Back in 1994, the release of "The Stand" as a miniseries was a hotly-debated topic among Stephen King fans. There was also a large amount of backlash when some fans heard that Rob Lowe had been hired to do the important role of Nick Andros.
However, whatever problems fans had about the casting was quickly dismissed.
Gary Sinise, Ray Walston, and a number of actors raise this film above your a-typical Network Television Miniseries. The good reputation that this movie rests is firmly on the acting performances, and the outstanding casting choices made for this film. There are two cameo appearances by Kathy Bates and Ed Harris, who in particular gives a haunting and memorable cameo as a deranged Army General. There are a couple of really bad spots (Molly Ringwald, Corin Nemec, a few others) but most of the casting in this film is incredible and the casting director on this film rightfully deserved accolades.
The score of this film, done by "Snuffy" Walden is first-rate. It's an outstanding score that does the film and the book justice, and is so good that it deserves to be heard on its own.
There are a number of problems with this show, most notably the interference from the Network Censors and the weakness in production values. Sometimes both of these problems are so severe that they stick out like a sore thumb. The movie has a tendency to feel *very* cheap at times. The editing at times leaves a lot to be desired. This is easily Mick Garris' best film, but Mick's from the point-and-shoot school of film-making, and it does hurt the film to a degree.
The film opens very strongly - the opening sequence is perhaps the most memorable moment of the film and pretty much the next 90 minutes (which equates to the first "episode" of the miniseries) is actually of very high quality. However, over the next 4 hours the begins a very slow slide downward in quality until the final episode, where it finally begins to REALLY look & feel like a Network miniseries. Then we have the last 25 minutes, when there's a sharp drop into "movie hell", where the film becomes hokey, amateurish, and just plain bad. Part of this is due to lesser actors being given more attention or key scenes in the later part of the show. The other problems lie in King, Garris & co's decision to go for the full-on sentimental sappiness at the end, that just drowns and smothers the dignity the story deserved and should have kept. I think a keener director would've approached this aspect of the film with a little more restraint. One really bad example I recall is the dead character of Mother Abigail given a bad special effects cut & paste job into the upper right hand corner of the screen. All of what happens over the last 25 minutes basically drags this film away from being worthy of comparison in quality to some of the better King feature film adaptations. Still, it is the second best King telefilm (in my opinion, "Storm of the Century" beats it out by a hair)
This is only one of two really really great adaptations that Stephen King had his hands involved in substantially. Most of his producing/screen writing work is firmly below this film in terms of quality.
However, whatever problems fans had about the casting was quickly dismissed.
Gary Sinise, Ray Walston, and a number of actors raise this film above your a-typical Network Television Miniseries. The good reputation that this movie rests is firmly on the acting performances, and the outstanding casting choices made for this film. There are two cameo appearances by Kathy Bates and Ed Harris, who in particular gives a haunting and memorable cameo as a deranged Army General. There are a couple of really bad spots (Molly Ringwald, Corin Nemec, a few others) but most of the casting in this film is incredible and the casting director on this film rightfully deserved accolades.
The score of this film, done by "Snuffy" Walden is first-rate. It's an outstanding score that does the film and the book justice, and is so good that it deserves to be heard on its own.
There are a number of problems with this show, most notably the interference from the Network Censors and the weakness in production values. Sometimes both of these problems are so severe that they stick out like a sore thumb. The movie has a tendency to feel *very* cheap at times. The editing at times leaves a lot to be desired. This is easily Mick Garris' best film, but Mick's from the point-and-shoot school of film-making, and it does hurt the film to a degree.
The film opens very strongly - the opening sequence is perhaps the most memorable moment of the film and pretty much the next 90 minutes (which equates to the first "episode" of the miniseries) is actually of very high quality. However, over the next 4 hours the begins a very slow slide downward in quality until the final episode, where it finally begins to REALLY look & feel like a Network miniseries. Then we have the last 25 minutes, when there's a sharp drop into "movie hell", where the film becomes hokey, amateurish, and just plain bad. Part of this is due to lesser actors being given more attention or key scenes in the later part of the show. The other problems lie in King, Garris & co's decision to go for the full-on sentimental sappiness at the end, that just drowns and smothers the dignity the story deserved and should have kept. I think a keener director would've approached this aspect of the film with a little more restraint. One really bad example I recall is the dead character of Mother Abigail given a bad special effects cut & paste job into the upper right hand corner of the screen. All of what happens over the last 25 minutes basically drags this film away from being worthy of comparison in quality to some of the better King feature film adaptations. Still, it is the second best King telefilm (in my opinion, "Storm of the Century" beats it out by a hair)
This is only one of two really really great adaptations that Stephen King had his hands involved in substantially. Most of his producing/screen writing work is firmly below this film in terms of quality.