MovieChat Forums > Tim (1979) Discussion > Seriously creepy middle-age female fanta...

Seriously creepy middle-age female fantasy flick

posted 10 years ago by mideleon
4 replies | jump to latest

(Spoilers below)

Just finished watching this on TCM. I get that this is a genre film and it has to be approached from that angle. Therefore, I won't criticize the thick melodrama of the movie. But even so, the idea that the happy ending of this movie is the marriage of a middle-aged woman to a young developmentally/emotionally disabled man is simply too bizarre for this viewer. I would suggest that the woman call a psychiatrist, but hey, he's the guy who suggested she get married in the first place. I was expecting the movie to show how the woman finally realizes that she is nothing more than a selfish predator and she throws herself off a cliff so that Mel can be free of her emotional manipulation. But then I realized that the film is designed to be a fantasy for middle-aged women. What could be better for a 40-something woman than to have an emotionally crippled 20-something Mel Gibson laying next to you crying because he's never been so happy? And that's AFTER he's seen you naked! And the fact that he's totally dependent on her means she need never worry about him leaving her for a younger woman, because let's face it, he ain't getting any smarter. And so she gets Speedo-wearing Mel all to herself, forever and forever. And isn't that what fantasies are all about?

[–] molarmaven59 10 years ago

I viewed the film. My answer to you is.

BOLOGNA.

[–] etsuo 10 years ago

Like "Dawnie Melville," you can't see beyond what you think is going on "behind closed doors." Near the end of the movie, "Ron Melville" gives "Mary Horton" a folder with official papers his wife had kept/drawn up to ensure Tim's future. Sensing that he's "circling the drain" mentally and physically, he asks her to assume Stewardship over Tim's future. Love is an unexpected extra of keeping this promise. At the end, the two survivors have found someone to "walk through Life," which is about as much as anyone would hope for their children. "Creepy"? You describe yourself.

[–] highpriestess32 10 years ago

I wouldn't say Mary Horton was a predator at all. She was more than capable of making her own way through life and she was very "professional" towards Tim in terms of genuinely wanting to help him.

She was not thinking of herself when she insisted he hand that note to his father so his father would know whom Tim was working for. She genuinely had been let down by her regular gardener and she was flattered by his simple charm when he said "I really like you Mary, even more than Dawnie and she's my sister". Of course she might have had her head turned but even so, she didn't set out to marry him - she was concerned at him being unable to read and his low sense of self-worth. Tim was himself resigned to accepting that he "is not the full quid" and this she finds upsetting.

I'm 46 years-old and I can state categorically that I would personally find the attentions of a much younger man a complete turn-off, especially if he was emotionally compromised. Someone like Tim would be a great handyman but I would die of boredom if I couldn't discuss world affairs or anything

Don't get me wrong, I might have really fancied him when I was in my twenties but I was too busy dating much older men who could stimulate my mind more! I think this story was slightly flawed BECAUSE Mary was too sensible and not really a woman who would have her head turned easily by Tim in a romantic sense. They made Piper's character just too wise and stand-offish so in a way it was a bit of a turn-off to see them get married. Wrongly cast maybe?

"Has anyone seen my wife?" - Columbo

[–] DingelBerry 8 years ago

That's right this MILF is no fool, she saw that banana hammock wearing young dumb stud and she thought I want that *beep*