Where the Lilies Bloom (1974)

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Such a memorable film and one in which I first took notice of actor Harry Dean Stanton. His character was pivotal in the story and Harry gave such a nuanced performance. Harry had been in westerns a good bit of his early career starting in the 1950s and this was such a big part in a small picture. All the principals seemed so real and Harry was the string that tied it together.

Over the decades, I often have thought back to the country, coming-of-age movies and TV shows that came out around the same time as the Waltons and Little House On The Prairie, among them, Palmerstown USA, Where the Red Fern Grows, Apple's Way among so many other programs.How about that one with Glenn Ford and Julie Harris? Caught a bit of it recently. Family Hoke or something? Bit too much, really.But I always remembered a girl who I knew was NOT Sissy Spacek swearing at someone in a (hospital room?) knew it wasn't an office.She began talking calmly, then cut loose with "D-*- you! D*-* you!" over and over, real loud and the laziest drawl I had ever heard (I'm from the south myself).Then it seemed she was walking home on the country road and the truck came pulling up behind her and she was cussing quietly under her breath.It was this movie. Just watched it. There it all was again.Did remember the kids in that runaway truck coming to a stop in the ditch out in the field like that, but didn't realize it was the same movie.Now if I could just find the movie where the woman (Kim Darby looking) is a new teacher in the boonies and is teaching kids Old McDonald and none of them sing with her and one little girl gets up to go to the chalkboard and slides her feet across the floor and the teacher has to correct her on this.Somebody clearly didn't know this isn't the lazy way of walking, sliding your feet on the floor like that. Not picking your feet up or dragging them is more the result that this sliding depiction.There were many movies and TV shows about the backwoods country living, life down on the farm, but like so many things out of Hollywood, you can't really believe the way they are shown in programs and movies.

I live in the Blue Ridge near the places where the filming took place. I love the area and I enjoy movies depicting life in the Appalachians many years ago. This is one of the best. My non-profit company recently purchased the old Elk Park School, a 1937 stone WPA school building which is the same school shot in the film. We have converted the school to beautifully rehabilitated affordable senior housing and in the process have secured permanent status for the building and the grounds on the National Register of Historic Places. Many area residents attended school there including most of the local extras seen in the movie. These good people are now once again drawn into the building through community activities scheduled in the refurbished gymnasium.

I first saw this film when it was released in the early 70's. I was in a foster home/private school in the North Carolina Mountains in Avery County. I truly loved this movie with it's very heart warmng storyline. While being part of the "mountain people", I can relate to the everyday activities and chores of the Luther family, such as, wildcrafting, the cold bitter snows, and the breath taking site of the beautiful North Carolina mountains. Here it is, over twenty years later, and I still love this movie. Now when I watch it, I find myself gettig a lump in my throat and I long so bad to be back in the mountains going to Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, Newland, Crossnore and Grandfather Mountain. Anyone who wants a heart-felt, sad story of the children and adults of the "deep hollers" of the North Carolina mountains, will truly enjoy this film. The characters are so believable, that you want to hug them, letting them know it's okay to take on a challenge that would save their love for one another and the love of their family. Where The Lilies Bloom is a film that teaches that no matter how strong, poor, educated and rich someone may be, there are others out there who have something better...and that is love for their family.