Well I like it...

I've never seen the stage verson of it, but I love the movie. It was one of if not the first musical movies I ever owned! It's differently one of my favorite movies ever and one of the best musicals I've seen.

I'm a girl who dreams big :)

I think the message is that Billy did not hit Julie because he intended to hurt her. He hit her out of a sense of his own inadequacy as a provider and his frustration at not being able to get a job. Julie knew this, and that's why she forgave him for it.

Billy hit his daughter for a similar reason; he felt inadequate when he tried to help her and she refused the star that he gave her.

I like it! I just watched it again with my wife. It has some great songs that are quite moving, Shirley looks marvelous as always, and Gordon MacCrea is perfect as Billy. I recall seeing this when I was much younger, and I was very moved by the story. I think you're right that the flashback hurts the story; but I suppose it is just a way of providing a somewhat happy ending to an otherwise dire tale. Hollywood has its habits. The dance sequences are very entertaining and energetic, the sets are beautiful at times, nicely contrasting with the beautiful location shots. Despite what someone else says about Billy's "reasons" for hitting women, I can tell you (especially as my wife was watching also!) that such explanations don't play well anymore, and it is a slightly uncomfortable feature of the story. Despite this, one does feel some real compassion for Billy's inadequacies as husband and man. It's a good musical.

"Carousel" si a gorgeous musical. It epitomizes what a musical is capable of being. Although the people who made this film messed with it (flashback et al)and ruined parts of it, there are some wonderful performances and nicely done scenes (bench scene eg). I agree that the underlying message about spousal abuse is not PC. I don't care. Love the show!

While we're defending the film version of "Carousel" (see my last post above), let's tackle a couple of other oft-heard subjects: the flashback style and the missing songs.
To me, the flashback idea was a brilliant conceit by the Ephrons. It creates a sense of foreboding and doom throughout the movie, leading up to the robbery. Knowing that Billy is going to die in the story (and obviously not as an old man) makes The Bench Scene, including "If I Loved You" ("Soon you'd leave me; off you would go in the mist of day") ten times more potent and poignant. That same effect is realized with "Soliloquy" and "What's the Use of Wondrin'." So I have a completely opposite take from those who argue the flashback eases the audience into Billy's death.
As for the missing songs, the magic of Rodgers and Hammerstein was that they had such a high percentage of great songs in most of their shows. But by omitting a few of their lesser songs, which costs the movie nothing, what is left in "Carousel" is pure gold. Besides, "You're a Queer One, Julie Jordan" would have become anachronistic, and "Blow High, Blow Low" really does not advance the story.
I've seen the film countless times since I was a child, and it's one of my all-time favorites. I have also seen the stage version. I'll take the movie any day.

MaterialGirl - that's not the message! In fact Billy's actions were critized by everyone else in the movie. It's the PERFECT way of saying to the general audience - hey, Billy hits but it's WRONG!! The character of Billy is rough, he roams the docks, he's a womanizer, he fights and kills. If the scene were left out there's no moral to learn. It's just a fairy tale. Imagine Romeo and Juliet without suicide. Or In Cold Blood without rape.

Vocatus atque non vocatus deus aderit...

It wasn't that Julie "needed to put up with" the way Billy treated her. Julie loved Billy despite the way he treated her.

it's my favorite Rodgers and Hammerstein musical simply because it takes place in New England, which is home. Also, I love the music.