CASUALTIES OF LOVE: THE 'LONG ISLAND LOLITA' STORY
A film review by Ken Johnson
Copyright 1993 Ken Johnson
1:40, not rated, Drama, 1993, Made-for-American-Television Director: John Herzfeld Cast: Jack Scalia, Alyssa Milano, Phyllis Lyons, Leo Rossi, J. E. Freeman, Peter Van Norden, Lawrence Tierney, Anne DeSalvo, Michael Bowden, John Perry, Nicky Corello
Alyssa Milano plays the notorious Amy Fisher in this adaption of the controversial story. Milano supposedly started an affair with Jack Scalia (Joe Buttafuoco) and ended up attempting to kill his wife Phyllis Lyons (Mary Jo Buttafuoco).
CASUALTIES OF LOVE: THE 'LONG ISLAND LOLITA' STORY, CBS's version of the Amy Fisher story, aired back on January 3. The film is currently set to be released on video cassette on April 7 (the same time as NBC's AMY FISHER: MY STORY, r.a.m.r.# 1664). Of the three Amy Fisher films, CASUALTIES OF LOVE is by far the best. On a scale of zero to five, I give CASUALTIES OF LOVE a five. The video cassette version will contain some scenes that were too racy for television.
The cast for this film is excellent and ends up being above the normal television film cast. Alyssa Milano (CRASH COURSE, LITTLE SISTER) is great as Amy Fisher. She even did better than Drew Barrymore (ABC's BEYOND CONTROL: THE AMY FISHER STORY), who tends to be excellent in this kind of role. Jack Scalia was very good as Joey Buttafuoco. I think that he did better in that role than the actors in the other two versions. I wasn't too impressed with Phyllis Lyons acting.
CASUALTIES OF LOVE is written from and biased towards Joe and Mary Jo Buttafuoco's point of view, so it is biased towards their point of view. If you are only going to watch one of the Amy Fisher films when they get released on video cassette, I suggest that you choose this one. I don't know how much of it is true, but it makes for good viewing.
-------- Ken Johnson blj@mithrandir.cs.unh.edu
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