"The Hired Man" - Cross Creek (1983) - Assorted Moments of Random Cinematic Hotness

This post marks a return to my long-neglected, ir/regular series, featuring screencaps of "Assorted Random Cinematic Hotness" encountered during my home movie adventures. Hope you like it...

The Hired Man
Cross Creek (1983)

Among the more startling moments for me in Martin Ritt's Cross Creek arrived with the introduction of the ancillary character of Paul, the hired man who helps Mary Steenburgen's Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings whip her orange grove into shape. Within the film, the character is nearly incidental -- part narrative necessity, part ambient detail. But 'twas the casting of the role that yanked me awake...

For, in the 1983 film, the role of the hard-working farmhand and part-time moonshiner is played by one of the most important actors of my childhood, Ike Eisenmann. Eisenmann is perhaps best remembered for his portrayal of Tony, the boy witch from the first iteration of the Witch Mountain series (a role which had him adopted/abducted by a guignol Bette Davis in the wackadoo sequel). But I first fell in swoon with Ike as the child protagonist of my favorite teevee show circa 1977, The Fantastic Journey. And for a brief period, young Mr. Eisenmann enjoyed, along with Matthew Laborateaux, the status of being my very favorite actor. At least through the end of the 4th grade. 'Tis always strange to see kid actors grown up. And even stranger to reencounter adult versions of those kid performers, especially when those actors were the ones who stirred such intense but not-yet-understood feelings way back then. And when they look so much as they did, yet entirely -- ahem -- different? It's a startling encounter, to say the least.