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My Name Is Bill W
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Editorial Reviews:
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Based on the true story of Bill W., James Woods - in an Emmy? award-winning performance - plays the successful stock broker whose life falls apart after the stock crash of the 1920's. As a result Bill W. and his loving wife Lois (Jo Beth Williams) must come to grips with his depression and downward spiraling alcoholism. In Bill's quest for recovery, he forms a support group with fellow alcoholic, Dr. Bob (James Garner), which eventually leads to the formation of Alcoholics Anonymous. In this inspiring portrayal, My Name is Bill W. movingly depicts the trials, trauma and triumph of people and loved ones coping and recovering from substance abuse. Director: Daniel Petrie. Starring: James Woods, Jo Beth Williams, James Garner and Gary Sinise. DVD Features:
Interviews
TV Special:A powerful, autobiographical story of an extraordinary friendship that developed into the foundation of Alcoholics Anonymous.
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Here's another example of TV giving James Woods the chance to stretch out from the intense-psycho roles he seems restricted to in too many of his movies. In My Name Is Bill W. he plays Bill Wilson, the overreaching businessman from the Roaring '20s who went on to found Alcoholics Anonymous. Woods gets plenty of chances to stretch out here in Bill's headlong slide to the bottom, through the terrors of the Wall Street crash (which amplifies a two-fisted drinking problem) and into the loss of everything he holds dear. Yet Woods also is convincing as the man who understands just how insidious his disease is and learns to try to take everything one day at a time. He receives strong support from James Garner as the alcoholic physician who teams with Bill to make AA a viable proposition. --Marshall Fine
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My Name Is Bill W
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User Comments About My Name Is Bill W
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Inspirational and Entertaining
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I learned a lot from this film and would recommend it to anybody who is involved in a 12 step program or works with recovery. Bob the founders of AA. The characters were portrayed wonderfully by James Woods and James Garner. Although not for everybody, this film gives us insight into the struggles of Bill Wilson and Dr. I think the acting was excellent.
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I found it shallow. It was a nice try, but it didn't work, and the way it ended was like diving off a board into a dry pool. Some AA members consider this movie a valuable asset. It was a pathetic Hollywood attempt to review the lives of those who began the search for an alternative to hospitalization and death for alcoholics.
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Mostly gratitude for what I have but also the feelings of hopelessness, shame, and despair. I use it to show new people in recovery how it all started. As a recovering person of 21 years, the movie helped me get in touch with so many feelings. So very close to Bill's Story in the Big Book.
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Not Only a Great Film, But a Story of an Important Spiritual Movement
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Once thought of as isolated from the realm of religion scholars of religious movements now regard the founding of AA with its reliance on a "Higher Power" as a major milestone in the evolution of American spiritual movements. So, beyond its value as a fascinating look at the origins of one of the most important spiritual movements of the 20th Century it's simply good movie making. But there's a lot more to learn in exploring the roots of Alcoholics Anonymous.
The movie's a great discussion-starter for groups. The movement was founded and grew with great success not as a branch of some traditional religious group but as a new way of bringing people together and organizing their reflections. This is especially true in newer books like Phyllis Tickle's "Great Emergence, The: How Christianity Is Changing and Why (emersion: Emergent Village resources for communities of faith)" Tickle argues that "AA opened the floodgates to spirituality by removing the confines of organized religion.". Here is a massive national network formed around essentially spiritual principles that cut across religious boundaries and even manages to include non-religious people who define "Higher Power" in other ways.
The film received six other nominations, as well. James Woods won the 1989 best-actor Emmy for his performance in this film about the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous. Think about its influence for a moment.
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