The Top of the Hill (1980)

Absolutely Brilliant!

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

What begins as a feel-good-human-interest story turns into a mystery, then a tragedy, and ultimately an outrage.

The one thing that stands out for me in this movie is Wayne Rogers character going into a Porsche dealer and buying a brand new 930 Turbo. I was in high school at the time and we could not talk about that car enough, quoting it's spec's, it's 0-60 time, it's price, it was the stuff of fantasies for kids that could only look forward to driving their parents 130 hp Chevy Citation. The scene of it flying over the frozen lake bed is "frozen" in my mind as well and I can almost recreate that particular scene from almost 40 years ago. Wish they would release a copy of this on DVD, I'd probably watch that scene 4 or 5 times a week.

Wayne Rogers is a company executive who has been getting tired of it, for a long while now and has been car racing on the side for the thrill of the race, the danger, for the high of living on the edge and taking risks. What's life you don't take chances? That's what he tells his wife, Adrienne Barbeau. They have not been getting along lately, and she goes off to restart her singing career, when talking to him about his obsession becomes monotonous. After Wayne has to fire a long-time employee, he finally quits and decides to go to Lake Placid to enter the U. S. Olympics bobsled race. Apparently, he lived there before, as he meets Paula Prentiss, who he went with in their much younger days, and Gary Lockwood who is now married to her. Elke Sommer is manager of the ski lodge, along with husband Mel Ferrer, who is very sickly. Sonny Bono has a supporting role, and, frankly, once he follows Wayne to Lake Placid, his predicament of needing a job but having to be a ski instructor when he's never been on a pair of skis is ridiculous, like an episode of "Three's Company." That is my biggest complaint, that his subplot was unrealistic, the irony of him being in this movie notwithstanding. Aside from that, this production, based on an Irwin Shaw story, was excellent with a great study of the human element. The people here, particularly Wayne, Adrienne, Paula and Gary Lockwood were very real. One could relate and empathize with all of them. They had dreams, regrets, passion. The highlight of the TV movie for me was when Paula told Wayne she had wasted her life continuing to love him, after he had left her. And, also a little later when she told Gary she never loved him, NEVER loved him, despite the fact he had always loved her. She had always loved Wayne. In fact, Wayne seemed to be a magnet for women; they love him. Even Mel Ferrer's character was incredibly real, and he usually comes across a little wooden in productions. Elke Sommer was good, but her character was not as three-dimensional as others. But Paula Prentiss seemed to steal all the scenes she was in. What an actress! All in all, I was very impressed with the writing and depth of this TV movie, despite the corny Sonny Bono plot. I guess that was for levity. And Rae Dawn Chong has a small part in this. She sings, and she's really good. I looked for this, because I had memories! of seeing this when I was almost 10 in 1980. Unfortunately TV movies like this are not on TV anymore. So, it's unlikely you're ever going to see this, unless you try some dvr website. If you do, "Top of the Hill" certainly makes for an entertaining time and a satisfying drama, on the whole.

I have fond memories of this movie (especially of Sonny Bono, who was a really nice gentleman). The setting of this movie was supposed to be Lake Placid because of the Olympics, but much of it was filmed in Mt. Tremblant because there was not enough snow at Lake Placid when they were filming. We were there on a high school trip when they were filming and a few of my classmates and I were paid extras in some scenes. We were paid something like $27 a day for a couple of days to sit in the bar, drink Molson, play backgammon (with Sonny) and walk through scenes. For HS kids, that was great drinking money at the time! If anyone knows where to get a copy of this, I'd love to know about it! Footnote: Mt. Tremblant is where Natasha Richardson had her fatal skiing accident.

Breathtaking scenery, incredible car scene driving on frozen mirror lake in lake placid, decent story line, great winter time movie. i wish i could find it on tape or dvd. if anyone owns a copy of this movie i would be interested in buying it