''Limbo'' is a 1972 American

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film directed by

Mark Robson Mark Robson may refer to: * Mark Robson (film director) (1913–1978), Canadian-American film director and producer * Mark Robson (American writer), Scottish-American writer and expert in United States coins and stamps * Mark Robson (footballer) ...

, about three wives whose husbands are

missing in action Missing in action (MIA) is a casualty classification assigned to combatants, military chaplains, combat medics, and prisoners of war who are reported missing during wartime or ceasefire. They may have been killed, wounded, captured, ex ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. It stars

Kate Jackson Lucy Kate Jackson (born October 29, 1948) is an American actress and television producer, known for her television roles as Sabrina Duncan in the series '' Charlie's Angels'' (1976–1979) and Amanda King in the series ''Scarecrow and Mrs. Kin ...

Kathleen Nolan Kathleen Nolan (born Joycelyn Schrum, September 27, 1933) is an American actress and former president of the Screen Actors Guild. From 1957 to 1962, she played Kate McCoy, a housewife, on the television series ''The Real McCoys''. Early years B ...

and

Katherine Justice Katherine Justice (born October 28, 1942) is an American actress with many television guest star roles in the 1960s on through the 1980s and a few major film roles. She had a leading role in the made-for-TV movie, '' Columbo: Prescription Murd ...

. It is based on a story by

Joan Micklin Silver Joan Micklin Silver (May 24, 1935 – December 31, 2020) was an American director of films and plays. Born in Omaha, Silver moved to New York City in 1967 where she began writing and directing films. She is best known for ''Hester Street'' (197 ...

inspired by interviews Silver conducted with actual P.O.W. and M.I.A. wives, which was serialized in McCall's magazine. Silver shares screenplay credit with

James Bridges James Bridges (February 3, 1936June 6, 1993) was an American screenwriter, film director, producer, and actor. He is a two-time Oscar nominee: once for Best Original Screenplay for ''The China Syndrome'' and once for Best Adapted Screenplay for ...

Plot

Three women in Florida have husbands serving in

who are reported missing in action. Mary Kay Beull (played by

) has four children, the eldest of whom treats her with increasing hostility as she develops a friendship with Phil Garrett, a school teacher. Sharon Dornbeck (played by

) is married to a pilot in the

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

and has received a telegram reporting that he has been killed. Sandy Lawton (played by

) was wed just two weeks before her lieutenant husband went off to Vietnam. The three women travel to Paris together to attend a Vietnam

peace conference A peace conference is a diplomatic meeting where representatives of certain states, armies, or other warring parties converge to end hostilities and sign a peace treaty. Significant international peace conferences in the past include the follo ...

. To their shock, a film is shown there depicting the atrocities committed by American soldiers against Vietnamese civilians. A horrified Mary Kay becomes an

anti-war An anti-war movement (also ''antiwar'') is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term anti-war can also refer to pa ...

advocate, even testifying before a committee in Washington, D.C. Mary Kay and Sharon's husbands are ultimately confirmed to be dead. Sandy's, however, is released in a weakened condition from a prisoner-of-war camp and she eagerly awaits his return home.

Cast

as Mary Kay Beull *

as Sharon Dornbeck *

as Sandy Lawton *

Stuart Margolin Stuart Margolin (January 31, 1940 – December 12, 2022) was an American film, theater, and television actor and director who won two Emmy Awards for playing Evelyn "Angel" Martin on the 1970s television series ''The Rockford Files''. In 1973, h ...

as Phil

External links

* 1972 films 1972 drama films 1970s war drama films Films set in 1972 American war drama films Films about shot-down aviators Films directed by Mark Robson Universal Pictures films Vietnam War films Vietnam War prisoner of war films Films set in Vietnam 1970s English-language films 1970s American films {{war-drama-film-stub

Plot

Cast

See also

External links