Of course I knew Suzanne Pleshette long before this as Bob Newhart's glamorous TV wife, so sultry and subtle in her wisecracking. I later discovered her younger self in the 1962 romantic drama "Rome Adventure". Later, I found a new aspect of "the Queen of Mean" when she played Leona Helmsley. Appearances on "Will and Grace" wrapped up her magnificent career, turning off a light that shined in her eyes seemingly far too soon.
Pleshette is cast opposite another powerhouse, the cheery but firm Cloris Leachman playing the mother superior of the convent where New Orleans madam Pleshette is sentenced for three months. She finds herself a bit of an outcast as she mingles among the other nuns which includes veteran actress Geraldine Fitzgerald as a former mother superior who has been "tossed aside" and made to feel useless, stage and TV veteran Judith Ivey as a by the rule-book nun, and comic character actress Susan Kellerman who supports her from the start.
Like both "Sister Act" movies, this has the subplot of the convent being in danger of closing. Of course, like Whoopi Goldberg, she helps turn all that around as the friction between her and Reverend Mother Leachman gets more heated. A subplot involving a union feud between industrialist John Considine and union leader Kenneth McMillan takes the TV film out of its comic elements into dark corners. Pleshette is extremely glamorous, and it's a shame that she didn't get to play a Joan Collins type rich bitch on a prime-time soap. She does get to show a variety of feelings and moods here, and just a delight to watch. Leachman is more subtle than usual, showing her versatility. Fitzgerald, of course is simply adorable. All in all, not bad for a TV movie.
Pleshette is cast opposite another powerhouse, the cheery but firm Cloris Leachman playing the mother superior of the convent where New Orleans madam Pleshette is sentenced for three months. She finds herself a bit of an outcast as she mingles among the other nuns which includes veteran actress Geraldine Fitzgerald as a former mother superior who has been "tossed aside" and made to feel useless, stage and TV veteran Judith Ivey as a by the rule-book nun, and comic character actress Susan Kellerman who supports her from the start.
Like both "Sister Act" movies, this has the subplot of the convent being in danger of closing. Of course, like Whoopi Goldberg, she helps turn all that around as the friction between her and Reverend Mother Leachman gets more heated. A subplot involving a union feud between industrialist John Considine and union leader Kenneth McMillan takes the TV film out of its comic elements into dark corners. Pleshette is extremely glamorous, and it's a shame that she didn't get to play a Joan Collins type rich bitch on a prime-time soap. She does get to show a variety of feelings and moods here, and just a delight to watch. Leachman is more subtle than usual, showing her versatility. Fitzgerald, of course is simply adorable. All in all, not bad for a TV movie.
