- Dying to Belong
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Dying to Belong 
DVD coverDirected by William A. Graham Produced by Gregory Prange
Randy SutterWritten by Ron McGee Starring Hilary Swank
Sarah Chalke
Mark-Paul GosselaarMusic by Michael Tavera Cinematography Robert Steadman Editing by Scott Powell Distributed by NBC Release date(s) February 24, 1997 Running time 120 minutes Country USA Language English Dying to Belong is a 1997 television film directed by William A. Graham.
Contents
Plot
Lisa Connors, an Anders University freshman, has big hopes of a job at the university newspaper. Her ambitious mother, Gwen, suggests Lisa should join a sorority, Pi Gamma Beta (πγβ,ΠΓΒ,PGB), as she herself had great fun. Lisa applies to Pi Gamma Beta, the most prestigious sorority on campus.
Lisa also talks her way into joining the school newspaper, even though she is not qualified. At the paper, she meets Steven Tyler, a fellow student with whom she becomes involved romantically. In order to join the sorority, mainly consisting of snobs who enjoy others' suffering, candidates must endure the cruel humiliation of hazing. Shelby Blake, another freshman desperate for sorority acceptance, immediately befriends Lisa.
When Steven discovers Lisa and Shelby's experiences in connection with PGB, including, apparently, having to eat broken glass, he is appalled. He publishes an article critical of hazing. This leads to his being beaten up.
Lisa refuses to cooperate when the sorority require the two applicants to strip and strut back and forth across a table while the sorority call out degrading and hurtful names and draw on the candidates' skin. In consequence, Lisa is absent when the girls take Shelby up a clock tower to hang a banner. Shelby falls to her death when sorority sister, Drea Davenport, orders her to go over the railing. The next day, Shelby's death is declared a suicide.
Reluctant Lisa, with Steven's prompting, decides to investigate even though the hostile sorority claim it was an accident. Through this she risks her reputation and academic future.
With Steven's help, Lisa contacts a student who was involved in a cruel hazing by the same sorority a year earlier. This student reveals that she almost died and received a settlement from the university to keep quiet. Lisa realizes that Shelby was pressured by her peers into doing something really dangerous that resulted in death. When Lisa uncovers the truth, the school authorities and the sorority do their best to silence her but Lisa is determined to end the hazing.
Lisa tricks the sorority leader and another sister into going to the Bell Tower where Lisa plays a tape recording of the other girl's account of her near death from Pi Gamma Beta's hazing.
As Lisa and her mother walk past Greek Row, the Pi Gamma Betas are all removing their belongings, possibly because Pi Gamma Beta's charter has been terminated. Lisa's mother admits that she enjoyed being in Pi Gamma Beta because of the people, not the actual sorority. Lisa's relationship with Steven survives.
Cast
- Hilary Swank as Lisa Connors
- Sarah Chalke as Drea Davenport
- Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Steven Tyler
- Jenna von Oÿ as Shelby Blake
- Laurel Holloman as Shannon
- Jennifer Warren as Dean Curtis
- Gregory Alan Williams as Carl Ridgeley
- Tracy Middendorf as Kim Lessing
- Isabella Hofmann as Gwen Connors
Reception
The film was generally negatively received. Variety called it unconvincing and spoke negative about the cast and crew as well: 'No one's doing much acting, and director Graham seems hung up on the premise that the telepic's serious. Swank's appealing, but the character's a blank; Gosselaar gives his role the old college try, but nothing's there. Von Oy, suggesting there could be more to her part than is apparent, doesn't find it'. It continued: 'Camerawork and editing are perfunctory, and Roger S. Crandal's production design's conventional. Michael Tavera's score is monotonous'.[1]
The New York Times was more praiseful about Swank's acting, saying that she 'gives an excellent account of herself in this made-for-TV movie'.[2]
References
- ^ Scott, Tony (February 24, 1997). "Dying to Belong". Variety. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117436895.html?categoryid=32&cs=1&query=Dying+to+Belong. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
- ^ "Review Summary". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/331798/Dying-to-Belong/overview. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
External links
1960s 1970s Honky (1971) · Cry for Me, Billy (1972) · Where the Lilies Bloom (1974) · Together Brothers (1974) · Trapped Beneath the Sea (1974) · The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977) · Contract on Cherry Street (1977) · Cindy (1978) · One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story (1978)1980s Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones (1980) · Harry Tracy, Desperado (1982) · Calendar Girl Murders (1984) · Street of Dreams (1988) · Billy the Kid (1989)1990s Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991) · Bed of Lies (1992) · A Friend to Die For (1994) · The Man Who Captured Eichmann (1996) · Dying to Belong (1997) · Sleeping with the Devil (1997) · The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer (1999)Categories:- 1997 television films
- 1997 films
- American films
- American drama films
- Lifetime (TV network) films
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