A Woman of Independent Means

This movie is very excellent. I've watched it twice on Prime Video. I realized I must have missed watching that movie on TV cable in 1995 but vaguely, I saw some parts of it on TV and I forgot the name of TV movie. I had a busy life in that year. I really liked the story of an independent woman. I was impressed by her actions. She was a wonderful wife, mother, and grandmother. She worked hard in her lifetime.Sally Field did a great performance for the role of Bess Garner.

Although this 1995 miniseries seems to be little known and mostly forgotten, fans of the Sally Field tear-jerker should give this a watch. The story follows Bess Steed from girlhood to old age. Ms. Field brings a unique level of performance to make her audience feel the hurt, anger, and the sting of tears as she deals with injury, sickness, death and even suicide during the course of her life. You can't help but get caught up in this wonderfully told story of life, love and loss. I often found myself cheering for, and crying with the lovely Bess.Other notable actors and actresses include Tony Gold of Ghost fame, Charles Durning, Ron Silver, the wonderful Brenda Fricker, and Jack Thompson as the ever present Sam round out the cast of characters.

This is excellent. I didn't care for some of the commentary on morality but it is very well done.

This interesting film follows the life of a lady from Texas from her very early years in the late 19th century through her passing in the late 1960s. While the title intimates that the character has wealth, the true wealth of the character comes from her spirit in overcoming advertisies, the loss of a child, death of her husband while a young woman, raising her remaining children during the depression, etc. Acting throughout the film is very good and thanks to the good writing of the best-selling book the scriptwriting is based on, the story does not fall into the trap of becoming sappy. The attention to detail in costuming, sets, etc. make the several hours of this mini-series a delight. The story is engaging and you will wish it could go on longer at the end.This film reminded me of some of the better BBC productions but in an American setting. I am not sure guys would love it, but it is a great chick-flick.

I was so happy to find this mini-series here at Amazon- I saw this on T.V. years ago when it played all the way through in one day and I had just had some surgery and was laid up so I watched the whole thing. Sally Field gives a wonderful performance and there are many other actor's you will recognize and they all give such great performances. If you are looking for a movie that you will want to watch over and over this is it. It does have some very sad scenes so if you can't take that kind of thing this probably isn't a movie for you. If you love period pieces this movie follows the main character's life over 70 years so you see many wonderful costumes and settings. Thank you Amazon for having this available to buy!

In the 1980's, television did much to educate, as well as to entertain the masses. This miniseries was one of many to be brought to the small screen in a big way. The story telling was excellent, the acting and sets superb.It is a shame that it became cost prohibitive to continuuing to bring such great entertainment to the masses. But thanks to the different production companies, transferring them to DVD for viewing by future audiences, one can still find good, informative, and entertaining fare on your TV today.

Was thrilled to finally find the dvd! I've owned the book forever. Arrived in great condition, no scratches, and plays just fine on DVD player. Great seller.

Normally I love Sally Field in drama roles, but somehow she felt miscast in this movie. I'm a big fan of Ms. Field and looked forward to watching her in this movie. She's a great actress----so very talented----and on those serious scenes, she nails it. But it's not the acting that is the problem. For me it's her voice and "cute" face that doesn't carry the character. I feel bad leaving a review like this because she truly is one of the best actresses, just not for this film. all of the characters in the movie were well casted, the men just didn't match Sally Field. I could see somebody like Meryl Streep in the role. Not because her acting would have been better, but because she has a certain strength and maturity to her looks that better suits the story line and would have paired so much better with the mature men in the movie. It just didn't work for me. The character playing Ms. Field's daughter actually "grew up" to over-shadow Field's character more fitting to the character played by Sally. It threw the whole movie off and I found myself trying hard to just listen to the story and overcome the miscasting.Movies like Steel Magnolias spotlighted Sally's amazing talent, as did Syble, Norma Rae and Places in the Heart. Nobody could have handled those roles better. This role, though, needed to go to somebody with a different kind of energy and appeal.