In 1986 Faye Dunaway bought the movie rights to Cold Sassy Tree. The Turner Network Television production first aired in October of 1989 and was later released for home video. The film stars Faye Dunaway, Richard Widmark, and Neil Patrick Harris. The adaptation is fairly faithful to the original with regard to dialogue and plot, although some liberties are taken with both structural and minor details. Burns was disappointed to discover that the film's rendition of her carefully crafted "down home" dialect was riddled with the inflections and grammar of educated Yankees.

The film version suffers much in its condensation, due largely to poor characterization. In an effort to keep the focus on the romance, this version reduces Will Tweedy's role to a stoic observer, hovering in the background.

Consequently the vitality is drained from the story. Rucker shares the problem of woodenness with Will Tweedy.

In a few scenes...