''Pray for Me, Paul Henderson'' is a Canadian television comedy-drama film, directed by Brad Turner and broadcast by

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

in 1989. Set in 1972 against the backdrop of the Canada-USSR

Summit Series The Summit Series, Super Series 72, Canada–USSR Series (russian: Суперсерия СССР — Канада, Superseriya SSSR — Kanada), or Series of the Century (french: Série du siècle, Séries of the Century), was an eight-game ic ...

, the film centres on four high school students — nerdy overachiever Cameron Alexander (

Torquil Campbell Torquil Campbell (born 17 March 1972) is the co-lead singer and a songwriter for the Montreal-based indie rock band Stars (Canadian band), Stars. In addition to singing, he also plays the melodica, trumpet, synthesizer, and tambourine. Campbe ...

), his best friend Russell (

Richard Chevolleau Richard Chevolleau is a Jamaican–Canadian actor, best known for playing Augur on '' Earth: Final Conflict'' from 1997 to 2002.Chris Krejlgaard, "Black actor hoping to play a superhero". ''Times and Transcript'', May 14, 1999. Early life Chevo ...

), poetry-loving hippie Cynthia Maclean (Samantha Follows) and football jock Michael Starnoulis (

Yannick Bisson Yannick Denis Bisson (born May 16, 1969) is a Canadian film and television actor and director best known to international audiences for playing Detective William Murdoch on the series ''Murdoch Mysteries''. Early life Bisson was born in Montrea ...

) — who come together to compete as the school team in ''

Reach for the Top ''Reach for the Top'' (also known simply as ''Reach'') is a Canadian academic quiz competition for high school students. In the past, it has also been a game show nationally broadcast on the CBC. Matches are currently aired online through Reach ...

'' and become heroes of their school as they reach the national finals against all odds. CBC journalist

Jan Tennant Jan Tennant (born 1937) is a Canadian television journalist. Early life Tennant was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1937, growing up in the High Park North neighbourhood, attended Runnymede Public School and Humberside Collegiate Institute, and then ...

, who had been an announcer for the real ''Reach for the Top'' in the early 1970s, reprised her role in the film. The film aired on November 5, 1989 as an episode of CBC's ''Magic Hour'' anthology of youth and family television films. Hester Riches of the ''

Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published s ...

'' praised the film, opining that CBC should consider turning it into a series and concluding that "we might have a Canadian ''

Wonder Years ''The Wonder Years'' is an American coming-of-age comedy/drama television series created by Neal Marlens and Carol Black. It ran on ABC from January 31, 1988, until May 12, 1993. The series premiered immediately after ABC's coverage of Super ...

'' on our hands".Hester Riches, "It's prime time for young TV viewers". ''

'', November 2, 1989.

Awards

References

External links

* 1989 films 1989 television films 1989 in Canadian television 1980s high school films CBC Television original films English-language Canadian films Films directed by Brad Turner Films set in 1972 Canadian comedy-drama television films 1980s Canadian films {{Canada-tv-film-stub