I saw this version of the story many many years ago and loved it. I still have never seen the musical nor the new film. I watched this version again recently for the first time in many years and while it suffered slightly from the usual low budget aspects of a lot of TV movies, the acting was excellent and Tony Perkins was absolutely amazing as Javert. My 15 year old son had never seen any version of the story and watched it with me and he was mezmerized by the film and loved every minute of it (this from a kid who can't sit still for 5 minutes unless there are explosions and robots and blood and guts everywhere).
BTW, the bright-eyed young Marius who resembles an older Elijah Wood was played by Christopher Guard, who was Frodo in Bakshi's "Lord of the Rings".
BTW, the bright-eyed young Marius who resembles an older Elijah Wood was played by Christopher Guard, who was Frodo in Bakshi's "Lord of the Rings".