''Something for Joey'' is a 1977 American

made-for-television 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 ...

sport drama film about the relationship between

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

player John Cappelletti (portrayed by Marc Singer), and his younger brother Joey (Jeff Lynas). Other cast members included

Geraldine Page Geraldine Sue Page (November 22, 1924June 13, 1987) was an American actress. With a career which spanned four decades across film, stage, and television, Page was the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Geraldine Page, numer ...

, Linda Kelsey and Steve Guttenberg. It appeared on the CBS

television network A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television show, television content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations, pay television providers or ...

Plot

Joey battled

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

since the age of three, and was one of the first children to undergo

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

for the disease. The story traces John through his years at

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

seeking the

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy ( ; also known simply as the Heisman) is awarded annually since 1935 to the top player in college football. It is considered the most prestigious award in the sport and is presented by the Heisman Trophy Trust followin ...

, and Joey his preteens, as each brother inspires the other, and their family around them, to try harder in life. John wins the Heisman during a downturn in Joey's illness. During his acceptance speech, John names Joey as his prime motivator, then gradually breaks down in tears, as he tells everyone he wants Joey to have his trophy, for inspiring him and for enduring so much difficulty with leukemia. The whole Cappelletti family is there, and Joey runs to John's side. The film ends by revealing Joey succumbed to his leukemia and died with John by his side on April 8, 1976.

Cast

as Anne Cappelletti * Gerald S. O'Loughlin as John Cappelletti Sr * Marc Singer as John Cappelletti * Jeffrey Lynas as Joey Cappelletti * Paul Picerni as

Joe Paterno Joseph Vincent Paterno (; December 21, 1926 – January 22, 2012), sometimes referred to as JoePa, was an American college football player, athletic director, and coach. He was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football, Penn ...

Kathleen Beller Kathleen Jennifer Beller (born February 19, 1956) is an American actress who was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Supporting Role for her role in ''Promises in the Dark (film), Promises in the Dark'' (1979) a ...

as Jean Cappelletti * Linda Kelsey as Joyce Cappelletti (also Narrator) * Steve Guttenberg as Michael Cappelletti * James Karen as Dr. Wingreen

Reception

The film was adapted from a best-selling

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curri ...

of the brothers, and was well presented and well received. It also appeared later on

home video Home video is recorded media sold or Video rental shop, rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD and Blu-ray. ...

in 1995. It was the most-viewed prime-time television show of the week upon its first airing in April 1977.(17 April 1977
The top 10 network programs
''Time-News'' (Idaho) The movie got 96% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

Home media

The film was released by MTM Home Video in 1995 on VHS.

Nominations

The film was nominated for Outstanding Directing in a Special Program - Drama or Comedy and Outstanding Writing in a Special Program - Drama or Comedy - Original Teleplay at the

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

, as well as for the

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Januar ...

Best Motion Picture Made for TV in 1978.

References

External links

* {{MTM Enterprises 1977 television films 1977 films 1977 drama films American drama films American football films College football in fiction 1970s English-language films CBS films MTM Enterprises films Films scored by David Shire Cultural depictions of players of American football Biographical films about sportspeople Cultural depictions of American people Films set in Pennsylvania Films directed by Lou Antonio 1970s American films