Little Mo (1978)

One of my all time favorites.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

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

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Last night while on a search on the internet for information about Maureen Connolly, I was lucky enough to find this movie. And wow, what a surprise it was. As a life long follower of tennis and especially of the women's game, I was thrilled to come across this seemingly almost forgotten film biopic of the fabled Little Mo.I can say here and now it's one of the finest if not the finest made for TV movies ever made. Depicting the life of Maureen, her success's and struggles on and off the court, it does a wonderful job.Glynnis O'Connor is positively luminous as Maureen. And gives, in my opinion, one of the great acting performances in a female lead. The many action scenes on the court are fantastic and add a gritty realism to the movie as it concentrates on her battles to defeat certain players at different stages of her career.Michael Learned is equally stirring as the genius but ultra-strict coach, Eleanor "Teach" Tennant, who guides her to the top, falls out with her, but is movingly reconciled with her at the end. The rest of the cast are good too. And this is definitely a film worth seeing for any serious tennis fan and especially of the women's game as it reveals the life and times of one it's most iconic and cherished competitors.

One of the best television movies ever made is about the life and career of Maureen Connolly the first woman to win tennis's fabled grand slam in one year. Both her career and her life were way too short.Before Billie Jean King, before Chris Evert, before Tracy Austin there was a champion from the Fifties, Maureen Connolly. At the age of 19 Ms. Connolly won the US Open, Wimbledon, the French Open and the Australian Open in 1953. The Grand Slam, the biggest achievement in tennis, and for the first time won by a woman.Glynnis O'Connor as far as I'm concerned got her career role as Maureen Connolly. She was at the right age at the time and later on at the end of the film she was made up well to look the age of 34 when she died. Connolly came from a pretty hard background and tennis was her way out, a sports story told many times with male athletes. Michael Learned does an equally fine job as Eleanor Tennant, Connolly's very strict mentor. The tennis scene of the early Fifties is graphically depicted. Within two years of winning the grand slam, Connolly was injured pursuing her second love horseback riding, a broken leg ended her career permanently. Who knows how many titles and how much money she could have accumulated.In fact I'd read about Connolly when I was a kid and she pretty much dropped out of sight after her career ended. For a lot of people the news of her death from cancer in 1969 was the first thing most had heard about her since she stopped appearing on the sports pages. O'Connor's finale scene as the 34 year old Connolly knowing she was terminally ill and reconciling with Learned is some of the best acting ever done in a TV film. Little Mo is a great tribute to one of the best female athletes of the last century and a role model in sports and in life for us all.

I absolutely love this movie! Glynnis O'Connor's performance was spectacular. And the story is at once inspiring and heartbreaking. I saw it in 1978 and it has stuck with me for all these years. Unfortunately, I've been unable to locate a DVD or video, nor have I seen it replayed on television. I have seen a documentary in which friends and family of Little Mo refer to the movie. Everyone seems pleased with both the content, and the performances.Please, someone tell me how I can find a copy of this movie to share with my daughter? Thank you, Bobbi

Every year when Wimbledon is on, I wonder why this movie is not shown on TV. Maureen Connolly was the first woman to win all grand slam titles in one calendar year yet there is no book about her. Connolly's life is the stuff of drama and O'Connor gives us a real feel for how working your way up the ranks of tennis worked then. Disfunctional families now seem almost mandatory for a top-seeded player, but during Connolly's time, the public didn't know such things. Though the Wimbledon segments were not shot there, the film reproduces the landmarks and signage faithfully. I know, I went to Wimbledon in 1993 and saw her name on the sign by Centre Court.I can only assume the film is basically factual as I've never found any book with enough information about this fascinating woman to know. All I know is that the film works very well and O'Connor is radiant. I really love this movie!