Love Child
Amy Madigan, in her film debut, was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her portrayal of a young woman who is impregnated by a guard while serving a prison sentence and insists on keeping her child.
It’s a story that made national headlines and was covered on 60 Minutes. Convicted and jailed for armed robbery in 1977, Terry Jean Moore fell in love with a prison guard and became pregnant. She then took on Florida courts in a historic legal battle to keep and raise her child behind bars.
Madigan's performance was called “riveting” by Gene Shalit of NBC-TV’s Today and “fine and affecting” by Carrie Rickey of The Village Voice. Ultimate praise for the future Field of Dreams and Places in the Heart co-star came from Moore herself: “It was me there, it really was.”
Beau Bridges as the guard, Mackenzie Phillips as a fellow inmate and Margaret Whitton as Moore’s attorney give strong support in a movie that rings with truth – and moves with its simple and direct power.
The Hollywood Reporter called the film "an enormously touching, heart-wrenching movie that packs such an emotional wallop...it taps the wellspring of deep human feelings that can melt any heart."