I Love Hal's....(SPOILERS)

Transformation! In the beginning of the movie, Hal is this cocky guy who is basically a show off when it comes to his body. He likes to show how strong he is (carrying that bucket of ice and drinks on his shoulder, jumping up the rope on Madge’s swing at the picnic, etc.), but throughout the movie you can tell he is looking for validation in other ways. He wants to settle down to a nice job and for once in his life he wants a little bit of stability. But like I said before, he depends too much on his physique to impress people, he’s cocky and he absolutely loved to talk about himself. He was always talking about a girl he went with or how he posed raw in front of an art class. But one of the things I love about this movie is Hal’s transformation. This small-town girl, Madge, brings him to his knees. He goes from being a braggart, overly-confident in his womanizing ways, to falling in love with Madge and needing her in his life. He probably never felt insecure with women in his life, and yet you can see how insecure he is after he makes love with Madge; he’s asking her to kiss him good night, unsure if she will do it and then the next day begging her to go to Tulsa with him and confessing his love for her, saying “I gotta know how you feel”. Madge is the wild card he never met before. He falls deeply in love with Madge, but is unsure of her feelings for him - something he probably never experienced with women before. A beautiful, well-done movie and a hats off to William Holden to doing an excellent job on playing this character! I think he should’ve at least received an Oscar nomination for his performance…


"You dipped the chip, took a bite - and you dipped again." - Timmy