The Courtship of Eddie's Father

1963 "Every boy needs a mother... even if Dad has to marry her!"
6.8| 2h0m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 27 March 1963 Released
Producted By: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

Although he's only seven, Eddie's got it all figured out. He wants his father, a widower, to get remarried — to the girl next door. Unfortunately, she's not one of the women that his dad's been dating.

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Reviews

Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Actuakers One of my all time favorites.
LouHomey From my favorite movies..
Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
sherrym-364-15380 Didn't even know there was a movie before the TV version of The Courtship of Eddie's Father. Hubby & I caught this a couple weekends ago on TV - loved it! Sometimes these old movies are the best things to watch on TV. Amazing how you pay over $100 a month for TV and then find a gem like this because there is nothing else on. Ron Howard is as cute as can be - looked up info later on this movie, can't believe he was 8 years old. Shirley Jones is wonderful in this - I miss these kind of movies. So much crap out there today, fun to find something like this on TV to view! Always love it when the nice girl gets the guy! Thank goodness for TCM and AMC - we are always discovering "new to us" movies out there!
MartinHafer First I need to point out that this movie isn't much like the later TV series. It stars Glenn Ford as a widower raising a young child, played by Ron Howard. While their relationship is loving and sweet, they are both looking for a new wife/mother. And Ron Howard is a little devil trying to set up Dad! I like the kid's taste, though, as he sets his sights first on Stella Stevens and then on Shirley Jones--that kid had great taste! Even though you can easily predict where the movie will end up, the acting and writing and direction are so good that you don't really mind at all. That's because it is sentimental but avoids schmaltzy, gooey over-sentimentalism that could have easily ruined this film--thanks in part to a decent use of comedy.
moonspinner55 Very smooth, plushly produced nonsense about widower father dating different women, unaware that the divorcée next-door might just be the perfect gal for Pop and his precocious young son. Some surprisingly cynical bits amid the sentiment, despite a strange penchant for big events to happen off-screen. Vincente Minnelli's direction isn't as detailed or full-bodied as one might hope (and the picture doesn't flourish as a result), but the lead performances by Glenn Ford, Shirley Jones and young Ronny Howard are first-rate. Stella Stevens is colorful in stop-and-start supporting role that is never allowed to really take-off. Later the basis for a rather melancholy TV series. *** from ****
sddavis63 I've see episodes of the TV series of the same name a few times and was never actually very taken with it. I just didn't find it funny as a sitcom. The story can really only go on for so long and still be interesting. However, as a two hour movie, the story fits in well and although very obviously a 60's movie it's really quite enjoyable if you can lighten up and not get too offended by some of the sexist attitudes toward women, etc.The performances here were generally of a high calibre. Glenn Ford was quite good as the recently widowed Tom Corbet (far superior to Bill Bixby in the TV series), and the supporting cast of Roberta Sherwood as the housekeeper Mrs. Livingston and Shirley Jones, Stella Stevens and Dina Merrill as the various women who turn Corbet's head from time to time all did well in their roles. I was really taken with young Ron Howard, though. He must surely have been one of the finest child actors ever. His performance as Eddie in this picture was so realistic as he deals with his emotions around his mother's death and his feelings about his father moving on with life was wonderful. (Watch this if only to see Howard in the scene when he discovers the dead fish; his emotion in this scene was raw and powerful.) There's some amusing (if politically incorrect) scenes in this with a surprising (for 1963) amount of sexual innuendo (all innocent, of course, given the year.)Disappointments? Well, Jerry Van Dyke did nothing for me as radio DJ Norman Jones. Having heard the few snippets of his radio show that the movie includes I have to ask - why would anyone listen to him? I have to concede that I also found it a bit offensive that apparently within a relatively short time after his wife's death Corbett is out playing the field again. But, of course, that was necessary to the story.Overall, it's dated but still an enjoyable couple of hours.8/10