I Just Watched...

[Dargo]

STEVE McQUEEN: THE MAN & LE MANS (2015), at a local art house cinema today.

 

This documentary presents through use of a few recently discovered audio tapes of the man himself speaking and through both present day and period filmed first-person accounts of many others involved with the making of this 1971 commercial failure of an auto racing film, how the actor would find his at the time skyrocketing Hollywood career taking a momentary nosedive due to his single-minded passion to produce a motorsports movie sans the usual "personal/love interest" backstories to be found within most all of this sort of film genre. In other words, just a movie featuring McQueen's "love interest"...auto racing.

 

It also includes many filmed recollections of his first wife, entertainer Neile Adams, and their son Chad McQueen, and thus also attempts to bring the actor's personal and family life into focus at this time, and a time in which the marriage would come to an end and due to McQueen's persistent marital philandering and a seeming sense of his own personal career hubris.

 

I would give this film a "7" on a scale of 1-10, and probably best left to fans of McQueen and/or Auto Racing and/or those interested in documentaries showcasing the business of film-making.

 

(...and after the showing, my wife said that it pretty much just reinforced what she always thought of "The King of Cool"...he could be and often was a real jerk!) 

[speedracer5]

Thanks for letting me know. I should have looked at my cd of the original cast recording. Too bad this movie is never shown. I got tired of taking it out of the library. so I ordered a vhs of the film. PAJAMA GAME is a Warner Brothers release co- directed by Stanley Donen and George Abbott.

 

This film came as part of a Doris Day boxed set that I purchased.  While I had seen Love Me or Leave Me, The Glass Bottom Boat and With Six You Get Eggroll, The Pajama Game was one that I hadn't watched yet.  I wish I had a pair of Sleep-Tite pajamas!  I thought Doris' pajama top ensemble was pretty cute.

[LonesomePolecat]

Now that I'm on a desktop again, I can finally post the clip of "Steam Heat", with some typically Fosse choreography (although I hate Carol Haney's short hair as well)

 

 

Thanks for letting me know. I should have looked at my cd of the original cast recording. Too bad this movie is never shown. I got tired of taking it out of the library. so I ordered a vhs of the film. PAJAMA GAME is a Warner Brothers release co- directed by Stanley Donen and George Abbott.

 

I wish TCM would also show PAJAMA GAME's sister film DAMN YANKEES-- also Stanley Donen & George Abbott direction with Bob Fosse choreography and some of the original cast, and the only other musical by the songwriting team Adler & Ross before one of them suddenly died. I prefer DAMN YANKEES myself, but I was in it in high school, so that's probably why

 

 

 

This was a great song although dare I say that I preferred Georgette's rendition on an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show? 

I love that version too--here it is:

 

[LawrenceA]

THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION - (8/10) - Seminal documentary shines a light on the L.A. punk rock scene circa 1980. Intersperses interviews with fans and industry figures as well as extended performance clips and home visits with a number of bands. Some became legends (Black Flag, X, Germs), while others faded into obscurity (Catholic Discipline, Alice Bag Band). A good look at a different world, some of this would no doubt baffle and/or upset more conservative viewers.

[LawrenceA]

AN EYE FOR AN EYE - (5/10) - Dimly lit and dimly thought out police action with Chuck Norris. He plays a San Francisco detective on the trail of an international heroin smuggling operation. Can he kick his way to the secretive mastermind behind it all? With Christopher Lee, Richard Roundtree, Rosalind Chao, Matt Clark, Terry Kiser, Mako, and Professor Toru Tanaka in platform shoes.

[Dargo]

 

 

 

I wish TCM would also show PAJAMA GAME's sister film DAMN YANKEES-- also Stanley Donen & George Abbott direction with Bob Fosse choreography and some of the original cast, and the only other musical by the songwriting team Adler & Ross before one of them suddenly died. I prefer DAMN YANKEES myself, but I was in it in high school, so that's probably why  

 

 

C'mon LP, have a heart (ya gotta have heart, ya know) and tell us which part you played in your high school's production of DAMN YANKEES ?

[NickAndNora34]

Re-watched Sorry Wrong Number (1948) and Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) both starring Miss Barbara Stanwyck. I really loved her in these roles, even though in Ivers I absolutely hated her character's guts. When I first watched it when I was younger, I watched the aforementioned film and developed some kind of weird dislike for Miss Stanwyck and refused to watch any of her other films. I grew out of this eventually, and have made an attempt to watch more of her films.

 

I also just watched The Major and the Minor (1942) with Ginger Rogers pretending to be a 12-year-old girl in order to only pay half fare for a train ticket, and ultimately meets Ray Milland in the process. I was doing some research, and found out Ginger was almost 31 years old when she was cast in this film. And another I re-watched was Come Live With Me with Jimmy Stewart and Hedy Lamarr. It's a cute romantic comedy that I enjoyed the first time I saw it, as well as the other times I've re-watched it.

[LawrenceA]

EYES OF A STRANGER - (6/10) - Standard suspense thriller/slasher flick. A masked killer is loose in the city, targeting women or anyone else that gets in his way. Lauren Tewes (from LOVE BOAT) stars as a tv reporter who is convinced the killer may be her neighbor. Tom Savini provides the grisly make-up effects. Jennifer Jason Leigh makes her debut as a deaf-blind-mute teen. From the director of SHOCK WAVES, which can be glimpsed briefly on a tv.

[speedracer5]

Re-watched Sorry Wrong Number (1948) and Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) both starring Miss Barbara Stanwyck. I really loved her in these roles, even though in Ivers I absolutely hated her character's guts. When I first watched it when I was younger, I watched the aforementioned film and developed some kind of weird dislike for Miss Stanwyck and refused to watch any of her other films. I grew out of this eventually, and have made an attempt to watch more of her films.

 

I also just watched The Major and the Minor (1942) with Ginger Rogers pretending to be a 12-year-old girl in order to only pay half fare for a train ticket, and ultimately meets Ray Milland in the process. I was doing some research, and found out Ginger was almost 31 years old when she was cast in this film. And another I re-watched was Come Live With Me with Jimmy Stewart and Hedy Lamarr. It's a cute romantic comedy that I enjoyed the first time I saw it, as well as the other times I've re-watched it.

 

I love Sorry Wrong Number.  That was a great movie.  I absolutely love Barbara Stanwyck, even when she plays some unlikeable characters, there is just something about her that makes me root for her.  In Baby Face, even though her tactics for growth within the company were a little unsavory, I was still rooting for her to sleep her way up to the top of the building.  I don't know why really because typically I would hope that women would earn their promotions legitimately, but in Baby Face, she was used by men her whole life (including her own father!) that finally, she was using them back, which I appreciated.  

 

I saw The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, but I can't really remember much about it.  I think I'll need to re-watch it.

 

I haven't seen The Major and the Minor, but it sounds interesting.  I was never a big fan of Ginger Rogers (I'm not really sure why either.  Maybe because in comparison with my other favorites like Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis and Stanwyck, Rogers just seems dull?) but lately, she's been growing on me.   

[LonesomePolecat]

C'mon LP, have a heart (ya gotta have heart, ya know) and tell us which part you played in your high school's production of DAMN YANKEES ?

I was a freshman, so I was fan #465. Although unlike the other freshman I got to say one line: "4 to 3 Washington!"

[LawrenceA]

FULL MOON HIGH - (3/10) - Really awful werewolf comedy from the usually better writer-director Larry Cohen. Adam Arkin is a high school football star that travels with his C.I.A. dad Ed McMahon(!) to Romania and gets bitten by a werewolf. He returns to his hometown and commences a vicious campaign of lycanthropic heiny-biting. Really. He turns into a werewolf and nibbles people on their rear end. Ha...ha...ha.

 

A lot of familiar faces show up, including Roz Kelly, Pat Morita, Louis Nye, Demond Wilson, Jim J. Bullock, Kenneth Mars, Bob Saget, Elizabeth Hartman, and star Adam's dad Alan Arkin. Really dumb and embarrassing for all involved, I guess it can brag that it did the werewolf-in-high-school concept 4 years before the better known TEEN WOLF.

[LawrenceA]

THE FUNHOUSE - (6/10) - Slick, goofy horror flick that follows a quartet of teens and one monster-obsessed little boy as they are chased around a travelling carnival by a masked killer. Elizabeth Berridge from AMADEUS stars, with William Finley, Sylvia Miles, and, in an odd creative choice, Kevin Conway as multiple carnival barkers with a variety of costumes and accents. The widescreen cinematography is polished, and everything moves along quickly enough. Rick Baker did some make-up design work. Director Tobe Hooper was selected to direct the following year's POLTERGEIST after producers saw this.

[LawrenceA]

GALAXY OF TERROR - (6/10) - Bizarre sci-fi movie from producer Roger Corman. A rescue team travels to the planet of Morganthus in search of a missing expedition. What they find is a giant alien pyramid crawling with nightmarish creatures. Can they discover the secret of the pyramid before they're all picked off one by one? Starring Erin Moran from HAPPY DAYS and Edward Albert from Eddie Albert. Also with Ray Walston, Grace Zabriskie, Zalman King, Robert Englund, and Sid Haig. James Cameron worked on production design, which is pretty good considering, and there's excellent basic fx work. There's a somewhat decent attempt at world-building with the script, but it pretty much falls apart by the end. I'd still recommend it for sci-fi and monster enthusiasts, and there's at least one unforgettable scene.

 

"Aren't you afraid?"

 

"I'm too scared to be."

[LawrenceA]

HALLOWEEN II - (7/10) - Sequel to the hit 1978 film picks up right where the first left off, with Laurie Strode having survived the attacks of the seemingly supernatural Michael Meyers. Laurie is taken to the hospital to treat her minor wounds, and that's where the majority of the film takes place, as the still-murderous Michael cuts through neighborhoods and eventually hospital staff in his unstoppable quest to murder Laurie. The ever vigilant Dr. Loomis is still on the hunt for Michael, and it becomes a question of who gets their prey first.

 

Jamie Lee Curtis returns as Laurie, and does well, although she stays in a state of shock through a lot of the film. Donald Pleasence also returns to his most iconic role, the implacable Dr. Loomis. Lance Guest, Leo Rossi, Charles Cyphers, and Hunter Von Leer also appear. Look quickly for Dana Carvey as a reporter wearing a trucker cap. John Carpenter and Debra Hill return as writers and producers, although directing duties were ceded to Rick Rosenthal. Carpenter and his frequent collaborator Alan Howarth composed and performed the terrific score. Dean Cundey provides some of the best widescreen cinematography seen in horror films of the era.

 

The movie maintains a good feeling of suspense throughout, although efforts to flesh out the Meyers character aren't needed and subtract from the enigmatic mood of the first film. Some of the deaths are also more grisly, in an attempt, I assume, to keep up with the slasher competition. Despite these minor drawbacks, the film is still good, and recommended for suspense and horror fans.

[LawrenceA]

THE HAND - (5/10) - Ridiculous psychological horror film starring Michael Caine as a comic strip artist who loses his hand in an accident. His life is in turmoil as his marriage crumbles and his livelihood is gone, and if that wasn't enough, it seems his disembodied hand is now crawling about committing murders. Or is it? There may be a good story in the subject matter, dealing with the mental, physical, and spiritual difficulties of losing a limb, but this film isn't it. It flirts with the issues faintly, but settles on being a substandard thriller. Also starring Andrea Marcovicci, Viveca Lindfors, Bruce McGill, Charles Fleischer, and Oliver Stone as a bum. Oh, Stone wrote and directed this too.

[misswonderly3]

There's Always Tomorrow

 

Part of the Fred MacMurray SOTM lineup tonight (well, last night...)

 

I thought it sounded interesting, and I love the cast (MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and the sometimes under-rated Joan Bennett), plus Douglas Sirk's work can be rewarding, in a Sirk-ish way.

 

But I was very disappointed. The three actors playing MacMurray's children all stunk - especially the youngest, who, by the time the movie was halfway along, I wanted to pull her ponytail and tell her to shut up and stop whining. What a dislikable spoiled brat.

 

Fred and Barbara did their best, and their scenes together were, not surprisingly, the best thing in the film. Plus Fred's toy factory was fun - loved Rex the Robot.

But the big disappointment was Joan Bennett's character. Poor Joan -  how did this happen to such a talented, beautiful actress who not that many years earlier had played the unforgettable temptress of Scarlet Street? Why did she end up getting stuck playing somebody's mother so often after 1950? She was better than that.

 

[TheGayDivorcee]

There's Always Tomorrow

 

Part of the Fred MacMurray SOTM lineup tonight (well, last night...)

 

I thought it sounded interesting, and I love the cast (MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and the sometimes under-rated Joan Bennett), plus Douglas Sirk's work can be rewarding, in a Sirk-ish way.

 

But I was very disappointed. The three actors playing MacMurray's children all stunk - especially the youngest, who, by the time the movie was halfway along, I wanted to pull her ponytail and tell her to shut up and stop whining. What a dislikable spoiled brat.

 

Fred and Barbara did their best, and their scenes together were, not surprisingly, the best thing in the film. Plus Fred's toy factory was fun - loved Rex the Robot.

But the big disappointment was Joan Bennett's character. Poor Joan -  how did this happen to such a talented, beautiful actress who not that many years earlier had played the unforgettable temptress of Scarlet Street? Why did she end up getting stuck playing somebody's mother so often after 1950? She was better than that.

 

Missed the movie tonight, but have seen it before and like it a lot, especially Barbara Stanwyck's character.  (Wonder if cute Rex the Robot got billing?)  But you're so right--Joan Bennett should have had far juicier roles.  I wonder if it started with Father of the Bride and just stuck.  She must have been disappointed to be pigeon-holed when she should have been playing glamorous career women, or at least mothers and career women.  Or mothers/career women!

[LonesomePolecat]

Yesterday I watched the 1933 ALICE IN WONDERLAND that TCM showed last week. Never seen this before. Thought the thing they showed it for--the art direction--was BRILLIANT, which includes the costumes. Some of the costumes came off creepy, but the construction and design were still amazing. I thought it was weird that Alice had an American accent since all of her lines/syntax were completely British.

[rosebette]

There's Always Tomorrow

 

Part of the Fred MacMurray SOTM lineup tonight (well, last night...)

 

I thought it sounded interesting, and I love the cast (MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and the sometimes under-rated Joan Bennett), plus Douglas Sirk's work can be rewarding, in a Sirk-ish way.

 

But I was very disappointed. The three actors playing MacMurray's children all stunk - especially the youngest, who, by the time the movie was halfway along, I wanted to pull her ponytail and tell her to shut up and stop whining. What a dislikable spoiled brat.

 

Fred and Barbara did their best, and their scenes together were, not surprisingly, the best thing in the film. Plus Fred's toy factory was fun - loved Rex the Robot.

But the big disappointment was Joan Bennett's character. Poor Joan -  how did this happen to such a talented, beautiful actress who not that many years earlier had played the unforgettable temptress of Scarlet Street? Why did she end up getting stuck playing somebody's mother so often after 1950? She was better than that.

I felt the same way about this film.  Also, as a busy mom with 3 now-grown children, I was not completely sympathetic to MacMurray's situation.  I remember those days of kids all having to go to some event or other and driving people everywhere.  That MacMurray would come home on the evening of his daughter's dance recital and expect Mom to drop everything and go out with him seemed unrealistic; also, since when does the dad sit home and eat dinner by himself when a child is at a play, recital, etc.?   I grew up in the early 60s, and despite the different cultural expectations for dads, I don't remember my dad ever choosing to stay home rather than attend one of my events.  While the family may have been disconnected from him and his needs, the reverse could also be true.  In some ways, his running the toy factory and his expectations of family life might have been a case of arrested development.   His relationship with the Stanywck character reflects his desire to return to a more unencumbered time.

 

In some ways, his character reminds me of Alec Baldwin in "It's Complicated," except without the Baldwin sleaze, but with a bit of a reversal.  In the movie, Baldwin left his family when they were at that busy, chaotic elementary-high school stage, when the marriage seems to get neglected for kids' activities.  Then, when he's remarried and expected to be an actual father again, the wife he left, who now has the empty nest, is now very appealing.

[misswonderly3]

I felt the same way about this film.  Also, as a busy mom with 3 now-grown children, I was not completely sympathetic to MacMurray's situation.  I remember those days of kids all having to go to some event or other and driving people everywhere.  That MacMurray would come home on the evening of his daughter's dance recital and expect Mom to drop everything and go out with him seemed unrealistic; also, since when does the dad sit home and eat dinner by himself when a child is at a play, recital, etc.?   I grew up in the early 60s, and despite the different cultural expectations for dads, I don't remember my dad ever choosing to stay home rather than attend one of my events.  While the family may have been disconnected from him and his needs, the reverse could also be true.  In some ways, his running the toy factory and his expectations of family life might have been a case of arrested development.   His relationship with the Stanywck character reflects his desire to return to a more unencumbered time.

 

In some ways, his character reminds me of Alec Baldwin in "It's Complicated," except without the Baldwin sleaze, but with a bit of a reversal.  In the movie, Baldwin left his family when they were at that busy, chaotic elementary-high school stage, when the marriage seems to get neglected for kids' activities.  Then, when he's remarried and expected to be an actual father again, the wife he left, who now has the empty nest, is now very appealing.

 

rosebette, we saw this film from two very different perspectives.

 

I agree, the crossed wires between Cliff and Marion about what was going that evening was a problem - for both the family and the viewers ! It felt like a situation that had been manufactured by the screenwriter.  Shirley if two such important family events - the wife's birthday and the daughter's ballet recital - were occurring on the same day, the two of them would have discussed it beforehand and worked something out. It seemed really implausible that the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing, so to speak.

 

(By the way, I hated that kid - what was her name? Frankie? - more than almost any other kid I've seen in the movies - well, ok, "Bad Seed" excepted. What a spoiled brat, a demanding, selfish, whiney thing. And Marion was at least partly to blame to catering to her every need. I hope she tripped over her ballet shoe ribbons on the stage floor.)

 

Something I meant to comment on in my previous post about this film was the character of Cliff's wife, Marion. A more boring, unsupportive, unresponsive, and unimaginative (that's a lot of "uns" !) "wife" character who's supposed to be sympathetic but simply isn't, I've rarely seen.

Why did they make her so two-dimensional? I know it was the 50s, and the cultural ideal of a 50s family housewife was to be devoted to her children and home at all costs. But still ! She never listened to Cliff, never paid the slightest attention to what he was trying to articulate to her.

And he did try, several times. She always just suggested he must have a cold or something, maybe take an aspirin and take it easy. Talk about dull ! If she really cared about him, and paid half as much attention to him as she did to that whiney brat of theirs, she'd have made just a little more effort, maybe seen what he was getting at.

How come she refused to buy the dress she looked so great in? Again, what a boring woman. She didn't even have any interest in trying on a different dress, maybe if she thought the one Stanwyck suggested was "too young" she could have looked around for something else. What a non-entity.

 

I don't agree with you, rosebette, that the stagnation in that marriage was mainly Cliff's fault. In fact, at least he had an interesting job, designing, promoting, and selling original toys. His wife showed not the slightest interest in his business. Nor in spending any time with him alone, ever. 

Being married a long time and having children does not preclude a continued interest in keeping a little romance and excitement, at the very least communication and understanding, in the marriage.

 

I think the film's "happy ending" felt stuck on. Ben M's story about how Sirk originally planned to show Rex the robot walking right off the table, smashing to the floor, and then, broken but still semi-functioning, continuing to march on, shows what the film was really saying about the Groves family and how Cliff felt.

[LornaHansonForbes]

But you're so right--Joan Bennett should have had far juicier roles. I wonder if it started with Father of the Bride and just stuck. She must have been disappointed to be pigeon-holed when she should have been playing glamorous career women, or at least mothers and career women. Or mothers/career women!

I may be getting some of the details wrong, but in the late 1940s Joan's husband (the producer Walter Wanger ) caught her having an affair with her agent and shot him in the crotch on a busy Beverly Hills Street.

 

I'm not kidding.

 

While today, this sort of scandal would likely propel someone to the forefront of public attention and likely lead to some juicy roles, it was quite the controversy back then and almost ended her career completely.

[misswonderly3]

I may be getting some of the details wrong, but in the late 1940s Joan's husband (the producer Walter Wanger ) caught her having an affair with her agent and shot him in the crotch on a busy Beverly Hills Street.

 

I'm not kidding.

 

While today, this sort of scandal would likely propel someone to the forefront of public attention and likely lead to some juicy roles, it was quite the controversy back then and almost ended her career completely.

 

Well, she was certainly punished for her philandering  ( although not as badly as the agent.)

 

Lorna, have you seen "There's Always Tomorrow"? My take on Joan Bennett's character is a post or so down. Poor Joan, it wasn't her fault she was given such a dull, unsympathetic character to play. She did the best she could with the material. 

Why did they cast her in such a stupid thankless role?

[LornaHansonForbes]

Well, she was certainly punished for her philandering ( although not as badly as the agent.)

 

Lorna, have you seen "There's Always Tomorrow"? My take on Joan Bennett's character is a post or so down. Poor Joan, it wasn't her fault she was given such a dull, unsympathetic character to play. She did the best she could with the material.

Why did they cast her in such a stupid thankless role?

Well, I can't go into detail too much sense I'm using my phone to post and not at my computer right now, but yeah I totally agree with you. John Bennett is given absolutely nothing to do and an absolutely awful role that one simple scene for her character could have remedied.

 

There is at least one equally talented performer in "there's always tomorrow" that has an even worse role thain Joan and that's oscar winner Jane Darwell, who really gave one of the greatest performances of all time in the "grapes of Wrath" but who is reduced to maybe a dozen lines in a couple of unimpressive scenes as a domestic... the kind of role you could just as easily have had central casting fill.

 

Sirk directed some visually stunning films, and some very good films, & I know numerous actors working under him got Oscar nominations and Dorothy Malone even won under his direction, but sometimes I feel like he doesn't properly know how to utilize actors in supporting roles... yes, of course, some very notable exceptions.

[speedracer5]

Re: There's Always Tomorrow

 

I've seen this film twice now and I really liked it.  I love melodramas, the drama and heightened emotion holds my interest for whatever reason.  

 

Here's my take on the film:

 

SPOILERS AHEAD!! 

 

Fred MacMurray is tired of being placed on the back burner all the time.  He realizes that he is in a rut and he's tired of feeling invisible.  Even though on the outside, his life looks idyllic.  He has a beautiful wife, three children, a great job and a lovely home.  However, his wife has devoted herself fully to mothering her children that she doesn't have time for her husband.  Anytime MacMurray tries to make plans to do something with her (and just her), something happens and she bails.  That "something" is always related to the children.  As a result of his wife's constant attention and coddling, all three of the children are spoiled brats.  As a result of his wife's constant doting and coddling, the children run the household.  I do agree with the consensus that the children are insufferable.  The oldest son irritated me the most.  The youngest daughter I think was just an awful actress.  Lol.  

 

When MacMurray arrives home with theater tickets, hoping to spend time with his wife on her birthday, he is pushed aside again for his daughter's recital.  The kids are all very rude to him too.  I believe his son tells him to be quiet, the middle daughter asks him for money and his wife gives him a cold kiss on the cheek and barely even acknowledges the flowers he bought her.  While I do think it's odd that he didn't seem to know about the recital, I do think it is very plausible that he didn't know about it. Bennett and the children's characters seem like they'd be the type to make plans for everyone without even giving their dad a second thought.  His purpose in the home is solely to make money to support everyone.  When MacMurray stays home in lieu of going to the recital, I think it's probably because he was just so sick of the children taking precedence again.  I don't even recall Bennett asking him if he wanted to go (or even expecting him to go).  It seems like she and the children just shuffled off without him.  I think it's really telling when Stanwyck picks up a photo of his family and MacMurray is noticeably missing from the photo.  It's very indicative of his family life.

 

When Stanwyck, an old flame, turns up unexpectedly, this rekindles something in him.  She's different, she's interesting.  She likes to go places and do things.  Most importantly, she pays attention to MacMurray and is interested in his work.  When they both end up in Palm Valley, MacMurray takes the opportunity to spend the weekend with her.  His wife has bailed on him yet again because their daughter sprains her ankle (why Jane Darwell or the older children couldn't take of the little girl, I don't know) and she feels that she has to be home with her, but she encourages MacMurray to go.  This is yet again another instance of her using the children as an excuse to not spend time with her husband, even though there is really no reason why she can't go.  When Stanwyck turns up in Palm Valley too, MacMurray uses the opportunity to have fun.  While I believe their relationship remained innocent, it seems that MacMurray would eventually want to make the relationship a little more serious.  I can imagine that MacMurray probably isn't having a very fulfilling relationship with his wife in the bedroom if she acts like he doesn't exist most of the time.  The children hear about Stanwyck and don't like the idea of anyone hurting their mother, despite how the entire family has been treating their father. 

 

The oldest son, Vinnie, is a piece of work.  With his crew cut and his seriousness, he is about as fun as a visit to the dentist.  Why his girlfriend puts up with him, I have no idea.  She seemed to be one of the people in the film that had any clue.  I loved when she called out her boyfriend on his childishness and calls him out on being a momma's boy "I'm surprised you didn't go howling off to your mother!" she says.  Vinnie almost seems obsessed with confronting "the other woman" who he perceives as the one who is hurting his mother.  Vinnie should have been set on confronting his father.  I love the scene where he confronts Stanwyck and she completely calls him out on his and his siblings' behavior.  

 

I didn't have any issues with Bennett's character, but that could be because I've only seen her in a handful of films.  I thought she was really good as the brittle, prudish wife.  She can't see herself in Stanwyck's dress because it's "too young."  Which to me, "too young," really means that she thinks it's too revealing or too sexy.  Even though the dress looks great on her and would make a fantastic dress for her to wear on a night out on the town with her husband.  However, she thinks of herself as a mom and doesn't see the dress fitting into her life.  She is fully entrenched in the family life.  

 

I didn't find the end of the film happy at all.  In fact, I found the ending rather bleak.  After MacMurray declares his love for Stanwyck and she gently turns him down, because she doesn't want to be the reason he'll end up regretting abandoning his family and she tells him that she plans to return to New York alone.  The end of the film, where he sits, dejected while watching Stanwyck's plane fly away is very bittersweet.  Yes, MacMurray stayed with his wife and family and didn't leave them.  However, he is stuck.  His children will soon return to being brats and his wife will continue to ignore her husband and dote on the children.  He is condemned to this life.  

 

While I do agree that MacMurray needs to take part in his children's lives and activities, but his wife is completely prioritizing them over her own marriage.  I don't think MacMurray's issue so much was that his children had events and activities that they needed to attend, it was that Bennett basically ignored him and his children don't respect or appreciate him.  The children are not small (small children obviously would need more adult supervision), the youngest one had to be at least in upper elementary school.  she had two other children that appeared to be high school age (and Vinnie possibly is in college?).  These kids did not need constant supervision.  They also had a maid!  The kids could have learned to be a little more self-sufficient and Bennett could have devoted more time to her husband.  I got the impression that she's been ignoring her husband for years, probably since Vinnie was born and MacMurray is tired of it.  A marriage is not going to survive if one spouse ignores the other spouse's needs.  

[LawrenceA]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME - (6/10) - Slasher suspense with a unique pedigree. The genre was often a starting place for young talent, but this entry was directed by Hollywood veteran J. Lee Thompson. A group of prep school students are stalked and murdered in a variety of inventive ways by a mysterious killer. Melissa Sue Anderson stars, with Lisa Langlois, Tracey Bregman, Matt Craven, Sharon Acker, Frances Hyland, Lawrence Dane, and Glenn Ford (in a slasher movie?!?) as a doctor. There's some original staging for the death scenes, and a particularly unpleasant surgery scene. There's also some clever camerawork, and the performances are a bit better than the usual found in these films. The protagonists, though, are underdeveloped, and therefore some suspense is lost when you don't care what happens to them. Regardless, it's not a complete waste of time.