MovieChat Forums > The Ballad of Josie (1968) Discussion > This is my least favorite Doris film

This is my least favorite Doris film

posted 18 years ago by momlovesannie1998
7 replies | jump to latest

But I guess it beats not having any Doris film to watch at all.

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[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ellisisle 17 years ago

Ballad of Josie:
filmnoir2005:
I wouldn't say it is one of Doris Days's worst films
but I do find that it's tone is all warped.
Is it a comedy? Not funny. Is it a drama?
They can't make up their minds.
It tries to be a feminist tract but
keeps backing off from it's point of view.
The reason I can't abide the film, is
the way the character of her father-in-law
is depicted, as played by Paul Fix.
He is a mean, nasty, vindictive SOB.
He doesn't look much older than the actor who
played Doris Day's husband (Robert Lowery)
and he was the abusive husband and town drunk.
The father bailed out his son of all his debts,
deprived Josie of a home and her son.
No wonder his son was a drunk he had a wretched father.
The father wanted Josie convicted for accidentally
killing her dead beat, drunk of a husband.
He was a father who allowed his son to abuse
his wife and himself and wouldn't let his son
take care of his own problems.
He in turn blamed Josie for everything.
Josie should of shot him.
ellisisle

[–] nneprevilo 16 years ago

I don't think this film is THAT bad. As a matter of fact, it's a pretty well-made film with a great supporting cast and a wonderful cinematography. Day was wonderful in her role and gave 110% to the part.

I thought she had some great scenes and worked well with the rest of the cast, which worked hard and with dedication.

This film was made during the time that Doris Day became the butt of many jokes about "miss goody goody" and so on. She had two other films the same year of this movie and should have been listed among the top ten stars of 1968.

[–] BrightHawk 16 years ago

This is NOT my least favorite Doris Day film. The plotline is fairly typical of the time, but Josie was ahead of her time in being an independent and forward-thinking woman. Doris played it with great panache. There were a few moments when she just huffs in frustration, but she overcame pretty much every situation - whether by luck or determination. And she's so pretty nobody can stay mad at her for too long.

This is actually one of my favorite of her films.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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[–] i-love-movies-1 16 years ago

have you seen caprice or where were you when the lights went out? those are my least two favorites of hers!

[–] hillfox20 15 years ago

Just seen 'The Ballad Of Josie' for the first time. I agree, it's not a good film by any stretch of the imagination but I think that Doris Day tried her best to do justice to what was a badly written script with a very weak story line. This film was made very near the end of her career as a movie actress and from what we read, she was almost forced to make a string of second rate films due to contractual reasons negotiated by her husband. I agree that while 'Ballad' isn't a good film, it is still better than the really terrible 'Caprice'which I feel is almost unwatchable. It was really quite sad that after so many years in some very good films Doris Day's film career ended with a series of tired box office duds.

[–] fbm72751 10 years ago

I grew up on Perry Mason amongst other shows & I recorded this for that among other reasons. William did very little work after PM went off the air in May, 1966. He does well in the film but obviously looks tired & older than his 52 years as the ravages of cancer would set in later on in the year.