Any Mother's Son (1997 TV Movie) User Reviews

Well made and Emotional

[brisy · 10/10 · 3 July 1999]

After seeing this film for the first time and knowing it to be a true story made it very emotional and realise what life can be like is the US Navy.

Any Mother's son is the true story of US Navy Seaman Allen Shindler who is murdered by two of his fellow seamen while on shore leave from his post in Japan, it is then up to his mother, sister and the help of a reporter to ensure that the Navy carry out the justice that is due against the murderers.

Any mothers son is a well made, factual and emotional true to life film and is worthy of the award it one for outstanding made for TV movie.

Absorbing! Bedelia shines!

[ducdebrabant · 9/10 · 13 May 2006]

I'm starting to wonder why, every time Bonnie Bedelia gives a performance on the small screen, they don't give her an Emmy immediately. Her style of film acting is so perfectly suited to the television medium, her effects so perfectly judged, her work so intelligent and tasteful and felt, that it can hardly be improved upon. This performance, in a perfectly terrific part, is no exception.

The story itself is absorbing, and the script and direction give it its head and get out of its way -- not the easiest of tasks, given the conventions of television. There are conventions in this version, of course: (1) The presumably composite character of the unsympathetic relative who feels no sympathy for her deceased cousin if he's gay, wants it proved that he is not, and basically views the whole sorry mess as a shameful misfortune to her personally: a drama of which she is the center. That's a convention of these TV movies, but a useful one. Then there is (2) the music nudging our emotional reactions, probably unnecessarily.

But the relative is well-played and the music isn't particularly bombastic. The movie has great dignity, in fact, and all the acting is superb. Moreover, Bedelia is the center of it all, and with Bonnie Bedelia at the center of a story, the center always holds. Bravo!

A very compelling film

[Rodrigo_Amaro · 9/10 · 13 December 2023]

Another knockout performance from Bonnie Bedelia (the eternal Holly McClane from the "Die Hard" franchise) in a great TV drama based on a real story. She plays the mother of US Navy seaman Allen Schindler Jr., a young man killed by two shipmates simply because he was gay. When she learns through the media about the crime and the motive, she begins to confront herself and her bias (she didn't he was gay, and so it happens that she had a great deal of prejudice herself), and also embarks, along with her daugther and Allen's sister, on a fight for justice, questioning the Navy's way of handling things.

It's a very emotional film but hardly ever sentimental. Things unfold in a great suitable way, and Bedelia's transition with her fears and discomfort on the things she end up discovering slowly builds her as a strong character, with plenty of moral fiber and as always brings the best of her care and concern for her family and her dead son. I like that her transition isn't something that miraculously happens overnight, it all feels real and believable thanks to the script and the actress understanding and dedication to it.

It was a tough watch at parts due to some intense and heated homophobic line of thought coming from a relative of theirs (but hey, it's the 1990's and things were really like that in some circles), but whenever there were the moments concerning the mother's search for the truth or the first time she meets her sons caring friends, the movie kept going through special times with one great scene after another.

A missing moment here and one that is quite known researching on the web was Allen's using of the 2QTBSTR8 signaling on the ship which got him in trouble, not because of being a gay celebration but the illegality of the signaling. I get amused with this story and his bravery in doing so.

"Any Mother's Son" is a very compelling and concisive story that shows that a mother's love can take her to unexpected places and unexpected people and those will give her a wider comprehension of things, and prove that her love for her son will never fade and it can only grow. 9/10.