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Warm Springs

  • TV Movie
  • 2005
  • PG
  • 2h 1m
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
3.5K
YOUR RATING
Kenneth Branagh and Cynthia Nixon in Warm Springs (2005)
Political DramaBiographyDrama

The stirring true story of Franklin D. Roosevelt's battle with polio in 1921.The stirring true story of Franklin D. Roosevelt's battle with polio in 1921.The stirring true story of Franklin D. Roosevelt's battle with polio in 1921.

  • Director
    • Joseph Sargent
  • Writer
    • Margaret Nagle
  • Stars
    • Kenneth Branagh
    • Cynthia Nixon
    • David Paymer
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.4/10
    3.5K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Joseph Sargent
    • Writer
      • Margaret Nagle
    • Stars
      • Kenneth Branagh
      • Cynthia Nixon
      • David Paymer
    • 43User reviews
    • 31Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Won 5 Primetime Emmys
      • 12 wins & 42 nominations total

    Photos38

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    Top cast99+

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    Kenneth Branagh
    Kenneth Branagh
    • Franklin Delano Roosevelt
    Cynthia Nixon
    Cynthia Nixon
    • Eleanor Roosevelt
    David Paymer
    David Paymer
    • Louis Howe
    Tim Blake Nelson
    Tim Blake Nelson
    • Tom Loyless
    Matt O'Leary
    Matt O'Leary
    • Fred Botts
    • (as Matthew O'Leary)
    Matt Malloy
    Matt Malloy
    • Lionel Purdy
    Andy Davoli
    Andy Davoli
    • Jake Perini
    • (as Andrew Davoli)
    Nelsan Ellis
    Nelsan Ellis
    • Roy Collier
    Jane Alexander
    Jane Alexander
    • Sara Delano Roosevelt
    Kathy Bates
    Kathy Bates
    • Helena Mahoney
    Melissa Ponzio
    Melissa Ponzio
    • Lucy Mercer
    Quint Von Canon
    • Stephen Teller
    Mike Pniewski
    Mike Pniewski
    • Hastings, Party Leader
    Grayce Spence
    • League Member
    Rand Hopkins
    • Dr. Lovett
    Brian F. Durkin
    Brian F. Durkin
    • Elliott Roosevelt
    • (as Brian Durkin)
    Carrie Adams
    • Anna - Age 19
    Georgia Miles
    • Anna - Age 12
    • Director
      • Joseph Sargent
    • Writer
      • Margaret Nagle
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews43

    7.43.4K
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    Featured reviews

    8=G=

    Convincing, engrossing, and thoroughly enjoyable

    "Warm Springs" is a tour de force by Branagh who portrays FDR as a man of money and privilege who is struck down by polio in the early days of his political career. Unable to use his legs he begins to wallow in self pity until he visits a Georgia mineral water spa called Warm Springs where he finds honesty, compassion, kinship, and most of all himself, his wife, and a new sense of purpose. A very pretty period film with good production value, an excellent supporting cast, and sterling performances by Branagh and Nixon, "Warm Springs" would have made an enjoyable stand alone drama. The fact that it's also a biopic about FDR only serves to make it that much more interesting. Another winner for the whole family from HBO. (B+)
    8phadrs

    It's not a political biography

    My wife is a polio survivor, and obviously handicapped, from the disease's last American days in the 1950's. I was a little worried about selecting it for our evening viewing because too often movies about a physical or other handicap tend to fall into a mushy wallow of pity and become insulting. Whatever failings this one has as an historical or biographical document, so ably pointed out by my fellow reviewers, it was clear to us that the real topic was his facing, accepting, and surviving polio and then moving on. It did so realistically and with complete grace. The portrayals of paternalism/pity/revulsion shown the handicapped by many and by Franklin himself were spot-on examples of the well-meaning but hurtful attentions that people carrying many different burdens get handed daily. The polio didn't ultimately define FDR-the man, any more than his hair color did but the movie does a wonderful job showing his transition to that realization, and yet never asks us to feel sorry for him.
    10jotix100

    F.D.R., the man

    This is a film that only Joseph Sargent could have directed. Mr. Sargent's work has been basically seen on television. This HBO film deals directly with Franklin D. Roosevelt's battle with polio. As written by Margaret Nagle, the film is rewarding in that one sees an aspect of this great man in human terms.

    Mr. Roosevelt was a man that came from wealth and privilege. The Roosevelts and the Delanos were involved in politics most of their lives. When we first meet F.D.R. and his family, we find then living under the influence of his bossy mother, Sara Delano. His wife Eleanor is no fool, she soon realizes her husband is having affairs with other women. Eleanor's mother-in-law quickly takes command of things as she reminds the younger woman that some great men have mistresses outside the home, but that it shouldn't be a cause for a divorce, something that wouldn't have been Franklin's political death, at the time.

    We watch in horror how Mr. Roosevelt is stricken with polio. In spite of his political savvy, Franklin is not ready to accept what has befallen him. With the reluctant aid of Eleanor, he answers an invitation to go to rural Georgia, to Warm Springs, where the owner has written him, some progress has been seen on people with suffering polio.

    Warm Springs is more backward than what the Roosevelts expected. Franklin is determined to make a go of it. Helped by Tom Loyless, the man in charge of the springs, Mr. Roosevelt begins to see some progress. At the same time, he and other polio sufferers, are the target of some disdain and bigotry by people that have used Warm Springs for other afflictions. The arrival of a physical therapist, Helena Mahoney, works wonders for Franklin and the patients staying in the spa. Mr. Roosevelt ends up buying the place and turns it into a treatment center for people with polio.

    We also watch how Eleanor, guided by the Roosevelt's loyal friend, Louis Howe, gets her involved in the political arena. She champions the cause for women to get into social issues, something she would pursue until the end of her days. Mrs. Roosevelt rises to the occasion when Franklin is taught how to walk and in an emotional finale, we see him appearing before a Democratic convention. Ironically, he would be elected on the next election and win three other terms as president of the country, in spite of his physical condition, that took a back seat to the reality of running the country.

    If anyone seems to have been born to play Franklin Roosevelt, it is Kenneth Branagh. This actor bears an uncanny resemblance with the younger Roosevelt. Mr. Branagh makes an excellent characterization of the iconic man that still cast a strong shadow with the legacy he left behind. As Eleanor, Cynthia Nixon, is equally Mr. Branagh's match. With a prosthesis to change the look of her teeth, Ms. Nixon is extremely appealing as Mrs. Roosevelt.

    The supporting players do amazing performances. Tim Blake Nelson who plays the kind Tom Loyless is a joy to watch, as in everything this actor does. David Paymer is the loyal friend Louis Howe. Kathy Bates is Ms. Mahoney, the therapist that is instrumental in teaching F.D.R. how to walk. Jane Alexander is also good as Sara Delano, a woman with an iron will.

    "Warm Springs" takes us into the life of the man who battled infirmity with an amazing courage. Joseph Sargent is to be commended for his direction and the way he got good acting all around from his distinguished cast.
    10arturus

    Very, very fine

    In spite of some liberties being taken with events and personages for dramatic effect, this is a remarkably well-done retelling of the first four years after Franklin Roosevelt was stricken with infantile paralysis.

    This version is less sentimental and perhaps more truthful than "Sunrise at Campobello", Dory Shary's play and film, from 1958 and 1960, covering the same events. Perhaps that is because many of the people involved were still living at the time, and the events and personages were still in living memory for so many in the audience for that piece, in 1960.

    This version, however, minces no words and does not turn away from the grim reality of all the challenges Franklin faced, emotional and physical, in dealing with his illness. The performances of all involved are excellent. It is a challenge to portray people so well known to so many, and these actors, all of them, shine in their roles.

    Central to all of this of course must be the performance of the actor playing FDR. For many, after "Sunrise at Campobello", only Ralph Bellamy could play Roosevelt, and he did it with great panache, even to repeating his performance twice, twenty and thirty years later, in the miniseries "Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance" in the 80s.

    Without a doubt Kenneth Branagh gives what must be one of the best performances on film I have ever seen. He never descends to caricature or impersonation, he does not really look like FDR, he only gives suggestions of Franklin's speech rhythms and accent. But this actor inhabits the character as written so completely, with such wide emotional, physical and vocal range that I for one was totally convinced. This is truly a great film performance, worthy of any awards that it gets. And I hope it is recognized.
    10Robert_duder

    Absolutely amazing!!

    In what I have said before has been a very good year for movies with such amazing films as Finding Neverland, Ray, Million Dollar Baby and so on. Along comes an absolute remarkable find...and a television movie nonetheless. Warm Springs is quite possibly one of, if not THE, best movie I have ever seen, I can't recommend this enough. I can't promise that everyone will feel the same about it but I can guarantee you can't not like it and not feel passionate about it.

    Warm Springs is the story of Franklin Delano Roosevelt following his unsuccessful bid for vice president. A year following that bid at 39 years old he is struck down with infantile paralysis, better known as Polio. The powerful man is devastated by the crippling disease. His life as he knew it is over. He drinks his way out of public life and hides himself away, ashamed by the disease. After trying many different healing methods and medicines he is informed of a place in the backwoods of Georgia called "Warm Springs" a mineralized pool resort where a crippled boy found he was able to walk in the waters because of the high mineral concentration. Desperate to try anything Roosevelt goes to the location. He is shocked by the state of the resort which is run down, and poorly operated. Out of desperation he stays out of his element in order to try the water. After several treatments in the water he suddenly finds himself revitalized and able to step in the water. He falls in love with the run down Warm Springs and agrees to an interview with a local newspaper. Despite the reporters attempt to make the interview about Roosevelt, Roosevelt talks about Warm Springs to no end. Next thing he knows Polio victims from all over are risking everything to come to Warm Springs. They can't pay, most of them are poor, and the "healthy" guests are threatening to check out fearing they will catch the disease. The waters are miraculous and Roosevelt finds a whole new public and a whole new reason to live in his fellow sufferers. His wife meanwhile keeps the Roosevelt name in the public eye by becoming spokeswoman to different organizations and gearing Roosevelt up for his return to politics which would ultimately lead to one of the greatest Presidencies in history.

    Three things make this such an incredibly film that it should walk away with any and all awards it is eligible for. First, the acting, the casting of this film was so brilliantly done. They are all just phenomenal. The writing, Margaret Nagle, is obviously a beautifully well spoken writer. And finally the directing, Joseph Sargent who is absolutely no stranger to directing made the most passionate film, and for Television nonetheless, I have ever seen. Kenneth Branagh, who is always an intense actor, plays Roosevelt with such feverish passion from his highest highs to his lowest lows. Granted as everyone keeps pointing out he didn't look a lot like him and his English accent was a little misplaced but his performance was so moving and so incredibly it's easily overlooked. Kathy Bates as the determined, and fevered supporter of Roosevelt's Warm Springs, is a wonderful if not slightly underused addition to the cast. She is always a brilliant actress. A real treat was Cynthia Nixon who is really only known as Miranda from Sex and The City (a show which I personally can't stand.) Cynthia Nixon instead puts across such an incredibly performance as the socially withdrawn, but dedicated and loving wife Eleanor Roosevelt, bravo to her. The rest of the supporting cast is just unbelievable. No one turns in a less than remarkable performance. Tim Nelson stands out in my mind as manager of Warm Springs and someone who becomes very close to Roosevelt, Tom Loyless. For the first time in many, many years I literally found myself in tears during a film. All in all, this movie is an absolute must see for anyone interested in political history, or just for a beautifully directed film. 10/10

    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      Most of the actors and actresses playing disabled people in this movie are actually disabled, including "I Won't Dance" cast member Teal Sherer.
    • Goofs
      In the opening scene, newsreel from the Democrat National Convention of 1920 shows FDR talking and people cheering as part of the film. Film with sound wasn't invented until 1927, and even then was quite rare until 1930 or 1931.
    • Quotes

      Franklin Delano Roosevelt: [on first arriving at Warm Springs] This place should be condemned!

      Tom Loyless: We have seen better times. But then, I imagine, so have you.

    • Connections
      Featured in Warm Springs: Making of Featurette (2005)
    • Soundtracks
      I'll See You In My Dreams
      Written by Isham Jones and Gus Kahn

      Performed by Alice Faye

      Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • April 30, 2005 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • Branagh Compendium
      • HBO (United States)
    • Languages
      • English
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Springs
    • Filming locations
      • Summerville, Georgia, USA(train depot)
    • Production companies
      • HBO Films
      • Mark Gordon Productions
      • The Mark Gordon Company
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Budget
      • $13,000,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      2 hours 1 minute
    • Color
      • Black and White
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.78 : 1

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