Beautiful Dreamers

Beautiful Dreamers is a 1990 Canadian film directed by John Kent Harrison. It stars Colm Feore and Rip Torn. It was nominated for four Genie Awards in 1991.

Synopsis
Rip Torn is the American poet Walt Whitman. The setting is a 19th-century Canadian institution for the mentally retarded. A compassionate London, Ontario, doctor named Richard Bucke (Colm Feore) defies his superiors by treating his patients as human beings rather than animals. When Whitman champions his cause, the doctor is ostracized by those who fear the poet's reputation as a freethinking radical. Based on a true incident – Whitman spent the summer with Dr. Bucke in 1880.

Cast

 * Colm Feore as Richard Maurice Bucke
 * Rip Torn as Walt Whitman
 * Wendel Meldrum as Jessie Bucke
 * Sheila McCarthy as Molly Jessop
 * Colin Fox as Rev Haines
 * Roland Hewgill as Timothy Pardee