MovieChat Forums > Since You Went Away (1944) Discussion > UNCLE TONY WAS THE ULTIMATE CREEP!

UNCLE TONY WAS THE ULTIMATE CREEP!


(Spoiler alert)

I can't believe no one has commented on this. Tony would have chopped off his right arm for the chance to hump his best friend's wife. His flirtations were so over the top and inappropriate. Even when he interacted with Jane (the oldest daughter), it seemed extremely inappropriate. Even more amazing is the fact that the movie tries to pass Tony off as this lovable funny guy when it's obvious that he's nothing more than a narcissistic cad. Tony was probably royally pissed when he found out his best friend was still alive.

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agree. there was no real point to his character, they could have left him out and it would have been fine. he was creepily obsessed with his best friend's wife, and didn't even bother to hide that, not even from the daughters. hattie mcdaniel's character was definitely on to him.

why would the father have even been friends with him in the first place? gross.

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I have to agree with everyone, the character is CREEPY. And you're right. I would have enjoyed this movie much more if he wasn't always there with his inappropriate words and, very nearly, his actions. There was no reason for his character to exist.
Needless to say, if this movie was remade today it would be a horrible complicated mess with "Uncle" Tony wearing down Anne eventually then moving onto conquering the smitten vulnerable Jane.
He just comes across as an insatiable tool...flirting and probably bedding any woman he can in his efforts to keep the home fires burning.

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He creeped me out. That car scene when he parked the car and gave the wife a cigarette was particularly icky since I thought he was going to force a kiss. And yes the way he hugged the eldest daughter was always just eww. And WHY was he always there not at war lik the husband?

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What a guy. "Gee, I'm sorry that nice kid you were talking to earlier was just killed in a plane crash. Let's dance!" And later, in the car with Anne, he begins to tell her "Sometimes I wish..." and trails off before rethinking the rest of that sentence...something about him being a "heel." What was he really going to
say? "Sometimes I wish Tim would hurry up and get killed so we could get together"? Leading on the lovestruck daughter, and cozying up to the younger daughter as if he could be her dad (and probably wishes he could have been) was
a little reminiscent of weird, quasi-incestuous Uncle Charlie in Shadow of a
Doubt
.


I'm not crying, you fool, I'm laughing!

Hewwo.

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Rupert, you are sooooo right about our so-called lovable "Uncle Tony." This is the main complaint I have about one of my favorite movie classics. To me, the relentless banter between him and Anne Hilton just dragged the movie down throughout. he came across as callous, narciesstic which was painfully obvious when he and anne hilton were informed at the dance that the young neighborhood boy had died in a plane crash. anne hilton expressed the expected horror, while Tony just said, "Let's go inside and dance."

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Maybe it's because the average Movie Fan doesn't live in a Garbage Dump. People are so intent on inserting "Subtext" and "Innuendo" into everything, that they wouldn't know decency if it bit them in the butt.







I do hope he won't upset Henry...

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We're intent on inserting subtext and innuendo? LOL. You've gotta be kidding me. Tony's overt sexuality and inappropriate sexual advances were about as subtle as a dump truck.

For future reference, the words subtext and innuendo are not proper nouns, which means they should not be capitalized. Also, note the fact that quotation marks serve no purpose in the way that you used them. Thanks for sharing.

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He was a total creep, but that is one of the things I liked about the movie....

It showed the realism of when an attractive woman is left to fend for herself for years, guys are going to come out of the woodwork to try to seduce her.

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Two points to make.

First, I don't think the situation was realistic. Yes, attractive women get hit on when alone. But this wasn't a matter of Anne sitting alone at a bar. It was her husband's best friend. Yes, I suppose that happens as well, but it's less realistic than if it didn't happen. What was most unrealistic however was the fact that everyone played dumb about Tony's constant and over the top flirting. Despite knowing his playboy ways and his chronic and insatiable lust for women, they always responded to his inappropriate comments with a Brady Bunch-esque "Oh Tony."

Secondly, who said realism is the ultimate artistic achievement? Watching Anne take a dump every day would have been realistic, but I don't want to see that either.

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You should watch Shadow of A Doubt where Cotten plays Uncle Charlie and there's this palpable sexual tension between him and his niece little Charlie.

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All those lonely, vulnerable women around during wartime, of course the guy would act/be borderline sleazy. Surprised he didn't go further. Some people are like that. It's extremely realistic. Wrong, but realistic.

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What were they supposed to do - sleep alone?

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