I thought it was really good! Very impressive performances by all. I do wish we had been told what exactly had triggered Burt's mental instability, but still, good movie!
Professional Jayne Mansfield fanatic/lover™ since 1980.
I thought it was triggered by knowing that his father was having an affair
with his girlfriend. It's been awhile since I have seen this movie. It's
not out on DVD, but I do have it on video (VCR is broken); I might have to invest in a new VCR just to enjoy those films that are not out on DVD yet.
"OOO...I'M GON' TELL MAMA!"
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I agree with you, HillJayne; Joan Crawford shows such depth in this performance. She does so much with her beautiful face. Here eyes spoke volumes in the scenes following the 'beach scene'; she didn't need to say a word.
This picture is just one great example of Joan Crawford's versatility. So many people have said that Miss Crawford could only play one note, but they have obviously never seen this movie (or several others that I could name).
I agree with you that there should've been more explanation of Cliff Robertson's character's problem; however, if you just look at it as a plot device, it really doesn't need one.
I am just a romantic. I loved the last scene when they were kissing and Nat King Cole begins singing Autumn Leaves. Love!!!!!!!!!! It's Wonderful!!!!
shareMaybe it's just me, but... I thought it pretty clear from the story what caused him to go "over the edge." Namely, he had discovered his wife was sleeping with his father (that horny old goat Lorne Greene!). Add to this the pressure of his military service in Korea (where his outfit suffered 40% casualties?), and there was the little matter of some income property from his mother that had been gifted to Burt and his cheating wife - property that Burt did not want to sign over to father and wife. Yeah, I'd say he was broken - both mentally and emotionally - by these factors.
So I suppose he was drawn to an older woman (JC) because she represented the emotional stability he was so desperately seeking. Unfortunately he was too far gone for even JC to help him.
I'd like to think the movie had a happy ending, but I'm still leaning towards Burt going all psycho again at some point after he and Millicent got back home again...
"It's going to get worse before it gets better." - The White House
I thought the stuff about 40 casualties was one of his lies...? And movie DID have a happy ending - quite unambiguously and sappily so, making the whole thing a bit weaker overall. What may or may not have happened afterwards, has got nothing to do with anything.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
It's not you.You hit the nail on the head. It was very clear why Cliff had gone over the edge when he found his wife was sleeping with his father. I think his mother dying too early and his being a sort of bad boy afterwards (lying) had something to do with it, too, and his father not like him or caring bout him at all. He married too young, as he said he did.
Odd movie, indeed!
I didn't like Ben Cartwright being a horny old goat, though:).
Well, didn't everyone of those Cartwright boys have a different mother?
Yes, sir, I'm going to do nothing like she's never been done before!
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I read years ago that Lorne Green was one of the biggest JERKS ever in HollyWEIRD, and there are a LOT of them in that area code! He has a very EVIL face, I saw thru him a long time ago.
shareYes, Lorne was sleeping with daughter-in-law Vera. It was their 6 month wedding anniversary when Cliff came home and caught them together. Seeing the rumpled sheets in their hotel room brought it all back and worsened his condition.
Yes, sir, I'm going to do nothing like she's never been done before!
I liked it, too, but I think a better plot device would be to have Millie NOT learn about the relationship between Burt's father and ex-wife until the end. Meantime, she buys their story that Burt is crazy and a liar.
shareSixty years after the movie was made, the very idea that Burt would become a paranoid/schizophrenic because he discovered his wife was having an affair with his father ... is PREPOSTEROUS.
Actually, I assume he suffered from manic depression. He had his "highs," like when he met Millie and fell in love with her IMMEDIATELY, and his lows, like when he didn't go out of the house for days. He also suffered from paranoia and presumably PTSD from issues with his family as well as from the war. I'm guessing that his statement about not seeing combat was a lie because it was part of his new persona with Millie. I don't know how much he saw, but probably enough to make him (more) disturbed.
So I didn't see the trauma causing his mental illness but just exacerbating it. He probably did lie and steal in the past, whether it related to being bipolar or not, and then the continual stress eventually triggered all out delusions and paranoia.
I do understand that Burt finding Virginia, with his father, sent him off the edge. No question of that. But taking the side of those horrible two, they indicated to Millie, that all he does is lie, and that is true. What is the reason for that? Why when they just met that time in the restaurant, did he tell her he came from Racine, Wisconsin instead of his hometown of Chicago? Why did he lie about his military record? Virginia told Millie when they met that time, that they had discovered Burt had gotten involved in shoplifting and other misdemeanours. From that, Millie went to the store and found he was not the deputy manager of Hathaways, just a tie salesman, and there is no way he could have written off all those presents he gave her, she realizing he must have shoplifted those as well. Burt was obviously twisted, and him seeing the three of them together outside the apartment, made him wrongly conclude they were in cahoots with each other. But why all the other dishonesty, that bore no relationship to the problem in question, his father and Virginia? Particularly if he loved Millie so much. Burt's father told Millie just as she was to leave his hotel room that what he needs is to be sent to a hospital. Well in the end, Millie saw that was necessary too, and had him committed. Regardless of the illicit romance, could Virginia have been drawn to his father, simply because Burt was so unstable to begin with, and the tryst isn't really the reason for his madness?
shareI agree. Walking in on his young wife and his father going at it in bed would have been traumatic. A normal person would be shocked, enraged, and depressed. But it wouldn't cause psychosis. Burt already had mental problems, and the transgression of his bride and his dad was just the last straw that broke him. I hope, between his treatment in the sanitarium and Millie's love, he will be mentally healthy the rest of his life.
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