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Bob & Lisa's
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Ceremony
made-for-TV-movie
1993 on Lifetime
This was the very first post-series movie made about the Spenser series. Based on the 1982 book by the same name (Read the Review), the credits say this one was filmed in Toronto. However, one shot has Susan and Spenser walking Pearl along the Charles with the 'salt and pepper' bridge clearly in the background. Maybe they did a few shots in Boston for flavor? It brings back the cast from the TV series You've got Robert Urich as Spenser, Avery Brooks as Hawk, and Barbara Williams as Susan. The photo above was taken from that movie.
The movie has Susan just moving into a new place, with several scenes taking place in her kitchen. The "Quotes" restaurant in Toronto also figures prominantly. Susan tells Spenser about a 16 yr old girl she was helping out that has vanished. The parents of the girl don't really care - the father is running for governor and the mother disliked the girl. Spenser decides to look in a poolhall for one of the girl's friends and he's there. He finds out immediately where the girl's female friend is and finds here there. Neither know where the girl, April, is. So he goes into the Combat Zone of Boston and POOF he finds her. The girl is then hidden in Providence, and he finds her. The girl is brought back to Boston and he finds her, being used by a guidance counselor that was supposed to be helping teens in distress.
The kicker comes when they have a final meet-up with the parents and April reveals that she saw her dad at the whore-house, and the dad is just sad that he can't be governor now. The mom snarls that April has ruined everything and off they stomp.
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Lisa Says: Many of the flaws I saw in the book translated right over into the movie version. The whole easy-girl-finding was a bit much. The parents were a bit too evil. Still, it was an interesting movie in many ways. For one, Spenser and Susan have a martini to start out with, and then drink white wine with their omlet later, and then end with white wine with their cheese. Guess he's no longer a beer dude!
They did 'clean up' the storyline a bit for TV. At the end, the girl was supposed to go to a 'good whorehouse' in NY because this is what she wanted to do. In the TV version, the girl is sent to a halfway house to clean herself up. They seemed to be on a Ford kick. Spenser was in a Probe. Susan was in an Explorer. The cops were in a Taurus. At least Hawk was in his black Jaguar ... Bob Says: Spenser parks his Red Ford Probe (which is bad enough to begin with) on a Boston street, and he leaves the doors unlocked and the windows rolled down? You think anyone who lived in Boston would know better than that! |
This movie is currently not available on VHS or DVD. I did see it in 2003 on the Hallmark Channel!
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Traveling in Spenser's Footprints Toronto locations: * Quotes Bar * High Park * Gooderham and Worts * Horseshoe Tavern * Chestnut Park * New Edwin Hotel |
Spenser for Hire Master Listing