The New Adventures of Heidi (TV Movie 1978) Poster

(1978 TV Movie)

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3/10
TV New Adventure
BandSAboutMovies25 November 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Directed by Ralph Senensky (Death Cruise) and written by John McGreevey (The Death of Richie), this remake moves Heidi from Switzerland to New York City. It's also a musical.

Heidi is played by Katy Kurtzman and her friend Elizabeth Wyler is played by Sherrie Wills. It's the same story you expect, as Elizabeth is fascinated by the rural life of Heidi and her grandfather (Burl Ives).

While you see a lot of snow in this, it was shot in the summer in Los Angeles, so the acting is pretty decent. After all, it was in the 80s while fake snow was falling on the ground. Also: the grandfather is assumed dead for nearly a year and no one calls the police or tries to help Heidi. Instead, they bring her to live with the rich people and treat her like a pet, then solve the grandfather's blindness by paying for surgery because money solves everything.

Maybe I've never seen Heidi before or something.
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7/10
Katy Kurtzman as Heidi
cultfilmfreaksdotcom25 February 2012
Warning: Spoilers
In one of the most wonderfully bizarre made for television musicals ever filmed, Katy Kurtzman plays a modern day Heidi. With the signature blond pigtails, she frolics throughout the mountainside with her grandfather, played by Burl Ives, who's losing his sight.

What they really want is to live together without a care in the world: and other than a bearded psychopath lurking in the shadows, hilltop life is downright peachy. But when Grandpa gets lost in a thunderstorm, Heidi travels with a poor little rich girl to a mansion in the big city – and here's where the movie takes a bad turn.

But don't blame our lovely little sky-eyed heroine. Psycho actor John Gavin's role as the rich girl's neglectful father ruins not only the whimsical pace, but takes Heidi out of the story for tedious pockets of downtime.

Yet overall, despite the camp value, young Katy Kurtzman turns in an amazing performance, especially scenes where she's crying or wishing for the life she may never regain.

Her eclectic bouquet of expressions, ranging from contented to ecstatic to woebegone to hysterical, makes some of the other stuff – reminiscent of an eerie dream – not matter. It's the title character that counts... It's her adventure!

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