The Cracker Factory

The Cracker Factory
Genre	Drama
Based on	The Cracker Factory by Joyce Rebeta-Burditt
Written by	Richard Alan Shapiro (as Richard Shapiro)
Directed by	Burt Brinckerhoff
Starring	Natalie Wood
Music by	Billy Goldenberg
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Tony Converse Roger Gimbel
Producer	Richard Alan Shapiro (as Richard Shapiro)
Cinematography	Michel Hugo
Editor	John A. Martinelli
Running time	100 min.
Production company	EMI Films
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	March 16, 1979 (1979-03-16)

The Cracker Factory is an American television film directed by Burt Brinckerhoff. The teleplay by Richard Shapiro is based on the best-selling 1977 novel by Joyce Rebeta-Burditt. The film was broadcast by ABC on March 16, 1979.

Synopsis

Alcoholic Cleveland housewife Cassie Barrett is institutionalized in a psychiatric ward after experiencing a nervous breakdown in the supermarket. We learn this is the latest in a series of hospitalizations from which Cassie emerges supposedly in control of her life but actually still teetering on the edge. During this latest stay, she develops a romantic crush on psychiatrist Edwin Alexander and a close relationship with night supervisor Tinkerbell, both of whom help her take steps toward facing her inner demons and learning to live with sobriety.

Principal cast

• Natalie Wood as Cassie Barrett
• Perry King as Dr. Edwin Alexander
• Shelley Long as Cara
• Juliet Mills as Tinkerbell
• Peter Haskell as Charlie Barrett
• Vivian Blaine as Helen
• Marian Mercer as Eleanor

Production

Wood was signed in December 1978.

Reception

In The New York Times, John J. O'Connor wrote:

The Cracker Factory, adapted by Richard Shapiro from a novel by Joyce Rebeta‐Burdit, involves a “short‐term rehabilitative psychiatric center” in Cleveland. This becomes the home away from home for Cassie Barrett, played with disarming honesty and strength by Natalie Wood...

The Cracker Factory has a perhaps inevitable quota of stock characters and pat perceptions. But it also has offbeat compassion and surprising moments of humor, all held together with solid performances, with Miss Wood providing the crucial dramatic spark.

See also

• List of television films produced for American Broadcasting Company

External links

• The Cracker Factory at the Internet Movie Database