Oh boy, I just don't know. There are some fairly supportive reviews for the movie here, but it struck me as one of the corniest films I've ever seen. Not for it's depiction of small town values, because I can relate to that, having grown up in one and am still living there. It's just that so many of the characters seemed so unnatural, like William Holden as drifter Hal Carter in the lead role, blowing into Hutchinson, Kansas with no prospects and a resume that said nothing. Holden looked uncomfortable in his speech, movement and body language most of the time, and looked positively like a goofball dancing with young Millie Owens (Susan Strasberg) at the Labor Day picnic. Not to mention the girl carrying contest where he one-hands her like a circus strongman. And the whole Queen of Neewollah business? - Oh my, that was just embarrassing.
I'm pretty sure I know what the director and the players were going for here, a look at the conformity of the era masking a repressed sexuality that's about to smolder to the surface. But some of the situations came across as goofy. I've never seen anything quite as absurd as the Howard Bevans (Arthur O'Connell)/Rosemary Sydney (Rosalind Russell) dynamic; Howard wants to get her tipsy for some good times, is repulsed by her strong come-on after she's had a few, resists her fawning attempt to get him to marry her, and the next day, with the express purpose of cutting things off, decides he'll marry her anyway! What a yo-yo of a relationship! The one thing I will say for Howard though, he did step up to defend Hal when Millie snuck a few swigs from the whiskey bottle, and took the blame himself. Not that it mattered by then.
Finally, when Holden's character goes into 'Baby' mode addressing Madge Owens (Kim Novak), I had just about had it with the story. It was so fawning and indecisive that I wondered how she could even put up with the guy. Maybe I'm all wet in my analysis but the slice of Americana presented here did little to support the awkward story. A better one that tackles pretty much the same theme would come along just a couple years later, and for my money is a far better movie. And you'd be hard pressed to find a better looking screen couple than Liz Taylor and Paul Newman in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof".
I'm pretty sure I know what the director and the players were going for here, a look at the conformity of the era masking a repressed sexuality that's about to smolder to the surface. But some of the situations came across as goofy. I've never seen anything quite as absurd as the Howard Bevans (Arthur O'Connell)/Rosemary Sydney (Rosalind Russell) dynamic; Howard wants to get her tipsy for some good times, is repulsed by her strong come-on after she's had a few, resists her fawning attempt to get him to marry her, and the next day, with the express purpose of cutting things off, decides he'll marry her anyway! What a yo-yo of a relationship! The one thing I will say for Howard though, he did step up to defend Hal when Millie snuck a few swigs from the whiskey bottle, and took the blame himself. Not that it mattered by then.
Finally, when Holden's character goes into 'Baby' mode addressing Madge Owens (Kim Novak), I had just about had it with the story. It was so fawning and indecisive that I wondered how she could even put up with the guy. Maybe I'm all wet in my analysis but the slice of Americana presented here did little to support the awkward story. A better one that tackles pretty much the same theme would come along just a couple years later, and for my money is a far better movie. And you'd be hard pressed to find a better looking screen couple than Liz Taylor and Paul Newman in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof".