always-amazing M. Emmet Walsh (Blade Runner, Blood Simple) in a small part.

This Shout Factory Blu-ray delivers a great-looking 2K scan of the original elements, along with interviews with Linda Blair, Richard Donner, and producer David Levinson.