Oh those post war Freudian psych 101 ideas. I came from parents who were teens when this was released, and I don't recall any parental ideas utilized in this film evident in the way they were obviously raised so perhaps my grandparents didn't see this film. Maybe then we weren't the problem child like George "Foghorn" Winslow and maybe they had different ideals than single father Richard Widmark does here.
A divorced man who somehow in the baby boomer era got custody of his son. Ex-wife Audrey Totter shows up to claim that the divorce is invalid just as he's starting to fall for teacher Joanne Dru. Totter, a rare femme fatale presence in a comedy, adds the spark that this film needs to prevent it from becoming all too gooey, while Widmark, usually a dark presence, is a good father but quirky, and Dru, very modern as the new breed of 50's career woman, is still vulnerable and quite likeable.
As for "Foghorn", he's the perfect 50's quirky kid, definitely a precursor to Dennis and Beaver on TV, and nowhere near as annoying as "Froggy" from the last years of the "Our Gang" series of shorts. The film manages to be sweet but not too sugary, and the humor is quite subtle. ("Don't let the bed bugs bite", Widmark says as he puts Winslow to bed, to which he barks "Bugs bite!") "Wouldn't it be awful to marry a woman who was always right?", Widmark says in his kissing clinch with Dru, giving an indication that the screen writing team of Fay and Michael Kanin used parts of their own marriage to create the story.
A divorced man who somehow in the baby boomer era got custody of his son. Ex-wife Audrey Totter shows up to claim that the divorce is invalid just as he's starting to fall for teacher Joanne Dru. Totter, a rare femme fatale presence in a comedy, adds the spark that this film needs to prevent it from becoming all too gooey, while Widmark, usually a dark presence, is a good father but quirky, and Dru, very modern as the new breed of 50's career woman, is still vulnerable and quite likeable.
As for "Foghorn", he's the perfect 50's quirky kid, definitely a precursor to Dennis and Beaver on TV, and nowhere near as annoying as "Froggy" from the last years of the "Our Gang" series of shorts. The film manages to be sweet but not too sugary, and the humor is quite subtle. ("Don't let the bed bugs bite", Widmark says as he puts Winslow to bed, to which he barks "Bugs bite!") "Wouldn't it be awful to marry a woman who was always right?", Widmark says in his kissing clinch with Dru, giving an indication that the screen writing team of Fay and Michael Kanin used parts of their own marriage to create the story.