A Family for Joe

At the age of 73 Robert Mitchum embarked on one of the most unusual projects in his career. Probably no one ever associated Mitchum with doing a family situation comedy.

This was Robert Mitchum's only attempt at a television series up to this point and it didn't quite work out. Only 9 episodes of A Family For Joe were filmed before the series got the ax.

The premise for A Family for Joe, the NBC tv movie that launched a summer television series, both in 1990, is four orphaned children who talk a homeless man into impersonating their grandfather so they won't be split up in different foster homes. Since I knew the title character in both the movie and series was Robert Mitchum, I was expecting to cry into my hankie when I watched it.

I don't remember a lot about how good or bad the show was. However, I'm remembering the premise slightly differently.

I'm a fan of every Robert Mitchum movie. And then this TV series came along and he played this sentimental role as homeless man, who finds a place in a family of 3 children, without parents, each needing the other to sustain their independence and for the children to not be separated into foster care.

Admittedly, I am a huge fan of any Robert Mitchum product. And then, late in his career, this TV series came along and he played this sentimental role as homeless man, who finds a place in a family of 3 enterprising children, without parents--each needing the other.

Nick, Holly, Chris and Mary are four children who have lost their parents in a traumatic plane crash, and despite being lucky enough to find the caring Brewster family to take care of them, Mary, the youngest, is still mute from the stress and grief and Nick has fallen into a bad crowd of punk kids who smoke weed and steal. The Brewsters regretfully inform the children that they may have to be separated, and Nick comes up with a plan...

I hardly remember this show, but what I can remember I liked. It didn't last long, though.

What more can I say but that this was a brilliantly done film with Robert Mitchum who was "adopted" by some kids as their "Uncle Joe" because they were orphaned when their parents died in an accident.You find this film with Mitchum being a "Homeless person" who lived either in cardboard boxes and or on park benches.