Stephen King's Golden Years

Okay, it needed an editor to get a hold of this, but it is King and they don't edit his books near enough, so a tale where he had a hand in production, even directed part of it, was sure to be the same.Despite that, it is a marvelous tale, not so horrific as most King stories, so most King fans will find it dull. It is more that horror or Sci Fi, it is a gentle tale and romantic, in its own fashion.Keith Szarabajka (Mickey Kostmayer of the Equilizer; Angel; Nighlight) is a superb, underrated talent. In his middle 30's in real life at the time, he portrays an old man nearing retirement working at a top secret lab as a janitor. There is (UNFORTUNATELY) the mad scientist that King should have been ashamed for creating in the stereotypical fashion straight from 1930's horror films, but there is also so really neat characters that round at the tale and make up for the deficiencies. Ed Lauter is great, in a range of role he does not usually play.In a lab accident, Szarajabka is accidently exposed to a substance that reverses his age. And that is what makes the tale work so well. The fine, subtle talents of Szarabajka and the amazing Francis Sternhagen as his wife, who is watching her beloved husband grow younger day and day, make up for the uneven writing by King and sloppy editing.Maybe everyone should forget this is Stephan King, and just judge the film on its own merits and I think you will be surprised.I nice way to pass a rainy day.

I’m a huge Stephen King fan and remember watching when it originally aired. I think it aged pretty well. This was written for TV so there’s no book. If your a King fan like me it was worth the 10 bucks

This DVD replaces a DVD I burned from a VHS tape { remember those? } I had not watched the discs for many years. I remembered it seemed to have an abrupt and unsatisfying ending. I was right after viewing this DVD.

Great entertainment

Golden Years is one of Stephen Kings best works. It's the story of a simple nobody who has lived his life and is nearing retirement. He has an accident and suddenly things change. He starts to grow younger. Growing younger means a lot of change in his life, Stephen King explores those changes in this story. How does growing younger affect his marriage or relationship with his wife, what will others do to find out his secret to growing younger? I just wish the story would have continued, as the ending left a lot to the imagination. I have found out there is more than one ending to this story. I originally wrote this review in 2008, after six years still no edition with the alternate ending. I would love to see the alternate ending as I am certain most of us would. I have revised this review as of 6/14/2014.Ralph.

"Stephen King's Golden Years" is one of the writer's television forays into science fiction rather than horror. Janitor Harlan Williams (Keith Szarabajka), who works at an experimental reactor, is being retired against his will. He is exposed to green radiation when the reactor goes critical, after which he starts getting younger and develops psychic powers. He and his wife (Frances Sternhagen) and a government agent (Felicity Huffman) must go on the run and cope with Harlan's transformation. It's not as good as "The Langoliers" or "Tommyknockers" but it kept me interested to the end when it originally aired.I previously bought the 2001 DVD release of "Golden Years" which was one long movie 236 minutes (2 hrs 56 min) long on 1 disc which has a different ending from the series/miniseries. This 2013 DVD re-release was billed as "the uncut miniseries", so I foolishly bought it and found that it runs...2 hrs 56 minutes long, just split into 2 parts over 2 discs. The uncut series ran seven 46-minute episodes (322 minutes or 5 hrs 22 min). The only other difference from the 2001 release is the ending, which is the series version. Part 1 just cuts out somewhere in the middle of what would be Episode 3. Somebody at the company decided that the series was too long to release on DVD, so they edited the last five episodes down to the length of three. If you want the uncut version don't buy this!! I guess I can't get rid of my old VHS copies yet!Rating: 4 stars for the series, 1 star for this release, average = 2.5 stars.

As far as I'm concerned Stephen King has his ups and downs, of course depending on your taste in stories. I'm not one for blood and gore and things that come up out of the grave; Pet Cemetary, for example would rate a 1 on my list. Golden Years, however, is a great story of intrigue and suspense and action with science fiction (as opposed to horror). It is extremely well cast, well written and well acted. For me, it was a lengthy film that I didn't want to end! But end it did and quite surprisingly so. I thoroughly enjoyed Golden Years and hope you will as well.Sincerely,Pica

An excellent experience. One of King's better mini series.

Hugely influenced by Brian De Palmas seminal 1978 movie The Fury, 1980 saw the publication of Steven Kings novel, Firestarter, which itself went on to become a movie of the same name in 1984 starring George C Scott and an insanely young Drew Barrymore in the starring roles. In 1991 King revisits the same sinister universe inhabited by the agency created in that novel - The Shop - in this, the delightfully eclectic 7-part mini-TV Series, Golden Years.If you want the basic jist, forget the sci-fi setting – Golden Years is essentially a modern world re-spin on Peter Pan. It’s a modern day fairy story. In the novel from where The Shop is created the villain, John Rainbird, appears in dreams as a Pirate, Golden Years kind of runs with that central image extending the pirate metaphor to RD Calls Seminal King bad-guy Jude Anderson essentially playing Captain Hook to Felicity Huffmans delightfully mischievous Peter Pan leading hapless Janitor Harlan Williams and his wife Gina off to NeverNever land so they can be, forever, young…Unfortunately, this is the cobbled together Home Video version with an optimistic last few minutes tacked on to the end to give closure to a show that only ran the one season – this version conveys the basic jist of the original but lacks pretty much all the detail which made the show an actual delight.It’s a shame, genuinely, that this was never released as the uncut 7-part mini-series it originally broadcast as – so many character defining moments have been cut: Jude Anderson mocking Toddhunters account of his conduct in the inquest by pointing out how ludicrous it is to expect anyone to believe he sanely ran back into a room with a run away, burning particle accelerator in it with the intention of suppressing the radioactive inferno with a class 2 chemical fire extinguisher – gone. Anderson, on the firing range after his nemesis Terry Spann has gone on the lamb with the Williams’s taking pot-shots at her photo, the bullets lovingly arranged in a heart shape – gone. Major Moreland giving a particularly pompous speech about the roast beef dinners he remembered as a kid – gone….The late RD Call shines as the villainous Jude Anderson, Felicity Huffman beguiles as his seductive ex-Shop partner Terry Spann, pretty much all concerned look like they had a great time making what really was a fun little romp.Truth be told the story, such that it is, largely doesn’t need expansion – the sole season that was made held its space well and I can still remember it vividly 30 years later – this cut is all that remains so it has to do, it isn’t a patch on the original but it’s enough to get the general idea for first time viewers who have only heard of the original , sadly enough to remind you of whats missing for those like me who watched the original run.Should a full length, uncut version ever emerge – seize it.

what do you expect, most things originally written by this author keep me happy

This was advertised as being several films on the page,but it was only the one film. I will not be using this company again.

good

a1...very happy