''Peege'' is a 1973 American short student film, written and directed by

Randal Kleiser John Randal Kleiser (born July 20, 1946) is an American film and television director, producer, screenwriter and actor. He is best known for directing the films ''Grease (film), Grease'' (1978), ''The Blue Lagoon (1980 film), The Blue Lagoon'' (1 ...

, about a family's visit to an elderly relative in a

nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of older people, senior citizens, or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as care homes, skilled nursing facilities (SNF), or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms ...

. In 2007, The film was selected for preservation by the United States

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...

, for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Synopsis

An elderly woman, nicknamed "Peege" and played by

Jeanette Nolan Jeanette Nolan (December 30, 1911 – June 5, 1998) was an American actress. Nominated for four Emmy Awards, she had roles in the television series '' The Virginian'' (1962–1971) and '' Dirty Sally'' (1974) and in films such as ''Macbeth'' ...

, lives in a nursing home where she is suffering from

blindness Visual or vision impairment (VI or VIP) is the partial or total inability of visual perception. In the absence of treatment such as corrective eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment, visual impairment may cause the individual difficul ...

and ailing mental faculties. Her family makes regular visits to her every

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

, but her poor health makes these occasions awkward for everyone else. The conversation is awkward, because most of the family treat Peege in a condescending fashion and talk about their own successes. As the family goes to leave, one of the grandsons (

Bruce Davison Bruce Allen Davison (born June 28, 1946) is an American actor who has appeared in more than 270 films, television and stage productions since his debut in 1968. His breakthrough role was as Willard Stiles in the 1971 cult horror film '' Willard' ...

) remains behind briefly. He recounts to his grandmother that when he was a young boy her laugh would "always make imhappy", before tearfully departing, unaware if he has communicated with her. After his exit, the camera lingers on her face and her expression subtly shows he was successful.

History

After graduating from

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

, Kleiser had struggled creatively while making

educational film An educational film is a film or movie whose primary purpose is to educate. Educational films have been used in classrooms as an alternative to other teaching methods. History Determining which films should count as the first educational fil ...

s, and at the behest of his father he returned to college to earn his

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

. In the film he originally planned as his thesis, a Los Angeles theater company puts on an experimental play about a

time travel Time travel is the hypothetical activity of traveling into the past or future. Time travel is a concept in philosophy and fiction, particularly science fiction. In fiction, time travel is typically achieved through the use of a device known a ...

ler. However, he had intended to supplement the picture with special effects, but if he did so the consequent budget would be $5,000 more than he could afford; he would only be able to complete it by renting equipment from USC and ceding the copyright to them. Unwilling to lose ownership of his movie, he instead followed the advice of producer Curtis Harrington, who suggested he abandon the project in favor of a more personal and intimate subject. He chose to write about his own family's visits to his grandmother, also nicknamed "Peege", when she was in a nursing home in Pennsylvania. Each trip found her in poorer health, to the point where, according to Kleiser, he "dreaded visiting". The family's final journey to see her served as the inspiration for the script.

Production

There were no problems during shooting, and indeed the production enjoyed more than its share of good fortune. Producer David Knapp was also working on a CBS

television movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

at the same time (

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

's '' Something Evil''), and since that film had wrapped ahead of schedule, the ''Peege'' crew were able to get access to the studio offices for the remaining two weeks of the lease without any cost. Next door to those offices was the studio for the

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

Gunsmoke ''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centered on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central charact ...

'', and

, a guest-star on the show, was approached to play the role of the grandmother. Lead actor

had enjoyed recent success as the star of '' The Strawberry Statement'' and '' Willard'', but liked the script enough that he agreed to participate for only the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

statutory

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. List of countries by minimum wage, Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation b ...

, and a small share of any profits.

Reception

Prior to its inclusion in the National Film Registry, ''Peege'' had already won several awards, including a Chris Award at the Columbus Film Festival, the top honor at the

National Council on Family Relations The National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) is an American nonprofit, multidisciplinary learned society dedicated to research on all aspects of the family. Founded in 1938 as the National Conference on Family Relations, it was renamed to its ...

Film Competition, a Media & Methods Recommended Citation: Maxi Award, and a TEAM Film Award for the Best Film in Family Counseling.

References

External links