By Erin Free
In this regular column, we drag forgotten made-for-TV movies out of the vault and into the light. This week: the 1972 true-life drama The Weekend Nun, starring Joanna Pettet, Vic Morrow, Kay Lenz and Ann Sothern.
British-born Joanna Pettet was one of many actresses of the 1970s and 1980s to never really see her career light up in a major way, despite her obvious beauty and impressive screen appeal. Pettet shared a striking resemblance to her close friend Sharon Tate, who was of course murdered by The Manson Family in 1969, which may have impeded Pettet in terms of recognition. A gifted performer, Pettet had several interesting big screen features on her resume (1966’s The Group, 1967’s The Night Of The Generals and Casino Royale, 1968’s Blue), but it was on television that she really thrived. Pettet featured on weekly series like The Doctors, Knots Landing, Fantasy Island, The Fall Guy, Knight Rider and more, and also found considerable success as a minor telemovie queen.
With poise and on-screen class, Pettet lit up small screen movies like Pioneer Woman (1973), A Cry In The Wilderness (1974), The Dark Side Of Innocence (1976), Cry Of The Innocent (1980), and more. For a time, Pettet was also caught up in the maddening pop culture swirl of The Manson Family, with the actress famously being the last one to see her friend Sharon Tate alive before her tragic murder. Pettet visited Tate at her Benedict Canyon home for lunch on the afternoon of August 8, 1969. Later that night, the pregnant Tate and four of her friends were brutally murdered by The Manson Family, resulting in one of the darkest episodes in American pop cultural history.
One of Pettet’s real career bright spots was her leading role (though she’s absurdly labelled a “special guest star” in the opening credits per the very peculiar trend of 1970s telemovies) in the 1972 telemovie The Weekend Nun, which was based on the true-life story of Joyce Duco, a nun who successfully sidelined as a probation officer. Pettet plays the fictionalised Sister Mary Damian aka Marjorie Walker, who follows her vocation to do apostolate work by taking a job as a probation officer. Under the watchful, disdainful eye of cynical, burnt-out senior probation officer Chuck Jardine (Vic Morrow), Sister Mary Damian shakes off her initial naivete to become an effective but often too emotionally involved probation officer.
Though wholly dated (some of the casual sexism is truly shocking) and overly sentimental, The Weekend Nun – which was first broadcast on December 20, 1972 on major network ABC – makes for utterly compelling watching. An innocent from a cloistered, quiet convent, the prim-and-proper Sister Mary Damian is instantly presented with a litany of people she would otherwise never have come into contact with, and the eager nun mucks in at every turn, ministering to damaged children and their children with great compassion.
Joanna Pettet is terrific as Sister Damian, cannily depicting the nun’s shift from struggling innocent to effective probation officer. The late, great Vic Morrow has been discussed in this column before (see our reviews for The California Kid and A Step Out Of Line), and he’s characteristically hard-bitten and arresting here as a probation officer who’s seen it all before, resulting in a gloomy, near-nihilistic world-view too great for even the sunny Sister Damian to brighten. A very young Kay Lenz is also excellent as a damaged teen who forges a powerful connection with Sister Damian, while Ann Sothern is effective as Sister Damian’s Mother Superior.
Clocking in at a crisp 70 minutes, The Weekend Nun is both an excellent actors’ showcase, and a strong story of personal sacrifice that winningly mixes desperate optimism with authentic toughness.
Availability: The Weekend Nun is very easy to find online, but it’s unfortunately in pretty rough shape, though it’s certainly watchable.
If you enjoyed this review, check out our other vintage telemovies Then Came Bronson, The Kansas City Massacre, 21 Hours At Munich, Because He’s My Friend, Rodeo Girl, Citizen X, Relentless, The Connection, Zuma Beach, The Third Girl From The Left, Snowbeast, Stagecoach, Terror On The Beach, Strange Homecoming, The Possessed, Memorial Day, That Certain Summer, Elvis And The Beauty Queen, Scandal In A Small Town, Victims For Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story, The Seduction Of Gina, Blue Murder, The Brotherhood Of Justice, The Wave, The California Kid, The Cracker Factory, Night Terror, Inmates: A Love Story, The Shadow Riders, CHiPs: Roller Disco, Dawn: Portrait Of A Teenage Runaway, Young Love, First Love, Escape From Bogen County, The Death Squad, Hit Lady, Brian’s Song, The Defiant Ones, A Cry For Help, Trilogy Of Terror, Policewoman Centerfold, Smash-Up On Interstate 5, Something Evil, Savage, A Step Out Of Line, The Boy In The Plastic Bubble, The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission, A Very Brady Christmas, The Gladiator, Elvis, The Rat Pack, Silent Victory: The Kitty O’Neil Story, Terror Among Us, The Hanged Man, Hardcase, Charlie’s Angels: Angels In Vegas, Vanishing Point, To Heal A Nation, Fugitive Among Us, To Kill A Cop, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, Police Story: A Chance To Live, Murder On Flight 502, Moon Of The Wolf, The Secret Night Caller, Cotton Candy, And The Band Played On, Gargoyles, Death Car On The Freeway, Short Walk To Daylight, Trapped, Hotline, Killdozer, The Jericho Mile, Mongo’s Back In Town and Tribes.
