MovieChat Forums > A Summer Place (1959) Discussion > Molly and Johnny are hypocrites

Molly and Johnny are hypocrites

posted 11 years ago by liquidbabydoll-391-515328
13 replies | jump to latest

Molly and Johnny are portrayed as good people even when they are judgmental towards their parents choices.
They shun their parents and their marriage .
Yet, they do something just as scandalous and immoral.

Johnny's father and Molly's mother who are self righteous, haughty and judgmental are miserable in their lives and find no joy.
That's what really happens to that kind of people that just have hate in their hearts.

I realize this was done purposely to show how being judgmental will bite you back in the face but I still wish Molly and Johnny would have apologized to Ken and Sylvia for judging and treating them so harsh, especially after they realized that things viewed as bad in some societies are not really bad, like Molly getting pregnant out of wedlock. I was left with a bad taste in my mouth over their hypocrisy.

[–] pouncemo 11 years ago

They were immature kids and these were their parents. Plus, the parents were married so it was quite different. Even adults whose parents divorce are wigged out by it.

Kids want to think that their parents are mature and won't be seized by irrational impulses. It wouldn't have been realistic if the kids just said, "yeah, whatever, man".

[–] denis-38 11 years ago

True, being blasé would have been false, but their attitudes were extreme in the extreme. They were both fully aware their respective parents were desperately unhappy, but when the divorces came, you'd have thought it had all been terrific!

I would also point out that neither "child" was in fact a child--both were well into teenage and considering what both of them had suffered and seen, they could have been a bit more understanding, even back the day.

[–] boxerrebellion 10 years ago

What are you, 12? Molly was supposedly what, 15?!? It wasn't necessarily the divorce, bu the cause of it ... and at the time the film came out, divorce did make one (and by association, their children) pariahs.

[–] liquidbabydoll-391-515328 10 years ago

Youre a rude bullying intolerant jerk.There was no need to make assaults because you don't agree with someones opinion.

"It wasn't necessarily the divorce, but the cause of it "
The "cause" of it was not Ken or Sylvia but the other two parents,the alcoholic and the mean bitch.Who Molly and Johnny knew were wrong but they did not shun them.

If divorce make one (and by association, their children) pariahs , what did it make an unwed knocked up pregnant young adult like Molly?? Worst and you know it. Get off your rickety, ridiculous, stupidly based soap box and let others state an opinion, even if its different than yours , without harassing them , you pest.

[–] damamirlo 9 years ago

Being a child of divorced parents in 1959 was no small deal. When I was 5 years old in the 85, there was ONE girl in my class who was the daughter of divorced parents. Imagine what it must have been in 1959. It was unheard of, considered a life failure, and it's normal for the kids to be appalled at it.

[–] drippan-1 11 years ago

You have to understand the times. The divorce rate in the '50/'60s was at 20% unlike today's divorce rate of 50%. Divorce was an ugly term back then.

I think the problem with the movie is the ages they made Molly (Sandra Dee) and Johnny (Troy Donahue). The book has them age 13 and 16 where the divorce would have hit them harder.

I don't think anyone owes anyone an apology. They know they have all done wrong in one way or another but what really matters and what they all learn is that 'unconditional love' does not require an apology.

[–] liquidbabydoll-391-515328 10 years ago

If one "understands the times" then for divorce, they would also have to for the unwed pregnancy.
Unwed pregnancy was more scandalous and some places came with legal ramifications.
Unmarried pregnant women were sent to special hostels to have their babies.
Divorce, while socially somewhat scandalous, was not as socially scandalous as unwed pregnancy .
This was released in 1959, practically the 60's, when divorce had already been becoming more common and accepted and continued for the coming years more so then unwed pregnancy, which was still somewhat scandalous in the 1990's.

Molly and Johnny did a bigger socially accepted no-no with the before married pregnancy than Ken and Sylvia did with leaving their unhappy marriages , divorcing and marrying each other.
They have both been teenage couples, Molly and Johnny and Ken and sylvia.

Molly and Johnny SHOULD have apologized after Johnny impregnates Molly and more so after the parents they shunned and judged harshly did not judged them and accepted their actions. They should have seen they had been in no place to judge others, as they messed up and dint want to be judged.

Unconditional love is irrelevant and ridiculous to be bought up in this situation.
If one treats someone they love horrible, especially for an unjust reason , and then turns around and does something deemed just as bad and is accepted by them, they MOST certainly should apologize .

[–] boxerrebellion 10 years ago

Ken and Sylvia did not just 'leave their marriages for someone they loved as teens' - they committed adultery, which at the time carried legal ramifications. The 'love nest' aspect was what was highlighted in the newspaper coverage.

You also seem to not understand the difference between adults and teens who are basically children.

[–] liquidbabydoll-391-515328 10 years ago

What "legal ramifications" did adultery carry in the 1060's?
The only ones I know of is it was a grounds for divorce.
Someone who "committed" adultery could and did still sometimes get custody.
Getting pregnant so young and out of wedlock had "legal ramifications", like the mother did not have any or sometimes as much rights to her child and the state could and did take babies from young unwed mothers.

PLus to point out, they did not "commited" adultery. Ken and Sylvia were not shown having sex before they divorced and married each other.Even if they had, it isn't Molly and Johnnys place to judge them especially after they actions they carried on during the whole film. The street goes both ways.

Molly and Johnny were not "basically children". They were young adults.
I suppose you're the kind who also excuses 16 and 17 yr old murders because they are "basically children "and think 18 is some magical number where people instantly become adults just because the law choose that number to consider them adults.
They were young adults.
Old enough to have sex and make babies and more than old enough to later see that they were too judgemental on their parents that they knew were suffering with their abusive spouses.
Especially after Molly getting pregnant out of wedlock ,which had more lifelong ramifications and was more scandalous in the community than adultery.
There were no excuses for how they treated their caring good parents ,especially they "were just teens", and they should have at least apologized to them at the end.(kid or no kid)

[–] jayrussell1993 9 years ago

There's nothing wrong with judging people's actions as wrong or right. Just stop short of judging the people themselves as either good or bad.

[–] liquidbabydoll-391-515328 9 years ago

I never judged them "bad", I wrote how they treated their parents was wrong and hypocritical.

[–] RobbieCalifornia 9 years ago

This movie was stupid, unrealistic, poorly written. Thank God for the sixties, when censorship in films ended.

Such silliness. "I feel warm all over". "I washed my hair just for you". "I need to hold your hand, can you put it where no one will see it?" (!)

This wasn't realistic even for 1959.

And Richard Egan had scary, scary eyes.

[–] gema6 9 years ago

I think they did apologize, in a way, and the parents understood it.

Johnny says that Ken should beat him up, when he and Molly are in the car right before they go to their parents' house. He says something to that effect to Ken at one point too. At least as much as he knows both of them (the parents) are disappointed.

When they hug each other when they are finally at the house, that's when everyone forgives each other and understands, in my opinion.

As for being hypocritical, what teens are not that way. It all works out in the end, and it's closer to real life than many people might want to admit.