Tag Archives: 1983

virginia madsen in american playhouse a matter of principle

American Playhouse – A Matter of Principle

A Matter of Principe is TV episode of American Playhouse, an American anthology series which aired from 1982 through till 1996 on the PBS channel.

Spanning a total of 13 Seasons and 176 episodes, American Playhouse has had some properly good talent go through its doors. The likes of Kenneth Branagh, Jeff Daniels, Ed Harris, Raul Julia, Jason Robards and Susan Sarandon have all had their parts to play in the American Playhouse legend.

“A Matter of Principal” is an episode from the show’s fourth season, the second episode of that season in fact. It of course features Virginia Madsen starring alongside Alan Arkin and his real life wife, Barbara Dana. It’s the story of a poor family who worry that Santa won’t visit them if they don’t have a tree due to their Dads refusal.

The episode was shown on the 3rd of December so although it was a bit early by my standard it was one to show with a Christmas theme.

Now. I’m a grumpy old “Bah humbug” type of guy, “Christmas Films” aren’t my thing. At all. Not even a little one. Well, I guess “Violent Night”, that’s a good Christmas Film. If you’re about to say “But what about Die Hard?” then you can get off my site now, and never ever come back.

Can the appearance of Virginia Madsen change all of that and have me looking fondly on a yuletide film?Virginia Madsen in A Matter of Principle (1984), walking down a small-town street with a young man. She wears a brown coat and a dark hat, her long hair cascading over her shoulders. The slightly grainy image captures a vintage atmosphere, with storefronts, a reflection of a courthouse dome in the window, and a parked car in the background.No. No she can not.

I mean, to be fair – I’ve seen worse.

We’re introduced to the Purdy family via Flag Purdy (Alan Arkin) is in the bank disputing the fact that he’s paid his bill but is informed he’s not paid the tax. He claims he didn’t vote for the tax and so he shouldn’t have to pay it. Straight away we know who has the principles in this one then.

Flag returns home to his family and we soon find out there are more than a couple of them living under the one roof. Flag and his wife Ada (Barbara Dana) have been blessed with an ungodly amount of children, and that’s including a newborn. The eldest, Lou Ellen (Virginia) helps out around the house but she’s far from impressed with her Dad’s penny pinching ways.

Virginia Madsen in A Matter of Principle (1984), sitting at a table in a modest home, wearing a light-colored coat. She appears to be in conversation with a woman across from her, who is dressed in a dark coat. A man in a plaid jacket stands in the doorway, looking concerned. The dim lighting and simple decor emphasize the film’s small-town, working-class setting.Flag is doing his best not to spend any money that he doesn’t have to do. No heating in the house, when his wife hints at an electric blanket he offers to lie on her side of the bed to warm it up, and then of course there is the crux of the movie, the Christmas tree. He claims he doesn’t want a tree in the house because if The Good Lord wanted trees in the house then he would have planted them there” and it’s just “contrary to nature”.

The family are determined to have a Christmas this year and they work against him to bring some festive cheer to the house. Lou Ellen along with her fiance buy the house a tree which leaves Flag less than impressed culminating in a stand up row between him and the family when he catches them celebrating.

Slowly the family get more and more disillusioned with Flag and begin to ignore his wishes, much to his chagrin.

I won’t go into more detail, it’s a short “film” at just under an hour long. But, well it’s a Christmas film so I’m sure it won’t take a lot of your brain power to work out how the rest of it goes, especially if you are familiar with the tale of Scrooge.Virginia Madsen in A Matter of Principle (1984), sitting at a dinner table with a serious expression. She wears a brown coat, and her long hair is pulled back. Beside her, a woman in a knitted vest and collared shirt looks on attentively. The simple setting, with plates of food and glasses on the table, emphasizes the film’s small-town, working-class atmosphere.Considering it’s an early outing for Virginia Madsen in her career she gets quite a pivotal role in this one, you can tell she’s pretty much still learning the ropes but she manages to impress among the cast.

Availability:
Adding this to your physical media collection isn’t that easy at the moment. It saw a release on DVD in the US but beyond that I’m not sure and the details are sketchy. I snagged a copy of it a LONG time ago, before I even knew what it was and back when it was just listed on iMBD as “A Matter of Principal” with no mention of “American Playhouse”. I don’t remember it being particularly hard to find at the time, but obviously these things change.

If you’re looking for a copy on DVD to call your own then I’d suggest using “A Matter of Principal”, “American Playhouse: A Matter of Principal” or even just “American Playhouse” to try and get there. Maybe add “DVD” to the end of your search.

Digitally, is another matter and one you might have to settle for until a random copy appears on eBay, or even Amazon.

Gallery:

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Title card for Class (1983), featuring bold yellow text over an industrial parking lot with a white van and an orange sports car. The background includes a factory with smokestacks, setting the tone for the film’s contrast between working-class and elite prep school life.

Class

Everyone has to start their professional career somewhere, and 1983’s Class would be that somewhere for Virginia Madsen.

Her first role would be small but for most of the intended audience, an unforgettable one but one she has expressed regret at, or at least an “Oh. Ew. I don’t want to talk about that.” when asked about the movie in a 2013 interview with AV Club. She wouldnt go into much detail but she’ would say “Those guys were assholes. They were really shitty to me. It was bad. Bad memories.”

A few years later in 2017 AV Club would ask one of her co-stars, Rob Lowe, about the quote and he would back her up with “Her big part in that movie required her shirt to get ripped off, and looking back, it couldn’t be a more egregious, vintage, lowbrow, 1980s Porky’s-esque, shoehorned-in moment.”Virginia Madsen in Class (1983), standing in a school uniform while holding a tray of food. She has long blonde hair and wears a plaid skirt with a white blouse and a vest. Three other young women in similar uniforms sit on a couch, engaged in conversation. The setting is a warmly lit living room with vintage decor, emphasizing the film’s prep school atmosphere.Certainly not hard to imagine that the movie wouldn’t hold fond memories.

And, that’s fair enough. This kind of scene was common in 80’s Teen Movies, and It’s a scene that has clearly stayed with her over the years, a reminder of how the Hollywood machine sometimes capitalises on young talent without giving much thought to respect or boundaries.

Billed as a comedy-drama Class, is a weird kind of film. At least by today’s standards. It never quite knows what it is trying to be. When it’s funny, it’s. Well, actually not that funny but you can see the humour that they were trying to go for. And when it’s serious, it’s jarring at best.

The cast wasn’t anything to be sniffed at, or at least it wouldn’t be today. Joining Virginia Madsen and the aforementioned Rob Lowe in the credits are John Cusack, Andrew McCarthy, Jacqueline Bisset and Alan Ruck to name but a few.

It could be argued that if Class was made later in most of its cast’s career it would be written about as an ensemble piece.
Virginia Madsen in Class (1983), standing in a plaid school uniform skirt, white blouse, and vest, arguing with a young man in a black blazer. Her long blonde hair is flowing as she speaks with an intense expression. Several other students in suits react in the background, while an older woman sits nearby with a teacup, observing the confrontation. The setting is an elegant, vintage-style living room with large windows and floral curtains.The plot of the film follows the story of new to the school student, Jonathan (Andrew McCarthy), who is shown the way of the school, and world,  by Squire Franklin Burroughs,  the Forth (Rob Lowe), or “Skip” for short. Skip encourages Jonathan to come out of his shell, takes him to bars, encourages him to meet women and that kind of thing. Problem being that the first woman who comes across happens to be an older woman, and, rather predictably that older woman, Ellen (Jaqueline Bisset) turns out to be – Skips Mother.

Drama ensues, hi-jinks happen, other things kick off in the School and, you know the rest if you’ve ever seen an eighties American school film. And if you’ve not, you’ve not missed much.

Still, as I said – Everyone has to start somewhere, right?

This might not have been the dream or ideal start to a career for Virginia, but it was a learning experience in it’s own right, and thankfully one that wouldn’t define her career.

Availability:
Class isn’t hard to track down, heck I can’t tell you the amount of bargain bins and second hand shops I’ve seen the DVD in over the years. As for Blu-Ray, as far as I can tell it’s only ever had an American release but seems to be freely available at the time of writing.

Based on your location (or, use of VPN) you’ll probably be able to find it available on streaming services somewhere. Again, at the time or writing it’s available on both Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV.

Trailer:

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