STEPHEN KING CULT FAVORITE MAKES STANDOUT MINISERIES
( St. Louis Post-Dispatch ) Gail Pennington; 05-08-1994
MORE THAN a year ago, they started to call. Most sounded embarrassed, as if they weren't the sort of people who normally take an interest in what's on television. But they had heard, somehow - perhaps in a dream, or a shared vision.
Was it true - say it was true - that "The Stand" was coming to TV? When . . . exactly when? Who would star (and could I read them a list of the whole cast)? Had I actually seen it? Could I get them a copy - please? Could they buy one? They had waited so long.
Finally, their time has come. "Stephen King's The Stand," ABC's eight-hour adaptation of King's massive novel about an apocalyptic clash between good and evil, airs at 8 p.m. Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday on Channel 2.
Obviously, "The Stand" isn't just a cult favorite - it's a cult favorite on an epic scale. Published in 1978, it became a best seller; re-issued in 1988 with 500 previously edited-out pages restored, it topped the charts again. Some callers said they had read it (all 1,153 pages) a dozen times.
How could any dramatization, I wondered, possibly satisfy these people?
Now that I've seen it, though, I think this one might. King himself wrote the teleplay and serves as co-executive producer along with Richard Rubinstein. He hand-picked Mick Garris as director; Garris is also a horror writer and directed King's "Sleepwalkers."
I've seen the first six hours, and if I weren't here writing this, I'd be home watching the finale. I'm that hooked.
I'm also surprised. "The Stand" has been my "War and Peace" - a really, really long book I felt as if I ought to read, but just . . . couldn't. (Actually, I read "War and Peace" once when I was younger and had a longer attention span.) At the urging of friends, I started "The Stand" several times, but never made it much past Page 100.
If you're also unfamiliar with the story, it begins when a deadly virus escapes from a government testing facility. The virus, causing a sort of super flu that kills quickly and grotesquely, sweeps across the country, felling 99 percent of the population.
The survivors, those with a natural immunity to the bug, begin having dreams that divide them into two camps: The good are drawn to Boulder, Colo., under the leadership of a 106-year-old black woman known as Mother Abagail; the evil are called to Las Vegas (where else?) by the monstrous Randall Flagg. And, of course, evil isn't content to let good be, leading to a showdown that will determine the fate of humankind.
But that outline is only the skeleton of a plot that is part pure science-fiction (man's arrogance in tampering with nature leads to his destruction); part horror (pleasant faces mask monsters); and part religious parable (God and Satan at war for souls). (It might also seem to be an allegory of AIDS, although that disease was unknown when King first wrote his book.)
The characters that populate "The Stand" are more interesting for what they stand for (so to speak) than who they are. Ruby Dee is Mother Abagail, the survivors' reluctant Moses, unable to ignore what God wants her to do. Molly Ringwald is Frannie, their Eve and also their Mary; her unborn child offers hope for the future. Gary Sinise, the group's quiet leader, is Adam and Joseph, watching the woman he loves bear a child that isn't his. Corin Nemec is Harold, a jealous Judas; Adam Storke is Larry, a disciple redeemed by adversity; and Rob Lowe is Nick, a deaf drifter turned certified angel.
On the other side, the normally cuddly Jamey Sheridan is the evil Flagg, whose eyes are red coals (or, alternately, black holes). His demons include Miguel Ferrer as the murderous Lloyd, who snacks on rats, and Matt Frewer as pyromaniacal Trashcan Man. Laura San Giacomo is Nadine, the snake in the garden, chosen as Satan's bride.
All the acting here is pretty good, although some of the evil-doers (notably Frewer) pull out a few too many stops.
Standouts on the good side, in addition to the amazing Dee, are the strong, quiet Sinise and - especially - Lowe, so charismatic in his almost completely non-speaking role that I'd follow him anywhere. (Bill Fagerbakke of "Coach" rates a special mention as Tom, Nick' s simple-minded pal, who rises to unimagined heights.)
But characterization isn't really the point of "The Stand." The story is the thing, and it rushes along, engrossing and frequently frightening. ABC plans a warning to parents about the miniseries' intensity, and it's especially valid in Sunday night's opener, when rotting bodies litter the land and Larry and Nadine flee New York by traversing the dark and corpse-laden Holland Tunnel - a scene that scared even King, who conceived it.
The author, by the way, has a bit part as one of Flagg's flock. More prominent (though unbilled) are Ed Harris as a military man and Kathy Bates as a radio host, both in Part I. So uncover your eyes and look for them.
Copyright © 1994, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Gail Pennington, STEPHEN KING CULT FAVORITE MAKES STANDOUT MINISERIES. , St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 05-08-1994, pp 06C.