KATY KURTZMAN IN THE NEW ADVENTURES OF HEIDI

year: 1978 rating: ***

In one of the  most wonderfully bizarre made for television musicals ever filmed, Katy Kurtzman, an underrated and incredibly talented child actress from the 1970's, plays a modern day Heidi. With the signature blond pigtails, she frolics throughout the mountainside with her grandfather, played by Burl Ives, who is slowly losing his sight.

What they really want is to live together without a care in the world... Other than a bearded psychopath lurking in the shadows, hilltop life is downright peachy.

But when Grandpa gets lost in a thunderstorm, Heidi travels with a poor little rich girl to a mansion in the big city – and here’s where the movie takes a pretty bad turn: Don’t blame our lovely blue-eyed heroine for the snag in the breezy storyline. PYSCHO actor John Gavin’s role as the rich girl’s neglectful father ruins not only the whimsical pace, but takes Heidi out of the story for tedious pockets of downtime. This movie is about HEIDI... who cares about a stuffy businessman?!?

Overall, despite the camp value which has value nonetheless, young Katy Kurtzman turns in an amazing performance, especially when she's crying or wishing for the life she may never regain. Her eclectic bouquet of expressions, ranging from contented to ecstatic to woebegone to hysterical, makes some of the other stuff – reminiscent of an eerie dream – not matter. It’s the title character that counts... It's her  adventure!