A Stranger to Love (1996)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

One of my all time favorites.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I have seen this movie four times now and I always look forward to it. I also always shed a tear at the end. The ending is not the usual happy ending and because of this it feels more like the true story that it is based on.Beau Bridges gives one of his best performances, managing to convey the memory loss and gradual recovery that is accompanied by the heart-breaking decision he has to make. There is also the bonus of seeing his two real-life sons in the film. Pam Dawber and Tess Harper give good supporting performances.I am surprised this film has such a low rating. I have seen many TV movies and this is easily one of the best I have come across. It is not as gratuitously sentimental as many have been although it could easily have been. If you have not seen it, do yourself a favour and give it a try. You may be pleasantly surprised.

I have to be honest that I missed most of this movie. I was channel flipping and stopped to watch the last half-hour. I quickly figured out that he had amnesia (though I didn't know why) and that he had to make a difficult choice to stay with the new life he created or go back to the old one. No matter which choice, he was going to hurt a woman he loved and children. I found the ending unsatisfying and unrealistic. I won't put any spoilers here about which way he went, but such a decision would be far too emotionally and logistically complex that no one could decide as quickly and decisively as he did. This director wrapped up the entire ending in about 15 minutes without giving us much insight as to WHY.

This is a well used plot but the movie was engrossing throughout. The end of the movie was strangely disturbing to me, maybe inevitably, because no matter what the Beau Bridges character decides at the end he was going to be hurting an entire family. I actually found myself hoping he would choose differently than he did at the end. It wouldn't have been the politically right decision but I was more sympathetic toward the other female character.

Each year when all the big TV networks are planning there Fall schedule,I always look forward to another season of fact based movies."A Stranger To Love" is one that gets my full approval rating. It is a well done film about a married man who gets beat up & then loses his memory. He relocates to another city, where he starts up a new life. Beau Bridges,Pam Dawber & Tess Harper all give outstanding performances. This is a movie worth checking out.