Existing somewhere in the netherworld between television and cinema, the TV movie has traditionally been synonymous with the kind of low-quality feature-length fare that’s likely to do more harm than good in theaters. Yet, some TV movies are genuine greats by any measure, including when they’re placed alongside the best works of cinema and prestige television.
Occasionally, it so happens that a genuinely great work of filmmaking comes together in a feature-length production for the small screen. Some of the best TV movies are based on a show that primed them for success, but others were simply commissioned for television, or picked up by a network when no major movie studio or distributor would take them.
With the advent of global streaming giants, there are now also plenty of movies being made specifically for streaming audiences. Netflix’s best original movies are often overlooked, for example, but the platform now has a sizable collection of modern classics. Still, most of the very best made-for-TV movies belong to previous generations.
Gunsmoke: To The Last Man
1992
Two years before the TV movie One Man’s Justice served as a fitting finale for the Gunsmoke franchise, To the Last Man arrived on the small screen. Arguably the finest single instalment of the legendary Western, it sees James Arness reprise his role as Matt Dillon, who become entangled in the Pleasant Valley War while ranching in the Dragoon Mountains.
Babylon 5: In The Beginning
1998
The first spinoff movie released in the Babylon 5 franchise, In the Beginning is set 10 years before the events of the main TV show. It covers key aspects of the franchise’s background mythology in exquisite detail with stunning visuals to match, most notably revealing more about the threat of a new Shadow War throughout Babylon 5.
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie
2019
Marking Jesse Pinkman’s final appearance in the Breaking Bad narrative timeline, this made-for-TV movie serves as the perfect punctuation mark at the conclusion of his story, even if he reappears briefly in a later Better Call Saul episode. El Camino lets us spend one last journey in Jesse’s company, and does his legend justice, right to the end.
Ethel & Ernest
2016
Ethel & Ernest is effectively a nonfiction comic book movie about the parents of graphic novelist Raymond Briggs. It tells the simple story of their life together in 20th century Britain with astonishing sensitivity and a rare, understated sense for the beauty in ordinary things. Few films of far grander emotional scope make cry-watching so inevitable.
Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee
2007
This movie is a prime example of the TV Westerns good enough for theatrical release which began to debut on the small screen in the 1990s. In narrative and visual terms worthy of an IMAX screening, it painstakingly traces the lives of four Native American characters during the period of transition effectively forced on their cultures in the mid-19th century.
Behind The Candelabra
2013
Unquestionably one of the best HBO original movies ever made, this biopic of Liberace sees Michael Douglas don the central character’s famous sequin suits and inhabit his life in remarkably convincing fashion. It’s easy to forget the equally unexpected casting of Matt Damon as Liberace’s lover, Scott Thorson, which ends up being just as inspired.
Deadwood: The Movie
2019
While Deadwood: The Movie ranks alongside the show’s three seasons as some of the best television produced in the Western genre this century. It brings Senator George Hearst back to the scene of his crimes from the TV series, ensuring that Timothy Olyphant’s Seth Bullock gets another shot at justice, once and for all.
Bessie
2015
Featuring one of Queen Latifah’s best movie performances, Bessie is overlooked all too often among the best blues biopics ever made. Years before Viola Davis wowed us as the title character in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Latifah was bringing Bessie Smith to life in all her full-throated, contralto glory, like no one else could.
Night Will Fall
2014
One of the best World War 2 documentaries of all time, Night Will Fall presents horrifying real footage from the Holocaust’s death camps, as well as the incredible story behind how this footage was captured. When the world was still in the dark about what had happened, film director Alfred Hitchcock, among others, was hired to present the appalling truth.
Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie
2023
Leave it to Monk creator Andy Breckman to write and co-produce a film full to the brim with affection for the TV character it’s based on. There’s something for everyone here, but the ultimate winners, of course, are fans of the show. With Breckman having thought of everything, Mr. Monk’s Last Case even gives a subtle nod to Harold Krenshaw.
Source link