I've been hitting the oldies, but not necessarily the goodies from the late 60s to early 70s. I remember NBC showing this movie on a Saturday night way, way back in my high school days, and I tried to watch it. I didn't get very far into it. Too hillbilly for me even with a very pretty Tuesday Weld.
47 years later, and I sit down to catch it this morning on TUBI. I was right--way too backwoods bubba for me, but I stuck with it. John Frankenheimer directed it, and that almost makes it an art film of some sort. I know so much more than I used to. I can appreciate the imagery of a film, and the very adultish-like story of a Bugtussle County sheriff falling in lust for an 18(?)-year-old gal, with lovely teeth, cold blue eyes, clean hair, and, for the boys in the audience, just a hint of headlights in those pretty little dresses she wears.
The sheriff is Gregory Peck. The supporting cast is excellent, with Estelle Parsons as Mrs. Peck, telling him that she'll do anything to keep him, the fattest snake you'll ever see in Charles Durning's deputy, and the most understanding moonshiner dad you'll wish to meet, Ralph Meeker.
Meeker is the wild card, the most interesting of the group. You keep expecting him to say to Tuesday Weld something about comin' on over to sit on yer pappy's lap and talk 'bout the furst thing that pops up. But he doesn't. Except for one time he slaps Tuesday across the face for being clumsy with a love note to Peck, he showers her with quiet affection, as he does with his boys, who seem to have full sets of brain cells, too.
Meeker just approaches the affair between his daughter, Alma, and the sheriff as a consequence of the Peck's Henry Tawes' lust knob being turned up to a 10 and the kid being gorgeous. Shee-yute, Sheriff, you kin have her, butcha gotta treat her right nice!
Durning gets wind of the affair, and the ugliness fires right up. I won't give any real spoilers here, but you just know somebody has to get his or her lights put out (hopefully not Tuesday's).
What I liked about I Walk the Line is that it didn't follow the cliche blueprint. You know, the ones from, say, White Lightning or Walking Tall. IWTL had some surprises and anti-cliches, but, in the long-run, the movie sacrifices action for acting, and I found myself nodding off when Peck slaps his rubbery lips on Weld's. He clutches then kisses her as if he's some sort of salt-sucking monster from The Outer Limits. Yech.
I'll leave it up to you. It's an actor's movie, but it's hard to care about the characters, and, since Meeker played about a thousand bad guys and weak guys on TV during my upbringing, seeing him as a non-threatening moonshiner was kind of refreshing!
47 years later, and I sit down to catch it this morning on TUBI. I was right--way too backwoods bubba for me, but I stuck with it. John Frankenheimer directed it, and that almost makes it an art film of some sort. I know so much more than I used to. I can appreciate the imagery of a film, and the very adultish-like story of a Bugtussle County sheriff falling in lust for an 18(?)-year-old gal, with lovely teeth, cold blue eyes, clean hair, and, for the boys in the audience, just a hint of headlights in those pretty little dresses she wears.
The sheriff is Gregory Peck. The supporting cast is excellent, with Estelle Parsons as Mrs. Peck, telling him that she'll do anything to keep him, the fattest snake you'll ever see in Charles Durning's deputy, and the most understanding moonshiner dad you'll wish to meet, Ralph Meeker.
Meeker is the wild card, the most interesting of the group. You keep expecting him to say to Tuesday Weld something about comin' on over to sit on yer pappy's lap and talk 'bout the furst thing that pops up. But he doesn't. Except for one time he slaps Tuesday across the face for being clumsy with a love note to Peck, he showers her with quiet affection, as he does with his boys, who seem to have full sets of brain cells, too.
Meeker just approaches the affair between his daughter, Alma, and the sheriff as a consequence of the Peck's Henry Tawes' lust knob being turned up to a 10 and the kid being gorgeous. Shee-yute, Sheriff, you kin have her, butcha gotta treat her right nice!
Durning gets wind of the affair, and the ugliness fires right up. I won't give any real spoilers here, but you just know somebody has to get his or her lights put out (hopefully not Tuesday's).
What I liked about I Walk the Line is that it didn't follow the cliche blueprint. You know, the ones from, say, White Lightning or Walking Tall. IWTL had some surprises and anti-cliches, but, in the long-run, the movie sacrifices action for acting, and I found myself nodding off when Peck slaps his rubbery lips on Weld's. He clutches then kisses her as if he's some sort of salt-sucking monster from The Outer Limits. Yech.
I'll leave it up to you. It's an actor's movie, but it's hard to care about the characters, and, since Meeker played about a thousand bad guys and weak guys on TV during my upbringing, seeing him as a non-threatening moonshiner was kind of refreshing!