“Door To Door” [ ]
Sunday at 8 on TNT
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WARNING: If you have a tendency toward depression, crying jags or overall weepiness due to PMS, HRT or SAD, do not – repeat, do not – watch this movie. Failure to heed this message is your own damned fault!
William H. Macy, who you’ll remember from “Fargo,” has teamed up with his writing partner, Steven Schachter, to write “Door To Door,” the true story of Bill Porter (played by Macy), a man born with cerebral palsy who was considered totally unemployable in 1950s and ’60s America.
Luckily for him, his mother (Helen Mirren) refused to accept that her son was unemployable and figured he’d make as good a salesman as his deceased dad had been. She taught Porter that despite his mighty physical disabilities, he could in fact succeed. And he did.
But it wasn’t easy. Porter tried without success to get a job – until he happened upon a company, Watkins Products, a door-to-door operation offering everything from soap to dog biscuits.
Porter persuaded the company to let him try his hand at door-to-door selling, despite the fact he had a problem walking, an arm and a hand that didn’t work and a speech impediment.
Porter got himself a route and eventually began selling a fair number of products, walking his route 8-10 miles a day, every single day.
Things were just starting to look up when Porter’s beloved mother developed Alzheimer’s. If you get this far in the show and haven’t started to cry, run into the bathroom immediately and get out a few boxes of tissues – you’ll need them.
Porter had to put mommy in a home, which is even more disastrous. (I’m getting depressed just thinking about it.)
Along the way we get to meet the customers who first let Porter into their homes and then into their lives – from the neighbors who have a life-long feud to the lonely woman (Kathy Baker) who he might have made some sort of life with, to the gay couple who were as unwelcome in the community in the ’60’s as Porter.
When the workload becomes too big, Porter hires an assistant (Kyra Sedgwick) who takes over his deliveries and helps him organize his life. They become life-long friends and Porter makes a huge impact on her life, and she on his.
As the Watkins Company grows into the modern age, the door-to-door division shrinks to one person – Porter.
You’ll be happy to know that the whole thing has a happy ending – he became the company’s top-selling salesman.
Macy, Sedgwick and Mirren are all terrific. It’s one of the better movies to come along on TNT.