So Pete Was A Real A-Hole

He was just weak and indecisive about his long-term goals, and easily seduced when it came to momentary gratifications. Sandra was one of the latter-- a second, "sober" ceremony was neccessary, so the botched marriage wasn't simply a matter of faulty paperwork. Hitching up with Sandra seemed a good idea at the time, but Pete obviously saw through the whole thing when "the morning after" came around.

He was engaged to Maggie twice, and if I read the confusing first scene right, Sandra scolds him for flying down to Maryland to see her while she (Sandra) had barely slept off the hangover from the honeymoon.

Pete was dazzled by the pianist, but in love with the more ordinary and domestic woman, and he realized that the career was a problem for him-- he suspected it would take precedence over the marriage, and the ultimatum about the trip to Philadelphia was his way of testing whether that was true. It was also an easy out for his "conscience," which he mentions when he explains the whole thing to Maggie.

All within a couple of days, and a few minutes of rapid-fire dialogue-- hard to find the time to dig for the subtext.

Nowadays I guess Pete might be considered an a-hole for wanting a more subservient wife, but I still think his real flaw was weakness, passivity, superficiality.

I agree with the poster who said, in another thread, that this is as silly as it gets-- but is hard to stop watching.

Oh another thing, yes I did think the ultimatum was a bit incredible, at least when he issued it-- but his explanation kinda cleared that up, and so did Sandra's incredibly bitchy, obnoxious primadonna behavior. About the glitch in documenting the wedding, for example, she just shrugs and says "dates bore me." In his place on that "morning after," I'd've looked for the nearest loophole myself.

I don't think he was an a-hole at all. I think he loved Maggie the whole time but like a lot of people (men and women) he got sidetracked by a more exciting lifestyle. He was fond of Sandra but he was secretly relieved when he found out their marriage was invalid.

I don't think he cared one way or the other if she continued her career but it was a convenient excuse to get out of re-marrying her. If she had agreed to give up the tour he would have gone thru with it but a part of him would have regretted it.

I don't think Sandra really wanted to be married to him either, she just didn't want him to marry Maggie.

He couldn't get back to Maggie fast enough when Sandra went on to New York (?). He truly loved her.

Did anybody else really watch the "movie" he made of Pete Jr.? That was one of the best "father" scenes in any movie.
Don't sweat the petty stuff and don't pet the sweaty stuff

No, I don't think he was. As becomes apparent later he had already been involved with Maggie but had not taken this further than the two engagements and presumably when she broke it off for the second time he went off the rails a bit and got in with the more hip, extravagant Sandra. Upon enjoying Sandra's wild Divorce party they (too hastily) decided to marry; when Pete and Sandra realise the situation they are in with their marriage not being legal I think that Pete proposes again to Sandra with the time for the marriage specified as the Tuesday of her concert not because he is an a-hole, but because he knows marrying her was a drunken mistake on both their parts and that she will undoubtedly fulfill her career commitments.

There is no dishonour in a woman turning down a proposal in this way, but it would have been quite dishonourable for Pete to just refuse to remarry her legally - to do this would have been admitting that he never really soberly wanted to marry her in the first place. Basically, he gave her the opportunity to let him down so that she could retain her dignity.

This point of view is validated, I feel, by the comments in the film when Pete explains to Maggie that the reason he did not mention he was married was because he had to wait until 12 midnight on the Tuesday to be sure that Sandra was no longer interested in him.

More than a bit of a cad but not a real a-hole. Rather endearing with his enthusiasm, charm -- and his flaws.

I think he was pretty much a jerk in the beginning but the movie is unclear about what was Pete and Maggie's relationship at the time of his drunken wedding to Sandra. Yes, they were a longterm couple but apparently not much of an exclusive one if Pete was also seeing Sandra - he may have been drunk we they wed but obviously he was dating Sandra some time before that and sober. We don't really know if Pete and Maggie's relationship was on the wane or over when he took up with Sandra or if he was seeing them both without a commitment. Whatever it was, I thought it was kind of pathetic for Maggie to take him back so quickly when she found out he was still available.

Even when he goes to Maggie after sobering up he doesn't tell her then he's not really married and he goes back to Sandra so he's not really sure who he loves at that point. I don't think he was particularly expecting Sandra to refuse to cancel her engagement even though his demand was quite unreasonable. He definitely was a chauvinist who expected a wife to give up a career as he comments to the lawyer, of course in 1941 this was not particularly thought of as a unreasonable stand for a man so the movie does not make him a bad guy.

Aside from the wishy washiness of Pete's marital preferences, the fact that he was willing to hand over his son to Sandra so nonchalantly was disturbing. It was her baby, yes, but it was his baby, too. His whole "well, we'll miss the little bugger, but buh bye!" was maddening!

The marriage to Sandra was a drunken impulse on both their parts. In the sober light of the next day, he realized their mistake, and took the opportunity to correct things.