Boy in the Plastic Bubble

Before their blockbuster collaboration on Grease, John Travolta and director Randal Kleiser boosted their early careers with this well-acted, sensitively directed television movie. Teenager Tod Lubitch (Travolta) is forced to live in a plastic isolation chamber because he was born with a non-functioning immune system, leaving him vulnerable to even the most common everyday viruses. A unique coming-of-age story, the movie (first telecast in 1976) has become the subject of jokes over the years, but Travolta's comeback has sparked new interest in the star's Welcome Back, Kotter days. --Jeff Shannon