The Stand (1994)

Overrated and overhyped

How sad is this?

Brilliant and touching

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Having read the book, I can say that The Stand is a fairly decent adaptation for what it is and the time in which it came out. A good many of the cast portray their characters well including Gary Sinise as Stu Redman, Rob Lowe as Nick Andros, and the standout performance of Mother Abigail by Ruby Dee who was everything I wanted out of her. She WAS Mother Abigail. In fact, most of the actors portrayals of these characters are good enough that when I picture the characters from the book in my head, these actors are the faces of them. The story is much more dark, sexual, and brutal than what you get from a TV show produced in the mid 90's, but the key details and basic storyline of Stephen King's greatest work are still there and it is much more accessible than the 1100 page monster of a novel. While the novel would take a multitude of hours to reconquer, I can revisit the world whenever I would like in the much easier 6 hour time frame of the series. In the nearly 40 years since its release, Hollywood has tried to put together a big budget adaptation of this great American epic, but have yet to get passed the initial planning stages. So, for now, The Stand mini-series is all we have and I must say that I am fine with that.

This over long TV mini series from Stephen King is a complicated multi character story of the effects of a contained virus being loosed upon the unsuspecting American public and its after effects.It is broken down into four distinctive chapters. The first, "The Plague" is the best of the lot. It deals of the lethal virus spreading across the country killing most of the population. There are those who are immune to the virus, notably Stu Redman (Gary Sinese) whose story is the focus of this part.Part 2, "The Dream" is where things get really weird. Many of the survivors begin to experience dreams in which they emerge from a corn field to be confronted by Mother Abigail Freemantle (Ruby Dee) who is a self proclaimed messenger of God. She counsels them and invites them to come to her. This is the "good" side. On the "evil" side is one Randall Flagg (Jamie Sheridan) an agent of the devil who can change shapesat will and has a closet full of scary faces.Part 3. "The Betrayal" deals with jilted suitor Harold Lauder (Corin Nemac) who has been seduced by the evil Nadine Cross (Laura San Giacomo) into betraying his love Frannie Goldsmith (Molly Ringwald) who has become involved ...and pregnant with Redman as well as betraying the rest of the group led by Redman which includes the deaf/dumb Nick Andros (Rob Lowe), his slightly retarded Tom Cullen (Bill Fagerbakle), Glen Bateman (Ray Walston) and Larry Underwood (Adam Storke) among others. Harold builds an explosive device and........................................Part 4. "The Stand" is the final showdown between good and evil. Mother Abigail has sent four men on a pilgrimage to confront the evil Flagg. In the meantime his assistant Lloyd Henreid (Miguel Ferrer) is preparing for the confrontation. A weird ally, The Trashcan man arrives on the scene with a big surprise for all.The first part of the story concerning the spread of the lethal virus, had the most potential. When it degenerates into the supernatural, it for me, gets a little ridiculous. The climax in Part 4 is rather unlikely given the situation. And Jamie Sheridan in a Kris Kristoffersom fright wig is more than a little over the top. The rest of the large cast does what it can in an impossible situation.Watch for Ed Harris as a General and Kathy Bates as a radio announcer in the first part. The producers would have done well to have cast these two performers to bigger parts. And yes, Stephen King has a part as one of the good people.

ill keep it short. the first episode is great. good pacing, suspense, and good backstory to give you information. however, after the first episode, the rest of the 3 episodes are slow, terribly paced, and the things people do just don't make any damn sense.i want you to know the ending, i really do. if anything, just to prevent you from wasting your time. a maniac, who seems out of place the entire series, tries to set off an explosion but some weird spirit of an old prophet stops him. it doesn't make sense as you read it here, and it makes even less sense in the context of the film. also, consider the prophet told 4 of the characters to go to the town to stop the bomb going off...but it was worthless, they didn't do anything. a whole episode about some epic journey, where many of them even died, just for some stupid spirit voice to stop a maniac who just randomly decided to bomb the city. its terrible, absolutely terrible.

I read the rave reviews before I sat down to spend six hours watching "The Stand". By the beginning of part 2, I had to stop and check IMDb to see if there was another version, and maybe I was watching the cheap one.The raves for the acting and casting baffle me most. Molly Ringwald is possibly the worst imaginable choice for such a pivotal role, and her acting throughout is embarrassingly awful. No one shines, but she stands out for all the wrong reasons.My initial impression seemed so out of sync with the majority here that I forced myself to watch it all and keep an open mind, but the outcome didn't change.It's tripe, people, acted and staged badly, and a total waste of six hours of your life. Read the book. It takes longer, but you'll get to do your own casting and staging, and you won't have to watch Ms. Ringwald.