The all-time WORST movie line ever. For two reasons:
1. It unncessarily alarms both the characters and the audience since we learn moments later that not only is his neck NOT broken but that the baby hasn't been injured in any way whatsoever.
2. Get a load of Maureen O'Hara's reaction when everyone comes rushing in to help the baby. She's like, "Neck? What broken neck?"
In an otherwise beautiful film, this line sticks out like a...a...a broken neck!
[deleted]
[deleted]
You are probably right on that one. Horrible, horrible writing. It was on AMC the other night. I also liked when the tree took out the Dad and the Grandpa and Clayboy runs to get help. Wally Cox is driving up, Clayboy tells him what happened and Wally parks the car to have a look-see and Clayboy runs off, I would presume several miles into town o get help. Umm, suppose he could have borrowed the car? Just the same, i sure do dig Maureen O'hara so it wasnt totally wasted time.
shareWhen Mom and I watched this evening, I said, "Poor Clay-Boy had it rough, having to run everywhere for the doctor and all! At least with the Waltons, if Daddy had the truck, John-Boy could have taken the mule for the doctor--not have to dash all over the country like a maniac!" I must say when Clay-Boy was chasing Becky I was impressed by both their running skills!
Yep, the Mom was a tartan. She was going to still make Clay-Boy put the kids to bed after his exhausting run for nothing, getting him all sweaty when he had important company coming, and wasn't even apologetic to the doctor for getting him up there for nothing! Doesn't even have him check the baby who had suffered a fall resulting in loss of consciousness and could have had a concussion or something!
Maybe you've never seen how alarmed a mother can be when something happens to her baby. If Clay-boy had just waited 30 seconds he'd have seen everything was OK, but you don't wait in an emergency. I think it's entirely believable.
"The value of an idea has nothing to do with the honesty of the man expressing it."--Oscar Wilde
It wa when Clay-boy returned from the doctor that the mother was totally unbelievable. She acted as if nothing had happened and didn`t even apologize for having him run back and forth like a madman.
I didn`t care for the mother throughout the film. She seemed very selfish and narrow-minded to me. Quite unlike Olivia Walton in the series.
Dorothy stop that, Mr. Ha Ha`s lookin at you!!
I dont get how she was selfish, if she was selfish she would have wanted that dreamhouse
Maureen O'Hara, Ireland Best Actress. Got Maureen O'Hara and Julie Andrews autograph 2008!
I saw some of her reactions in the film as establishing that she was an uneducated, simple woman. But I just don't think an around 40 year old woman that lives in the backwoods and gets her tools for living passed down through the generations would behave the way she did. Especially when she has her older, experienced mother-in-law in residence to help her muddle through life. She acted like a nitwit whose oldest son was more level headed than she appeared to be.
Paula Jo
Yeah, "Spencer's Mountain" was on TCM last night and I watched it start to finish, and this whole scene/episode was really dumb -- a complete waste of time.
In addition to the stunning/shocking/alarming tone of the original line (I remember watching it as a kid with my parents) -- are they really going to kill off a cute little baby in a 'family film'? -- as you note the scene DOESN'T LEAD TO ANYTHING ELSE.
The baby's not dead, the baby's not even hurt, the rest of the kids aren't traumatized and Clayboy's meeting with the schoolteacher and the preacher isn't even delayed even 15 minutes.
So basically the whole "his neck's broke!!!!!!" episode -- about 5 minutes of screen time including all the scenes of him running back and forth over the mountain -- has nothing to do with any other part of the movie.
Oh, there was another ridiculous completely random alarming line in connection with that meeting:
Clayboy tells Olivia the teacher and preacher are coming over to discuss the scholarship.
Olivia replies Daddy has gone out to get drunk, from all indications not exactly a rare occurrence in life on Spencer's Mountain.
Clayboy immediately shouts, "I'M GONNA KILL MYSELF!!!!"
Calm down, drama-boy.
As we know from the start of the movie both Preacher-Man and Teacher-Lady are quite well aware that Daddy Spencer goes out and ties one on about every other night. I think they'll get over it.
My guess is the producers were looking at the storyline and decided they needed a couple more pulse-pounding crisis situations to pump some adrenaline into the overall movie, but couldn't really figure out how to do it, so they said, "let's have Mama screaming about a neck-broke baby and Clayboy bellowing he's gonna kill himself, that ought to wake 'em up out in drive-in land."
shareYou're right, it was stupid and pointless. I saw that scene today and thought it was pretty idiotic. If the baby really did break its neck, it wouldn't live too long, or would at best be a quadriplegic. The scene and the following one with his mother not even apologizing for what she put her oldest son through should have been edited out of the final film.
shareI don't see how you could have missed Clay Jrs. little speech about needing to get out of the house, as well as momma's reply about him being the oldest son and having to play the hand he's dealt. The little crisis was needed to show the viewer how fed up Clay Jr is with being the pack mule in his small-town life (destined for bigger things).
shareI agree -- for a mother of nine she overreacts something fierce.
share