Winning
Paul Newman plays a racecar driver, Frank Capua, who steps out of his professional  and personal isolation long enough to marry a single mother, Elora (Joanne  Woodward). The two have a brief but happy life together with Elora's  13-year-old son, Charley (Richard Thomas), but it comes to an end when Frank  goes back on the racing circuit and Elora assuages her loneliness in the arms  of her husband's chief rival, Luther (Robert Wagner). Frank checks out, and Charley travels across the country to find him and effect a reconciliation. A  touching movie (with some good racing footage) by director James Goldstone,Winningis about the real pain of people who have become used to a  certain way of safe, arm's-length living, and who have to learn to get beyond  it to find redemption in love and faith. Good performances by Newman, Woodward, and Thomas, who makes a terrific impression in one of his earliest roles.--Tom Keogh