Butterflies Are Free

Butterflies Are Free is adapted from Leonard Gershe's 1969 Broadway play of the same name, which ran for 1,128 performances and received three Tony nominations. The same director, Milton Katselas, helmed both the Broadway production and the 1972 film. Eileen Heckart won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1972 for playing the overprotective mother. The film marked the screen debut of Edward Albert, a sighted actor playing blind musician Don Baker; made on a 1.5 million dollar budget, it grossed 6.5 million, a commercial success. Who it's for: anyone curious about a Broadway adaptation directed by the same person on stage and screen, which won an actress an Oscar and marked another actor's film debut. Who it's not for: viewers assuming the film version was directed by someone different from the stage production, since both were the same director's work.