The Survival of Dana

Survival of Dana is a 1979 CBS made-for-TV film, a teenage drama starring Melissa Sue Anderson, who experiences conflicting social values when her parents divorce and she moves from Fargo, North Dakota to the San Fernando Valley suburbs of Los Angeles.^[2]

The Survival of Dana
Genre	Crime Drama
Teleplay by	Frank Norwood
Story by	Tom Lazarus Frank Norwood
Directed by	Jack Starrett
Starring	Melissa Sue Anderson Robert Carradine Marion Ross
Music by	Craig Safan
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Tony Converse Roger Gimbel
Producer	Marc Trabulus
Production location	Los Angeles
Cinematography	Bruce Logan
Editor	Joy Wilson
Running time	96 min.
Production company	EMI Television
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	May 29, 1979 (1979-05-29)[1]

The cast also includes Robert Carradine, Talia Balsam (Martin Balsam's only child), Marion Ross, and Judge Reinhold in his first film. Anderson was on hiatus from Little House on the Prairie and Ross (playing Dana's grandmother) was at the time a star on the series Happy Days. Survival of Dana was directed by Jack Starrett, whose only child, Jennifer, plays Lynn, one of the members of the antisocial clique.

Plot

Dana Lee Gilbert has moved from Fargo to the San Fernando Valley to live with her widowed grandmother after her parents' divorce. She finds her new school, Tremont High, was vandalized the night before by a teenage gang unknown to her led by Donny Davis. At the end of her first day, she watches the school's ice skating team practice and wants to try out for it. Waiting for her grandmother at a shopping mall, she meets another Tremont girl, Rona Simms, who shoplifts and they are both arrested. Banned from skating, she joins the gang and starts dating Donny. One of the gang's big plans brings them into conflict with adult criminals.^[3]

Cast

• Melissa Sue Anderson as Dana Lee Gilbert
• Robert Carradine as Donny Davis
• Marion Ross as Madeline
• Talia Balsam as Rona Simms
• Michael Pataki as Arnold
• Kevin Breslin as Skates
• Judge Reinhold as Bear
• Dan Spector as Anthony
• Barbara Babcock as Lorna Sims
• Shelby Leverington as Mrs. Blake
• Dawn Jeffory as Joanie
• Trent Dolan as Coach Tanner
• Scott McGinnis as Paul

References

1. The Survival of Dana at Rotten Tomatoes, retrieved August 16, 2020.
2. Earle Copp, "Copp's Beat: Has Walter Cronkite been forgotten?", The Free Lance Star (Fredericksburg, Virginia), June 9, 1981, p. 18.
3. Steven Puchalski, "The Survival of Dana, 1979, Shock Cinema Magazine, 2012.

External links

• Survival of Dana at IMDb