Pieces of Dreams
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Daniel Haller
Robert Forster
Lauren Hutton
Will Geer
Ivor Francis
Richard O'brien
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Father Gregory Lind, a young Catholic priest, meets divorced social worker Pamela Gibson in an Albuquerque hospital where a man, whom they have been trying to help, dies of gunshot wounds after an attempted robbery. Father Lind, who is strongly opposed to abortion, argues with Pamela about the fate of the young man's pregnant 15-year-old girl friend. The girl miscarries, however, and Father Lind goes to comfort Pamela, but his attempt at consolation leads him to make love to her, and they begin an affair despite his vow of celibacy. Finding it difficult to work within the confines of the church and the conservative Father Schaeffer, Father Lind visits his domineering mother and spinster sister, who rebuke him for his doubts about the church. Later that night, he is propositioned by a prostitute and beaten up by a group of hoodlums who call him a homosexual. After taking a leave of absence from the church, Father Lind goes to see Pamela, realizes his love for her, and decides to leave the priesthood immediately, even though he faces excommunication.
Director
Daniel Haller
Cast
Robert Forster
Lauren Hutton
Will Geer
Ivor Francis
Richard O'brien
Edith Atwater
Mitzi Hoag
Rudy Diaz
Sam Javis
Gail Bonney
Helen Westcott
Joanne Moore Jordan
Miriam Martinez
Kathy Baca
Eloy Phil Casados
Robert Mccoy
Raimundo Baca
Crew
Alan Bergman
Marilyn Bergman
Herman A. Blumenthal
Robert F. Blumofe
Robert F. Blumofe
Robert M. Blumofe
Dick Borland
William Chulack
Sandy Delaney
Arthur Friedrich
Phyllis Garr
Fred Giles
Lee Green
Halston
Roger Hirson
Leroy Hollis
Michel Legrand
Michel Legrand
Gustaf M. Norin
James Payne
Ray Phelps
J. Paul Popkin
Michael Rachmil
Don Rush
Harry Sundby
Victor Vallejo
Fred Westcott
Charles F. Wheeler
Jack Whitman
Film Details
Technical Specs
Award Nominations
Best Song
Articles
Pieces of Dreams
Shot on location in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Pieces of Dreams was based on William E. Barrett's 1968 novel The Wine and the Music. Barrett wrote several religious-themed novels that were later made into films like Lilies of the Field (1963) and The Left Hand of God (1955). The screenplay of Pieces of Dreams was written by Roger O. Hirson and, uncredited, John McCollam. Daniel Haller, who worked as an art director for Roger Corman, had branched out into direction. Pieces of Dreams was only his sixth film, which he made for producer Robert Blumofe's RFB Enterprises production company, which released the film through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and United Artists. Pieces of Dreams was twenty-seven-year-old Lauren Hutton's second film. Already famous as a fashion model, Hutton had made the transition from the catwalk to the big screen in 1968 with Paper Lion. Twenty-nine-year-old Robert Forster had only been in films for three years, having begun with Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967), and had shot to prominence in Haskell Wexler's Medium Cool (1969).
Pieces of Dreams opened in Los Angeles in September 1970 and the critics were decidedly mixed in their reactions. The New York Times called it "a really dreadful little movie", although Herb Rau in The Miami News called the movie "as modern as tomorrow...you will enjoy the vibrant performance of Lauren Hutton, the divorcee, and the strength of Robert Forster as the young troubled priest. You will, also, see some deft photography and a frank treatment of the matters of celibacy, contraception and abortion...it's a potent film, almost in the 'sleeper' category, and a welcome departure from the brash skin-flicks that are the current rage." At the beginning of the 1970s, with the Vietnam War still raging and the subsequent social upheaval, the shock value of a priest leaving the church was much less than it would have been a decade earlier. Famed film critic Molly Haskell, writing for The Village Voice admitted that "[t]he celibacy of the Catholic priesthood may be the last virgin territory up for cinematic violation...I, at any rate, confess to finding the moment of surrender in Pieces of Dreams - when, in comforting Lauren Hutton after an all-night vigil at the hospital, Robert Forster's hug turns into an embrace - one of the more electrically charged moments in recent cinema."
Perhaps the most memorable thing about Pieces of Dreams remains the title track, written by Michel Legrand with lyrics by the husband and wife team of Alan and Marilyn Bergman, which was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. Although it lost both awards, the song has been recorded by everyone from Shirley Bassey and Johnny Mathis to Barbra Streisand.
Producer: Robert F. Blumofe
Director: Daniel Haller
Screenplay: Roger O. Hirson (screenplay); William E. Barrett (novel); John McCollam (uncredited)
Cinematography: Charles F. Wheeler
Art Direction: Herman A. Blumenthal
Music: Michel Legrand
Film Editing: William Chulack
Cast: Robert Forster (Fr. Gregory Lind), Lauren Hutton (Pamela Gibson), Will Geer (The Bishop), Ivor Francis (Fr. Paul Schaeffer), Richard O'Brien (Mons. Francis Hurley), Edith Atwater (Mrs. Lind, Gregory's Mother), Mitzi Hoag (Anne Lind, Gregory's Sister), Rudy Diaz (Police Sgt. Bill Walkingstick), Sam Javis (Leo Rose), Gail Bonney (Mrs. Tietgens).
C-100m.
by Lorraine LoBianco
SOURCES:
British Film Institute
Haskell, Molly. "Film: Virgin Territory" The Village Voice 22 Oct 70.
http://library.du.edu/site/about/specialCollections/collections/m014.php
http://movies.tvguide.com/pieces-of-dreams/review/109208
The New York Times 15 Oct 70
http://www.peggylee.com/solos/films.html
Rau, Herb. "Pieces of Dreams Solid New Drama" The Miami News 19 Oct 70
IMDB
Pieces of Dreams
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Location scenes filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Kansas City, Missouri. The working title of this film is The Wine and the Music.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States 1970
Released in United States 1970