A Sally Field Comedy

 I am a longtime, devoted Sally Field fan and have been ever since I was a boy in Los Angeles watching her on ABC as GIDGET. Mom watched with me because she felt Sally Field was charming and talented. Sally's next ABC sitcom was THE FLYING NUN. She became a Hollywood punchline because of that silly but fun show. Male comedians and male TV critics pretty much dismissed her skills -- and that had me fuming. Those same men ignored and/or overlooked the solid dramatic work she did in made-for-ABC TV movies after she was THE FLYING NUN. There she was holding her own opposite veteran Hollywood stars Eleanor Parker, Jackie Cooper, Julie Harris and Walter Brennan. 

She shot those comedians and critics down with her extraordinary dramatic work in the 1976 NBC TV mini-series SYBIL. She played a young woman who was suffering from mental blackouts and multiple personalities. She's in therapy with a psychiatrist to get to the root of her mental dysfunction.

She followed SYBIL with her Best Actress Oscar-winning performance as NORMA RAE. She won just about every performance prize except for a Soul Train Music award for NORMA RAE. Her second Best Actress Oscar came for PLACES IN THE HEART.

For a while, it seemed like native Southern Californian Sally Field was now to the perfect actress to play Southern women. All three of her Oscar nominations came for playing Southern women -- NORMA RAE, PLACES IN THE HEART and the biopic LINCOLN in which she played the wife of President Abraham Lincoln. Plus, she was one of the Southern mothers in popular STEEL MAGNOLIAS.

IN 2015, Sally Field played a New Yorker in the comedy HELLO, MY NAME IS DORIS. I loved it. Most of the reviewers described it as the story of a woman in her 60s who is attracted to a much younger co-worker. Well, that's partially true. Doris does have a crush on a younger, handsome co-worker. He's polite to her and unaware of her inter-office crush. Doris is a mousey, odd, harmless character. She pretty much keeps to herself in her cubicle at work and she has funny James Thurber-ish visions of romancing the young guy.

In life, Doris pretty much stays in her cubicle. She doesn't really venture out much. She doesn't really connect to the outside world. You sense that she's a hoarder. She has one close friend -- fabulously played by Tyne Daly -- but that's about it. Doris is socially awkward. She's a little mouse in a cubicle.

The movie is really about someone who needs to connect to the outside world, clear out the clutter of her life and emotions and be brave enough to move out of her personal cubicle.

HELLO, MY NAME IS DORIS runs about 90 minutes and it's now on Netflix. The movie also stars Max Greenfield as the object of Doris' fantasies. His character has a girlfriend played by Beth Behrs. Greenfield and Behrs now play the married couple next door on the CBS sitcom, THE NEIGHBORHOOD. The wonderful Rebecca Wisocky plays one of Doris' co-workers. Rebecca is now a stand-out, getting lots of laughs as the late redhead Hetty on the hit CBS sitcom, GHOSTS. 

Sally Field is funny, memorable and moving in this movie. She captures the humor, heartbreak and resilience of the character. I recommend this indie movie. HELLO, MY NAME IS DORIS is an original, wise and engaging film. Take a look at the trailer.