Melodye Amerson (Kim Darby) is hired as a teacher for a small isolated community out in the country. When she gets off the bus she waits until she is approached by a young woman name Karen Diemus (Laurie Walters). Karen drives Melodye in a dilapidated old truck over a dirt road into the village of Bendo. Melodye is given a room in the Diemus residence. The patriarch of the family and town elder is Sol Diemus (Dan O’Herlihy). The residents are close-knit and secretive. The only other outsider in the village is Dr. Curtis (William Shatner).
The schoolhouse is an old church that the town’s people got from a ghost town. Melodye sets up her classroom and meets her students. Since it is a one room schoolhouse her students are of various ages. Melodye has trouble getting the children to engage in any fun activities. The children never play or run; they just shuffle along not picking up their feet when they walk. They are forbidden to sing, play games or do anything that young children normally do. One student, Clement Francher (Chris Valentine) shows a little more interest in learning about fun than the other children. Melodye gives Francher a harmonica.
Melodye is about to give up trying to teach the children but one of the adults, a young woman named Valancy Carmody (Diane Varsi) urges her to stay. Valancy believes there is a reason why Melodye is here and that change is coming. As she lives among them, Melodye finds that they have unusual psychic powers and are linked to each other. They can feel each other’s pain. It’s just one of the many things about the villagers that make them appear different than what one would consider conventional.
More unusual things happen. As Melodye gets use to the strangeness of Bendo the residents slowly begin to accept Melodye as part of the change and begin to reveal their secrets.
“The People” was released in 1972 and was directed by John Korty. It is a made for television science fiction movie. The film was an ABC Movie of the Week and was loosely based on a series of short stories written by Zenna Henderson. Henderson was a teacher who wrote young adult novels.
I’m not a big fan of Kim Darby; I find her listless and wishy-washy. William Shatner, for some strange reason, gets second billing, most likely because of his role in “Star Trek”. Shatner’s role is a smaller one, and he isn’t as hammy as usual, but he does manage to do just a little pearl clutching.
The movie itself is somewhat plodding and silly, but it was intended to appeal to a younger demographic. Looking at it through that lens, the film probably warrants its boring “G” status. Special effects are sparse and low budget. The focus isn’t on the science fiction but on the emotions and communication between two different types of people. Most of the movie deals with the clash of cultural beliefs and how prejudice can stifle freedom and personal development. It is a life lesson in accepting others for their differences no matter where they come from.
An uncredited executive producer of the film was Francis Ford Coppola. The music score was created by his father Carmine Coppola. The drawings done by the children were all actually created by Arthur Okamura.