Open Admissions is a 1988 American television drama film directed by Gus Trikonis which aired on September 8, 1988 on the CBS network.
It is based on Shirley Lauro's 1984 play of the same name.
Plot[]
A professor at an urban college has difficulty coping with the results of the school's open admission policies, especially when it regards an eager, sincere student who wants to put his ghetto past behind him.
Cast[]
- Jane Alexander as Ginny Carlsen
- Dennis Farina as Fred
- Estelle Parsons as Clare Block
- Michael Beach as Calvin
- Wanda Christine as Salina
- James O. O'Reilly as Win Lathrop
- Pat Bowie as Willa Jo
- Kyra K. Kyles as Georgia
- Betty Yee as Kitty Shim
- Lori Kathryn Holton as Cinnamon
- Louise Jenkins as Mrs. Brewster
- Jace Alexander as Nick
- Domenica Cameron-Scorsese as Cathy
Critical Reception[]
Terry Atkinson from The Los Angeles Times called "Open Admissions" a "classic example of tube-cinema turkeydom", saying that Jane Alexander & Estelle Parsons are "swamped by impossible dialogue" and the film's slow pacing is "punctuated with overblown, overacted scenes of [Michael] Beach expressing his anguish."
The Christian Science Monitor wrote: "Open Admissions is exactly the kind of timely drama that television frequently claims it strives to produce but often fails to do successfully. Many a good premise is compromised by lowest-common-denominator dialogue, and action for the sake of action."