Just saw this on TV. The cast was well chosen, though a little too obviously made up to look older. Carroll O'Connor talks like Archie Bunker with giant white eyebrows and Charlton Heston looks as if he put his old Moses beard back on. Barbara Bain was excellent as a woman in the early stages of Alzheimer's.I was confused by Lambert's character--was he retarded? An angel? (a popular theme.) He reminded me of a cross between Monk and Peter Sellers in "Being There." There were very few nuances in the characters in general. The plot was very predictable: they are old and crotchety, he arrives, they get to know him. All that said, it's worth a watch, if only to see so many fine actors.

A young man of apparently limited abilities finds himself living in a retirement home, unwittingly showing how being smart ain't all it's cracked up to be and being "slow" isn't the worst handicap in the world.As someone who has worked for years with folks who qualify for Special Olympics (and been soundly beaten at bowling with them on more than one occasion, I might add) I found Christopher Lambert's portrayal realistic and truly touching. I've enjoyed his quiet subtlety in the Highlander series, and here I found myself smiling again and again as he captured the details, the movements, exactly the right tones in showing us this man Gideon. A great performance, I believe, and it makes me want to know more about Lambert--especially considering his role as producer of this film.The film has a stellar ensemble cast with nothing but A-level performances from each, but I could never find my way past the shallow portrayal of life in a retirement home--every person, even the depressed, bright-eyed, every room highly personalized. I kept waiting for Ward and June Cleaver to show up. This place doesn't smell like any "retirement" home I've ever been in, and I've been quite a few over the years. The failure to establish a credible "world" made it impossible for me to accept the story, and this limitation was only supported by the extremely one-dimensional nature of the characters. An ex-boxer? Well, he doesn't read, he just practices shadow boxing in his room.In all, it's a film I'm glad I saw, but can't imagine sitting through it twice.

Gideon is an unusual film. Not because the plot material is that unusual (and, in a sense it is) but because it is a film that is character driven! My gosh, that's really unusual in these days of car chases, brutal murders, sexual peek-a-boos, etc. This is a film about PEOPLE! Just ordinary people doing ordinary things, except they are OLD (gee, another taboo that film makers seem to ignore -- people do get old -- it's a part of living). The fact they are old drives the story concerning a relative "youngster" named Gideon who comes to live with them in their retirement home. The simple approach that Gideon takes gives these people new hope. They no longer count the days till they die, Gideon awakens in them the joy of living again.The cast (look at it, and see a whole lot of famous old stars) is absolutely wonderful, each doing an Oscar winning performance (but they'll not get the award because this film is too simple -- no "bang for the buck.") They will all make you laugh and they will make you cry and they will make you care about the character they protray. That's the secret of this straight-forward little film. You will REALLY CARE what happens to all these people. You will know them before Gideon transforms them, and afterward, and each will come out of their encounter with Gideon a better person than they were before they met him. I just wish that they would put this film on a DVD so I could add it to my collection. But, it is so obscure it's not even offered on video. What a shame -- it is a classic film in the grand tradition! If you haven't seen it, try somehow to see it -- but that's gonna be tough because it's just not available anywhere.

Christopher Lambert is annoying and disappointing in his portrayal as GIDEON. This movie could have been a classic had Lambert performed as well as Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump, or Dustin Hoffman as Raymond Babbitt in RAIN MAN, or Sean Penn as Sam Dawson in I AM SAM.Too bad because the story line is meaningful to us in life, the supporting performances by Charlton Heston, Carroll O'Connor, Shirley Jones, Mike Connors and Shelley Winters were excelent. 3 of 10.