Every generation will have movies and television series that will play up to their sense of nostalgia for a bygone era of their youth. Kids from the 1980s are certainly having their moment now, but in the 1990s it was time for baby boomers who came of age in the 1950s and 60s to get a bunch of films and shows of varying quality to that were keen to exploit their memories for a quick buck. One of the very best and certainly most underrated films of this revival is writer-director Christopher Monger’s 1990 family comedy Waiting for the Light, recently re-released on Blu-Ray from MGM. A film that came and went without much fanfare upon its release, Waiting for the Light is an effortless, thoughtful charmer that’s ripe for re-appraisal.
Set in 1962, Waiting for the Light tells the story of the Harris family, led by single mother, Katy (Teri Garr). Originally a concession stand worker at a movie theatre in Chicago, Katy makes the tough decision to pack up and move almost across the country to a Washington state suburb that’s home to a run-down greasy spoon diner bequeathed to her by a late uncle. Her two kids – daughter Emily (Hillary Wold) and son Eddie (Colin Baumgartner) – have been kicked out of every school they’ve attended, the result of pranks taught to them by their troublemaking, ex-vaudevillian aunt, Zena (Shirley McaLaine). With nowhere else to go and health concerns, Zena makes the move alongside the family.
The diner seems like a lost cause, but an act of revenge against the family’s creepy, ill tempered neighbour, Mr. Mullins (Vincent Schiavelli), provides an unlikely lifeline. After getting struck by the neighbour for daring to go into his yard, Zena, Eddie, and Emily attempt to scare Mullins into thinking he’s seen a ghost. Instead, Mullins believes he has seen an angel, a symbol of light and hope that makes him want to change his ways. Soon, locals and the media begin to seize upon the story, making the apple tree in Mullins’ yard – and by extension the family diner next door – into a tourist destination. It’s all great on a surface level, but a nosy, skeptical reporter (Jack McGee) is close to unravelling just what happened in Mullins’ backyard, making the family troublemakers question if they should come clean or double down on a lie.
Monger (The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill but Came Down a Mountain) succeeds in creating an upbeat, crowd pleasing tone throughout, even when things threaten to go in dark directions. Waiting for the Light revolves around characters who are pranksters, but there isn’t a lot of malice to be found in Monger’s material. While Aunt Z and the Harris kids have done something wrong, Monger fosters a sense of understanding that things in the outside world are much worse than telling a little fib that seems to be providing some people with a bit of hope in dark American times. Everything at the diner unfolds amid the backdrop, confusion, and fear of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In addition to potentially ruining the one good financial thing to happen to the family in ages, the kids might’ve unwillingly given more people than Mr. Mullins a sense of hope.
At the time of its theatrical release in November 1990, Waiting for the Light was somewhat ahead of the wave of 50s and 60s nostalgia that was to follow throughout the decade, and it wasn’t treated by its original distributor as the sort of thing that would have broader mass appeal. Triumph Releasing (a Sony subsidiary that mostly put out indie films that were produced elsewhere) dumped Waiting for the Light onto a scant 149 screens, en route to a 16th place debut at the weekend box office. It’s a movie that certainly deserves better, even if Monger lays the sentimentality on a bit thick and conveniently in the latter stages.
For better or worse, Waiting for the Light is the sort of breezy, period piece that’s big in ways few similarly pitched projects ever are, both then and now. It’s a “slice of life” movie that hits in a pleasing way akin to a Reader’s Digest article, and it boasts a killer soundtrack and visually sunny disposition. But beyond the artifice, the story and performances at the heart of Waiting for the Light is deceptively smart. The characters, particularly Garr’s conflicted mother, are complicated, but likeable. MacLaine and the kids are top notch, and there’s even a great against-type role for Clancy Brown (normally known for playing heavies, creeps, and villains), who pops up as a helpful, kindly rambling man who lives in the family’s shed on and off between trips.
Even more than it did at the time of its relief, Waiting for the Light is a pleasing balm for a troubling, stressful world. Monger’s work looks for bright spots in dark places, always acknowledging that things are a scary mess, but guiding them towards the light. If the weight of the world is currently getting you down, Waiting for the Light might be the film for you. And you don’t have to be a boomer or a product of the late 80s/early 90s to enjoy it.
Waiting for the Light is now available on Blu-Ray from MGM.
