*Possible Spoiler*
Am I the only reviewer who gets seriously wound up by the mother forcing her pacifism down her son's throat?? Not allowing him to have toy guns just because her husband was killed in the war. It's a wonder that she lets Sterling Hayden's gun toting sheriff through the door...take off your shoes...and the gun belt! I keep hoping Sinatra's heartless killer finds pity for Pidge and offs the ninny-nanny mother...but it never happens of course.
She was VERY irritating, I can't figure out what her logic was, and it wasn't just guns, she wouldn't let him go on an outing with his scout troop, WHY? What's that got to do with his father dying in war?
shareI thought the film was basically saying that because she had lost her husband due to dangerous circumstances she did not want to lose her son similarly. She was being over-protective and keeping him away from anything that could harm him.
shareAgreed. That kid was annoying, wasn't he?? lol
Shooting the mother would prove her point, wouldn't it?
--
Grammar:
The difference between knowing your sh**
and knowing you're sh**.
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Anybody notice how the mother was exactly like Grace Kelly in High Noon? Grace was a Quaker who had lost family members to guns but, at the end, she plugged Robert J. Wilkie (who really needed plugging).
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Sterling Hayden was even worse. Mr. Macho-Republican-pro-gun, interfering
with how this woman was raising her son. But in the end, it doesn't
matter; the film is so badly dated, and other than Sinatra, badly acted.
Gates was dreadful as the mother, Hayden was a wooden fence and if I heard
the kid yell "Golly!" one more time, I was going to kill him myself.
The film doesn't hold up at all.
What do you expect from a 60 year old movie? You really don't expect 21st century pop culture and political correctness do you?
Hayden's character is typical of someone 9 years removed from World War II. Many of us had them as fathers. Most now have passed on, so you likely haven't been around any of them.
The trouble younger folks (anyone under 50) have is they weren't around back then, and compounding the problem, is that they have no inclination to learn the history of the period, or any other period for that matter. It's apparent when you interject modern phrases like "pro gun Republican".
Instead, you just pick these movies to watch, and when they don't meet up to your modern standards, you reject them as being dated.
Eelb was correct in talking about the movie being set in a different time with different priorities and attitudes. The Mother had lost a husband not that long ago, and may have been protecting her son too much, but she had the right idea, just exaggerated. And how are films from another era supposed to portray that era if they use modern language, morals, attitudes, etc. ? THAT would be irritating.
Women during the 50's had different roles, and inequality was the norm. I think a lot of posters are very young, just have not lived enough to have the experiences or knowledge that older posters do. Yes, the film looks "dated" cause it was, another era and portrayed as such. I enjoy that in a movie if it's done well, lets me get an idea what it was like in different times.
Not a "hey dude" or text message in the whole movie. Imagine that.
It's not that the movie is dated, it's that it's just simply bad. Simplistic drivel with cardboard characters. Good movies do hold up, like "On the Waterfront" , or "Bad Day at Black Rock", the later a movie with similar themes of WWII vets and small town morality.
shareHow many others would see it from your point of view. Her son wanted a gun because he wanted to be a law inforcer ( policeman). I fear that he thought that that was the only way to solve problems. I'm disappointed that his only role model and mentor was going against the mother's wishes. Who in the hell did he think he was? He had no right and if he loved her he would respect her parenting because he was her son.
SkiesAreBlue
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Aren't all movies dated after a period of time?
shareDated is good. It was made in the 1950s, it was set in the 1950s, so it seems like the 1950s, just as it should. If a movie were made that was set in the 1950s but the characters talked and acted like people do in 2015 it would be a failure.
shareIt's a shame some folks can't watch a movie for the entertainment value which is why it was made in the first place. I hate when they pick apart dialogue and portrayal of life from the period it was made. So there is some bad acting along the way ignore and enjoy the show.
share*BUMP*
You can't go wrong drowning politicians Henry. The Black Swan (1942)
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