Rich Man, Poor Man Book II

1976

Seasons & Episodes

  • 1

EP18 Chapter 18 Feb 15, 1977

7.6| 0h30m| en
Synopsis

Rich Man, Poor Man Book II is an American television miniseries that aired on ABC in one-hour episodes at 9:00pm ET/PT on Tuesday nights between September 21, 1976 and March 8, 1977. A sequel to Rich Man, Poor Man that had aired the previous season, it focused on the further exploits and conflicts of the Jordache family.

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime. Watch Now

Trailers & Clips

Reviews

Jeanskynebu the audience applauded
Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece
Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film
Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film
Indieshack Really stolid potboiler, scene chewing sessions abound. The ONLY thing that set with apart from other 70's dross in the final episodes was the interaction between Nolte and Bill Smith's Falconetti, one of the great TV villains ever.
qormi Book 2 doesn't hold a candle to Book One. Standard soap opera fare punctuated by a weekly scene of Falconetti doing something violent, being it slapping a woman or torturing a cockroach. The romance between Rudy and Maggie is challenged by Kate. Rudy sees both of them and must choose. Now, you don't tell a woman that you have to choose between her and another woman. Women don't take this well, so this scenario was not realistic. Also, Rudy and Maggie are perfectly matched - same age, well educated....Kate seems like a giggling teenager and her scenes with Rudy are rather creepy. One common theme here is a lack of motherhood - all of the women in books one and two are lousy mothers. Rudy's mom favored him and ignored her other son, Tom. Julie ignored her son, Billy - sending him off to boarding school. Wes's mom was a prostitute and the courts took him away from her. Wes's stepmom, Kate, told him she didn't want him around. Maggie ignored her daughter, Diane, and sent her off to boarding school. Kate was always apart from her daughter - you never saw her. Ramona's mom died when she was a child. Anyway, the plot was predictable. Billy fell for Annie and kept getting rejected. Estep was always plotting and his goons killed for him. Wes and Ramona never worked it out....the whole thing had a very disappointing ending and nothing was resolved...just a bunch of people with shattered lives and life-threatening injuries. Had Rudy, Wes, or Billy ever bothered to call a cop instead of taking matters into their own hands, everything would have worked out just fine...duh...
FromBookstoFilm This is a hard to find sequel but it is worth having. Performances were well done. Julie Prescott dies in an assignment in Vietnam. Falconetti is released from prison and is out for revenge against the entire Jordache clan,Dwight Dwyer and the significant others of the Jordache men. Rudy wants Falconetti back in prison.Wesley wants Falconetti dead. Billy and his step-cousin Wesley have a great friendship until Billy sleeps with Wesley's girlfriend and becomes pregnant.Wesley then takes up with Diane daughter of his Uncle Rudy's main squeeze (after Julie) Maggie Porter.Rudy also enters into a one time only affair with his late brother's widow Kate who is now the mother of his niece who does not appear in the story but only mentioned. Falconetti is revengeful indeed he murders Dwyer,Kate leaves town to get away from the vengeful Falconetti,beats up Wesley so bad that he ends up in a coma,tries to rape Wesley's second girlfriend in the series Diane Porter and stabs Billy. The instigated murder of his brother Tom,the murder of good friend Dwyer,Kate's fleeing town,Wesley in a coma due to being badly beaten,the attempted rape of his girlfriend's daughter and lastly the stabbing of his stepson Billy throws Rudy into a physical showdown with Falconetti in an alley.Falconetti this time is dead and Rudy either dead or near death as far as Billy goes he might have made it.Wesley might not have made it it's hinted that he might have went the way of his father Tom. Most of the first Rich Man Poor Man fans were not too happy with this sequel and wrote letters to the network at that time "Please no Rich Man Poor Man Book III". Sadly, four years later another sequel an official sequel novel by Irwin Shaw to the original novel came out which was absolutely horrible called Beggarman,Thief. No one from either cast was in the sequel. This sequel begins right after the death of Tom. Wesley is after someone tied in to his father's death but not Falconetti.Billy is not the son of Julie but of Gretchen Tom and Rudy's older sister whose character was combined with two other characters in Rich Man Poor Man Books 1 and 2 was played by Jean Simmons. Jean Simmons is a wonderful actress but she is no Gretchen Abbot Burke.Kate was an English girl just like in the novel and played by Lynn Redgrave. Kay Lenz played Kate as an American girl. Kate in Beggarman Thief had a son by Tom called Tom and Kate unlike the Kate in Rich Man Poor Man 1 and 2 hated Rudy's wife whom she rightfully blamed for Tom's Death.Billy ends up having an affair with a beautiful German terrorist called Monika who ends up dying as a result of being terrorist. Watching the two sequels to Rich Man Poor Man 1 I would say Rich Man Poor Man 2 was the better. Another problem with Beggarman, Thief is that it was a sequel that should have followed a remake of Rich Man Poor Man. Beggarman, Thief is to Rich Man Poor Man what Scarlet was to Gone with the Wind- LOUSY. In order to have a good sequel to an original one needs to have the same cast. Good examples: The Godfather Saga,Richard Lester's Three Musketeers trilogy and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
elio1 It is very strange to see Rich Man Poor Man (book one and two) after all these years. When I was a kid, i remember enjoy both parts. But I haven't seen it since the 80s... And on a french channel TEVA, they rerun part one and two. To be honest the two parts are really different : even if we find some similar characters and apparently the same storyline, it's really not the same thing.the first chapter is a strong and brilliant story about the fate of two brothers. The second part gives me (now) a strange feeling : the estep/falconetti storyline is strong and full of suspense. It's a kind of dram/detective/soap show, but it's really enjoying.I think you have to appreciate it as a different thing. My wife, who is watching the show (one and two) for the first time love both parts. I have to admitt that it was very difficult test for gregg henry to act after nick nolte. But it is great. And James Caroll Jordan (playing billy abbott) is one of the few characters in the TV history who is very hard to understand. One second, cool and charming (the perfect guy), next second (traitor and a bad guy...)Of course, Peter STRAUSS is great like the rest of the cast, except maybe Kaye LENZ (but I suspect the dubbing - her french voice- to be in charge more than the actress).I hope americain people can soon watch the show again.