Review of The Loneliest Runner

I was in my early teens when I saw this movie. It was certainly hard to watch as other comments have noted. At the time you'd think a parent could not be that cruel but you see worse on the news every night now. I wonder if Michal Landon's parents were still alive when this came out? Mom would have fit in nicely with Hitler and dad was a real wimp! it must be nice to be powerful enough in Hollywoood to make a revenge film on your parents. One scene really stuck with me when he was invited for a sleepover and he didn't want to go. With typical brutality the mother gave him no choice....so he forced himself to stay awake the whole night. When he got home the mom knew he had a clean night and was even more upset and said he was wetting his own bed to humiliate her(it's all about her)! She turned the heat up even more at this point.