To save their daughter they must risk their son...

I was surprised (pleasantly of course) to see this movie on the Lifetime Movie Channel the other night and of course I retaped it since my older copy was full of commercials.

SOLOMON'S CHOICE, also known as DESPERATE CHOICES or THE FINAL CHOICE, is a better than average made for TV movie, and a better than usual TV movie dealing with a serious disease. When I was much younger, I used to relish TV movies...I didn't know any better...but when I watch this one, I still feel pretty impressed with the overall tone and effect.

The setting is a small foothill town...I'm not sure if Deer View is the name of the whole town, or just the high school. And the football team is the Deer View Bears. I don't know if this is in California or somewhere else, as the only license plate you see is splattered with mud.

The family depicted is believably close knit, not soapy or phony. The dad, Richard (Bruce Davison) owns a construction company that builds all over the small community. The mom, Mary Ellen, or Mel (Joanna Kerns), as everyone calls her, works at a local TV station as an anchor who specializes in community ethics.

There is a young son, Willy, aged 7 (Joseph Mazzello), who is going into the first grade with a typical case of the jitters. A year ago, he and Mel were in a bad car accident that almost killed him. Since then, Mel has understandably hovered over him, worrying about every cold, every bump, every ouch. Richard thinks she is too paranoid, but it doesn't cause more than a playful squabble between them, and you know that he too understands Mel's behavior.

There is also Cassie, who is fifteen years old, a daughter from Richard's previous marriage. Cassie's mother passed away and then Richard married Mel. There is no jealousy or wicked stepmother-ism. Mel and Cassie get along and love each other as though they were blood relation.

Cassie isn't the one everyone worries about. The picture of health, she jogs every morning and she loves to play football. In fact, she is the first girl allowed on the football team. This isn't explained, and good, because it isn't a story about how or why a girl is allowed on the high school football team. Cassie's a great player though, and makes most of the touchdowns. In spite of her success, a fellow player named Josh gives her a jolly smack on the behind, saying, "You're the man!" and she threatens him most menacingly, "You do that again, and you're DEAD!!!" And then reads him the riot act for carting a cheerleader bimbo on the back of his bike. He later apologizes with a look of contrition on his face. Obviously they are good friends and obviously, they like each other.

Suddenly, while going out for a pass, Cassie's vision blurs and she collapses on the field, and finds herself under the scrutiny of doctors and specialists who take a bone marrow biopsy and draw blood until she nearly dries up. She receives frightening news: she has an acute form of pediatric leukemia which has a poor prognosis, even with treatment.

Cassie is quickly started on chemotherapy and her family draws ever closer to keep her spirits up, but when the doctor tells Mel and Richard that Cassie's best chance for a complete recovery is a bone marrow donation from brother Willy, Mel becomes terrified that the procedure will put Willy's life in danger. She has never gotten over the aftermath of that car accident, and she can't forget that Willy nearly died in surgery while the doctors were reparing internal injuries. Hearing that Willy has to be put under general anesthesia for the procedure is enough to make her shake her head. Richard cannot believe his ears when he hears Mel refuse to give permission for the blood test or the harvest, and this begins a terrible chapter of bitterness, anger, resentment and depression in their marriage. Convinced that Mel loves Willy more than she loves Cassie because Willy is hers biologically, Richard retreats to the sofa and the chasm in their marriage grows wider still when he decides to take Mel to court and fight her for the right to decide alone that Willy will donate his marrow. It's truly difficult to side with Richard...or Mel...they're both right. Nobody is wrong. It's just a terrible ordeal for any set of parents to have to be up against. "What if they BOTH die???!!!" Mel says in agony. Both of them would be shattered.

Cassie feels guilty for all the havok between Mel and Richard and Willy has reacted in a completely believably pediatric kind of way. He is sullen, quiet, withdrawn and begins to draw pictures in ominous black instead of sunny yellow. As a small child, Mazzello was extremely skilled in bringing Willy's viewpoint to life. The knowledge that Cassie might die and leave him is making him very disturbed mentally.

Overwhelmed by everything, Cassie turns to Josh for support, and thankfully, she gets it. Having been taught a few things by Cassie's no holds barred personality, Josh gives her a good shouting down, "Fight it, dammit!!! Fight!!!" which is exactly what she needs. She's a very strong person, but she sometimes forgets...

The best thing about this film is its refusal to offer us a miracle solution to the problem. Cassie is already out of remission and getting sick again by the time the CHOICE is finally reached. I imagine that if we would have been allowed to see the outcome of the CHOICE, we would have been greatly saddened. Most likely, Cassie died in spite of everyone's best efforts. Most TV movies have a miracle cure or a wretched death sequence. This film has neither...which is why it's more realistic.

The realist in me knows Cassie, who we know is a fighter, fought it to the death, her death. The optimist in me can scrape up a bit of hope that she did beat it down and that she and Willy were able to continue riding bikes down the street, and that she and Josh went back to playing football, and that Richard didn't end up hating Mel.

The Cast

Reese Witherspoon as CASSIE ROBBINS

Bruce Davison as RICHARD ROBBINS

JoAnna Kerns as MEL ROBBINS

Joseph Mazzello as WILLY ROBBINS

Bruce McGill as DAN RYAN

and Jeremy Sisto as JOSH RYAN

Cute poster

Cassie and Willy Robbins

Review by Mari Weir August 2000

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