Paul Newman	...	(Director)
Paul Zindel, Alvin Sargent	...	(Writer)
Joanne Woodward	...	Beatrice
Nell Potts	...	Matilda
Roberta Wallach	...	Ruth
Judith Lowry	...	Nanny
David Spielberg	...	Mr. Goodman
Richard Venture	...	Floyd
Carolyn Coates	...	Mrs. McKay
Will Hare	...	Junk Man
Estelle Omens	...	Caroline
Jess Osuna	...	Sonny
Ellen Dano	...	Janice Vickery
Lynne Rogers	...	Miss Hanley
Roger Serbagi	...	Charlie
John Lehne	...	Apartment Manager
Michael Kearney	...	Chris Burns

Summary: From the Pullizer Prize winning play by Paul Zindel, this is the story of Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughters, Ruth and Matilda. A middle-aged widowed eccentric, Beatrice is looking for her life in the classified ads while all about her is the rubble of an unkempt house. All she needs is the right opportunity, she says puffing on a cigarette. Poorly equipped to survive the vagaries of modern life, she has nonetheless always managed to muddle through. Ruth, epileptic and making her way through the rebellious phase of adolescence, seems doomed to make the same mistakes as her mother. Quiet Matilda, on the other hand, seeks refuge in her animals and her schoolwork. "Jesus, don't you hate the world, Matilda?" Beatrice asks her youngest daughter. The title of the film is also the subject of Matilda's science project at school and serves as a metaphor for the way life affects each of us differently...