Sophia Loren Archives - Courage (1986)


German VHS	French VHS	British DVD	American DVD

PLOT

Marianna Miraldo, a worker in a goldsmith’s shop, discovers that her son is taking drugs. This already serious situation is made even worse by the fact that the boy’s father doesn’t really care, and by the disco very that the boy’s friend Bobby and his family are involved in cocaine dealing. Faced with these tragic facts, Marianna decides to take action. Without her husband and son knowing anything about if, she begins to cooperate with the police drug squad, which works closely with the FBI. (Enrico Lancia)
Based on a true story.

NOTES

Sophia's third TV movie, following Sophia Loren: Her Own Story (1980) and Aurora (1984), earns her some of her best reviews in years.

Most VHS and DVD prints have a shorter duration.

Sophia is in New York promoting her perfume when she spots a story in The New York Times Magazine by Michael Daly about the mother of a drug addict who went undercover to bust a cocaine ring.

The real name of Marianna Miraldo is Marta Torres. Sophia wants to meet the lady but for security reasons no permission is granted.

QUOTES AND REVIEWS

"For the most part, though, Miss Loren captures the haggard but determined esence of an ordinary woman who simply decides to take extraordinary action. Miss Loren takes an already absorbing story and gives it a distinctive style that is rare in television movies."
John J. O'Connor, New York Times, 24 sep 1986

"Courage is a slow, solemn crime movie somewhat disarmed by the luminous presence of Sophia Loren. Three hours in that presence can pall rather quickly, though, since Miss Loren's current notion of acting is simply to sit there - stand there, lie there - looking luminous. She gives a passive, perfect-lady performance, no kin to the bawdy wench in peasant blouse and Gypsy earrings, the lass fresh from the haystack no man over 40 ever can..."

"Loren delivers a powerful and moving performance in Courage,"
Chicago Sun-Times, 24 sep 1986

"Sophia Loren strips away her movie queen image for tonight's timely CBS movie special. But even without the makeup and the fancy trimmings, Loren's beauty shines much more than skin deep.
Houston Chronicle, 24 sep 1986

The first superior telemovie of the fall television season arrives tonight: the always-impressive Sophia Loren portraying a real-life New York businesswoman and mother who helped break up a major cocaine ring.
The Philadelphia Inquirer, 24 sept 1986

"Sophia Loren, svelte, more mature, loaded with awesome dirctness and poise, proves that the star system still works."
Variety

"I've decided to become a self-appointed committee of one to demand more Sophia Loren-starring vehicles on television. I think the actress, who turns in such a substantial job tonight in Courage, should head an anthology series where she plays a different part each week, something like Loretta Young once did."
Kay Gardella, Daily News

"It's a beautiful story which I wanted to play at all costs".
Sophia Loren

"I tried to play the part of this woman with all my heart, with all my experience as an actress. My heart was beating fast, as though I were a beginner, in the scene in which - in front of the judges, my face marked by the years, by toil, by days of struggling against my sons who were suffering from withdrawal - I say, 'I swear.'"
Sophia Loren in Il Corriere della Sera, 14 feb 1987