NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Onlinewsma Absolutely Brilliant!

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

mark.waltz This is definitely a film for adult eyes because when I first saw this many years ago, I did not appreciate the subject of the film's simple plot. Bette Davis, in a clipped Brooklyn accent, is the tired mother of pending bride to be (an understated and wonderful Debbie Reynolds) and Ernest Borgnine, in a poignant follow-up to "Marty", is the hard-working taxi driver father. The story surrounds the problems the bride's family has in deciding what kind of wedding the family will have. The bride and groom want a small wedding, while Davis has her eyes on a big wedding, especially after she has to break the news to her own brother (Barry Fitzgerald) that he isn't invited to the smaller one they initially planned. Borgnine, desperate to buy his own cab, hopes they'll agree to scale down the plans, but as the groom's family gets involved, it appears that this will never happen. This is a sweet story of the middle-aged couple's seeming lack of love, but like Golde and Tevye of "Fiddler on the Roof", the obvious frustrations of two totally different people doesn't reflect the feelings which really lie underneath. Davis and Reynolds have a poignant scene where Davis apologizes after exploding with her demands and frustrations, and it is one of those larger-than-it-seems moments that rarely happens in films, so wonderfully underwritten by Paddy Chayevsky, the same writer who had earlier written the teleplay. It is apparent that he really understands all of these characters, and each of them are more alive than they were aware they were.Davis also shines in a scene where, while shopping for groceries, she is bombarded by questions from nagging women acquaintances who make all sorts of insinuations. As for Fitzgerald as the somewhat boozy uncle (made to be gay in a recent sweet Broadway musical version), he gets a nice surprising moment of his own thanks to the presence of veteran stage actress Dorothy Stickney as his own lady friend. Like "Marty", this is a masterpiece of understatement and shows that in 1956, a big year for Cinemascope epics and musicals, that less could be more, and the big screen can be filled with big emotions on smaller scales.

Robert J. Maxwell Let me limn in the situation in Paddy Chayevsky's story briefly. We're in a poor, Irish, working-class household in the 1950s Bronx. Hubby Ernest Borgnine is an exhausted cab driver who has managed to scrape together four thousand dollars to buy a medallion so he can own his own taxi. Wife Davis runs the household. There are two kids. (There used to be three but Terence was killed in Korea.) Reynolds announces at breakfast that she and boyfriend Taylor are going to be married -- a small wedding before they take off for their honeymoon out West. There's a younger son, too, but he's about to leave for basic training at Fort Dix. And then there is uncle Jack Conlon, Fitzgerald, who has lived in the apartment and contributed to it for twelve years.When Debbie Reynolds announces that she and Taylor just want a quick marriage so they can get away, conflict erupts. It becomes clear that Bette Davis is something of a tyrant. She insists on a big, expensive, catered affair that no one else wants, and she sets about preparing it. It's sort of a "Mother of the Bride" comedy at times.The pathetic Borgnine's eyes bulge out with each new addition to the cost of the catered affair. Soon, without even trying, not only are his life savings committed but he's getting up to his ears in debt. He balks. Debbie Reynolds balks. Rod Taylor balks. But it's no use. Davis is adamant.The real battle is not over the wedding. It's a question of who makes the rules around here. And it gradually emerges that the quietly sullen Borgnine has over the years accepted the tyranny of Davis. It also develops that Davis, in staging this enormous, unwanted ritual for her daughter, is making up for the kind of wedding she herself never had. We also come to sense the distance between the beaten Borgnine and the well-meaning virago his wife has become. There's some humor involved, especially revolving around Barry Fitzgerald, his buddies at the Green Grass Grille, his tippling, and his extremely practical approach to romance.It's the kind of story about the Little People that Chayevsky handled with aplomb, but it's weak for a couple of reasons. One is that the domineering wife is a stereotype -- a complex one, but still a stereotype. And the conflict -- big affair versus quiet marriage -- isn't very compelling. It's the kind of issue that is easily gotten out of, whereas Borgnine's finding a way around his unprepossessing appearance and lack of confidence in "Marty" was something that all of us could identify with, except perhaps Lady GaGa. His stockiness and flabby features were a prison.The film also suffers from being stage bound. There are only two or three second-unit shots of New York City. This cries out for location shooting. What the hell does the Green Grass Grille look like? Is it as cozy as McSorley's Old Ale House? It's also an example of really bad casting. Borgnine is okay, but Bette Davis has too much class. She does what she can to disguise it -- double negatives and dropped g's -- but her conception of New York speech is all wrong. Debbie Reynolds is extravagantly pretty, and sexy too, but even with the clumsy grammar she is not New York. (She's from Texas.) The likable Rod Taylor, an Australian, is no better. It isn't that you have to BE from New York to be convincing in these kinds of roles. Don Murry (b. Hollywood) was persuasive enough in "Hatful of Rain" and "Bachelor Party." Others from elsewhere -- Eg., E. G. Marshall -- are honorary New Yorkers. It may sound finicky here but it's important to the story that the characters seem authentic -- and most of them do not.There are some memorable lines in it though, and Paddy Chayevsky can hardly go wrong in dealing with material like this. Not among his best works but worth catching.

Robert D. Ruplenas Why is this terrific movie so little known? It's a simply fabulous production on every level. What seems like a relatively mundane theme - the financial stresses that a marriage places on a lower class urban family - is turned by the masterful Paddy Chayevsky into an absolutely gripping domestic drama, and is a reminder to us of his rank as among the greatest of Hollywood screenwriters. The cast is superb. It's wonderful to see the indomitable Betty Davis shine in a role completely different from the patrician parts she usually played. The underrated Ernest Borgnine as great as the put-upon father, as is Debbie Reynolds as the bride-to-be. The legendary Barry Fitzgerald provides comic relief as Uncle Jack. Director Richard Brooks doesn't drop a beat and keeps the dramatic tension moving. By all means do not miss this fantastic flick!

rbrb This is a very poignant and impressive movie, which stands the test of time.And glad to see some of the main performers are still with us despite the fact the picture is over 50 years old. The film is about a family struggling financially and the head of the household has to decide whether to forgo getting a share in his own taxi cab or use what limited resources he has for his daughter's wedding. In my view the gnawing hardship and consequences of lack of money has rarely ever been so honestly portrayed as it is here; the writing in the film is super and there are first class performances from every single player. The actress in the part of the one to be the maid of honor is sensational. 8/10.