In the mid 80’s, my parents recorded the third telecast of Harry Nilsson’s ‘The Point’ from TV on VHS. To this day, it is the ONLY recording I’ve ever found of this supposed lost version of the film.
The Point first aired February 2, 1971, and was the first animated special ever to air in prime time on US television. It appeared on the ABC television network as an ABC Movie of the Week. The film was directed by Fred Wolf and produced by Murakami-Wolf Films in association with Nilsson House Music, adapted from Harry Nilsson’s album of the same name.
In the animated special, there is a framing device of a father telling his son the fable as a bedtime story. In it’s initial airing, the voice of the father was provided by a friend of Nilsson’s, Dustin Hoffman, who agreed to take $20,000 for his narration to be used on one broadcast, so for later airings of the film, the narration had to be re-recorded.
On it’s second telecast, the narration was provided by Alan Barzman (this version is still currently lost) and on it’s third telecast (this version) the narration was provided by Alan Thicke, best known for playing Dr. Jason Seaver on the 1980’s sitcom “Growing Pains”.
So here it is – my gift to you, completely restored picture and audio, spliced together by me from my recorded VHS copy and the original DVD release of the film (a MUCH better looking copy than the recently released bluray). This version, once considered lost, is now found.
Enjoy!
Dustin Hoffman version here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAamtrV-AeM
Ringo Starr version here – https://youtu.be/uk1IuILjmjE
