Nobody's Girls
((Fri. (12), 10-11:30 p.m., PBS))
Cast: Angela Alvarado, Tantoo Cardinal, Cloris Leachman, Bai Ling, Esther Rolle.
Nobody's Girls" is a tedious feminist tract masquerading as entertainment. Quality of performances is good, as is the idea; however, the execution leaves much to be desired.
"Girls," narrated by Blair Brown, looks at five women of the West, roughly 1860-1915, who made their mark. Sarah Winnemucca (Tantoo Cardinal) is a Piute Indian scout who makes great efforts to help her people during the Bannock War of 1878.
Clara Brown (Esther Rolle) is a freed slave and is one of the first black women to reach Denver. She sets up business as a laundress, but returns to Kentucky to try to find her family.
Teresa Urrea (Angela Alvarado) becomes a charismatic healer and a legend of the Mexican Revolution.
Mary Bong (Bai Ling) is a Chinese girl who settles in Sitka, Alaska; she becomes known as "Chinese Mary," a 15-year-old midwife who becomes the first female trawler-fisherman.
The last story centers on Laura Evans (Cloris Leachman), a prostitute who was the last of the red-light queens; at the end, she says, "Some say it was a mean life. I liked it."
The West seemed to be the place where all good things could happen. However, it proved to be a hard life for women, creating many barflies and prostitutes.
The producers use archival footage interspersed with live performances, which gives a documentary feel to the piece and puts the viewer into the era being filmed. The black-and-white stills are effectively mixed with the action scenes, but the pace, under Mirra Banks' direction, is too slow, allowing stories to lag.
The result is neither a docu nor a piece of fictional entertainment. Five women have been chosen, but three would have been better, allowing the filmmakers to develop the stories a little further to engage audience interest.
John Crowley scripted, and the central theme and purpose are unclear.
Rolle is very touching, making viewers care enormously about the fate of this poor, uneducated black woman, and Evans is marvelously played by Leachman.
Under d.p. Joe De Salvo, the scenery is gorgeous in spots, particularly in the seg on Winnemucca.
Camera, Joe De Salvo; editors, Debbie Anderson, Bank; production designer, Dan Ouellette; sound, Brian Miksis, Bayard Carey; music, Richard Einhorn.
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