Me & Dad's New Wife (1976) directed by Larry Elikann is a short film that originally aired as part of the ABC's After School Specials series. It is an involving story about a young girl coming to terms with her father's new marriage.
Nina Beckwith (Kristy McNichol) and her friends are excited to be in a new school, today is the first day of junior high and everything is fresh and exciting. Her new math class looks interesting too, that is until Nina discovers that her new math teacher is also her father's new wife. Her new stepmom Dolores (Melendy Britt) married her father over the summer and it was just as much a surprise for her as it was to Nina to find that they were in the same classroom together. Nina's friends, spurred on by the troublemaker Buzz (Lance Kerwin) decide to give the new teacher "the treatment" until she asks for a transfer to another school. That puts Nina in a difficult situation. On one hand she would very much like for her stepmom to leave the class, which would solve her problem completely. But on the other hand she really doesn't want to go along with the other kid's plans to harass the new teacher, a plan that she knows is not right and could end up getting them all in trouble. Nor can she tell her own mother (Betty Beaird); if she did her mom might make her move to another class and away from all of her friends. Nina doesn't know what to do or who to turn to. Thinking they are helping her, Nina's friends continue their campaign of harassment until their new teacher can take no more and finally does ask for that transfer, but it isn't over just yet. It all comes to a head at the school dance when Nina's stepbrother (Leif Garrett) confronts her over what she has done (or allowed to be done) to his mother. Nina realizes that she was wrong and must come to terms with her problem and somehow make things right.
This story, typical of the type that were shown on the After School Specials series, attempts to confront contemporary problems for young people at the time but is still relevant today. This film is really well done and makes for an absorbing story that gets you involved from the very beginning. All of the actors in this production are really very good and make this tale very believable. There is a lot of great young (and adult) acting talent in this production but without any doubt this is Kristy McNichol's film. She carries it well and delivers a memorable, touching performance. There is a small problem involving a subplot where Kristy's character has a séance to try to get her stepmom to leave and this is the only reason I didn't give this movie a higher rating. Those scenes weren't required and in fact seemed to be an unnecessary diversion. This film would have actually been made stronger if they had been edited out. But even so this short film is still worth watching and will leave you in awe of the incredible amount of talent in this young actress, even this early in her career you can tell Kristy had many great performances ahead of her.
Buying note: This short film has never been available on commercial home video; there are however other sources for this film as well as other rare Kristy McNichol movies that you might be looking for.
5-6-2006
