This is another one to watch once for the historic significance but the strong monologues are weakened by how the film is dragged out to an hour and 48 minutes becoming very theatrical (play-like) at the end and beating the viewer over the head with the same repetitive race argument despite the fact that the moral of the story is obvious from the beginning. Chalk it up to being a product of its time but ultimately an amazing 80-minute movie becomes a tolerable film when its purpose cannot be strong enough to be concise.
Family Guy: 3
We have to give this one a higher rating than the others because Dr. Prentice has a quote in it that is very close to and could've even inspired an entire Family Guy character. In response to Joanna (Joey) admitting she'd been hiding her nerves for a week, he says, "You're a phony. You know that? You're a big phony."
Relevance: 3
This one fails our present-day, logical, scientific method-based minds. Joey (a 23 year old white girl) and Dr. John Prentice (a 47 year old black man) meet in Hawaii for 10 days and then decide to fly to Switzerland and be married before John resumes his work in Africa. They give each set of parents between 1-4 hours to approve of the partnership before dinner and their flight to Geneva yet the ONLY point that is belabored is that of the race difference. Perhaps this is a device used by the writers to emphasize the state of race relations at the time however it is confusing because it is also understood and flat-out stated by the characters that racist laws in this country will most likely change. It causes the movie to fail the test of time because to watch it now you must force yourself to remember the era in which it was created rather than appreciate an enduring message.
On a side note, when will the censors be editing the other 'n' word out of this like they're doing with Huck Finn right now?
Interesting scene between Joanna's father (Matt) and John:
Matt: Have you given any thought to the problems your children will have?
John: Yes, and they'll have some. And we'll have the children, otherwise you couldn't call it a marriage.
Matt: Is that the way Joey feels?
John: She feels that all of our children will be president of the United States.
John: Yes, and they'll have some. And we'll have the children, otherwise you couldn't call it a marriage.
Matt: Is that the way Joey feels?
John: She feels that all of our children will be president of the United States.
Nice synopsis.
ReplyDelete