PBS Film: Betty Ford: The Real Deal | A Biographical Documentary

Betty Ford: The Real Deal | A Biographical Documentary | PBS

I saw the most wonderful documentary about Betty Ford on PBS. What a role model Betty is! The doc detailed how candid Betty was with the public and her enormous popularity. Probably most important was how she transformed the role of First Lady to one of service, which has endured to today. Among the cutting-edge service she provided: campaigns for feminism, breast cancer prevention and awareness (after her own - a subject not talked about in "polite" society), and her own trials and triumph dealing with drug and alcohol addiction. Can you even imagine what it was like, at that time, especially, for a First Lady to reveal these "secrets" about herself and about womanhood, and to be embraced for it? And, she never asked permission to speak out. She just followed her intuition and did it! Not even Dick Cheney could stop her back then.

Film: I'm Dancing As Fast As I Can

Remember this book? This movie is only rated 3 stars, though, so we'll see how it is.

I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can

1982R107 minutes

In this movie based on Barbara Gordon's autobiography, Jill Clayburgh turns out another virtuoso performance to depict a documentary filmmaker on the verge of a complete breakdown. Under pressure to perform, she turns to tranquilizers for serenity, a move that ultimately leads to the destruction of everything she's worked to accomplish in her professional and personal life. John Lithgow and Dianne Wiest co-star.