Picnic

Rating:
Summary: IT MUST HAVE BEEN MOONGLOW.
Review: A drifter named Hal finds himself invited to an annual picnic in a small Kansas town; trouble and romance follow...Although I'll have to admit that this film has certain flaws: the slight miscasting of the too-old leads, the direction which dates quite badly and the rather bad performance of Rosalind Russell as the desperate spinster schoolmarm - it still has the ability to hold one's interest throughout. Kim Novak hasn't much range as the beautiful, shy Madge, and as Millie, the plain, intellectual little sister, Susan Stasberg is adequate. Although Holden gives his best shot as Hal, it seems his then 37 years were against him; a commendable try otherwise. As Rosemary, the spinster schoolteacher, Russell overacts horrendously, but has a fine scene - where she's less affected and more realistic -talking to O'Connell on the wooden steps of the boardinghouse. Likeable Cliff Robertson is rather neutral in his journeyman role as Alan (his father is played by Milburn Drysdale (Raymond Bailey) without his hairpiece!) As Mrs. Potts, the sweet old lady neighbour who likes Holden and took him in, Verna Felton gave a beautifully memorable performance and Betty Field does well as Flo (although I felt Flo too easily gave up fighting against Madge's determination to be with Hal; it seemed against her character) The film is very fifties and the ambience of it all is like a nostalgic look back at a much simpler time (the town in which they shot the film was in actuality Hutchinson, Kansas)

Rating:
Summary: A picnic with Kim novak IS NOT a Labor Day
Review: The film that shot Kim Novak to stardom. Generally regarded as nothing more than an untalented ice queen, Kim Novak had more than just her radiant beauty....there was talent under those smoldering eyes. She was never lovlier or better than she was here as the beautiful Kansas farmgirl who wants to be loved for more than just her looks. William Holden (one of the most natural actors ever) is on hand as a drifter who comes into town to look up a rich college friend (Cliff Robertson) for a job. He proceeds to have a dynmaic effect on the frustrated (sexually or otherwise) women of the town. A kind elderly woman takes a liking to him and lets him clean her yard. Novak's sister (Susan Strasberg) crosses the find line of adolescence into womanhood while in his company. Their mother distrusts him because her own drifter husband left her in the lurch. He even lifts the prim and proper facade of the local schoolteacher (Rosalind Russell). But it is the sparks he creates with Novak that make this a classic flick. (God...just to look at her is to fall in love with her). Though he may have been a tad old for the role, Holden is excellent. The film is a microcosm of small-town middle-America and works as an excellent character study also. It is well worth adding to your collection.

Rating:
Summary: Moonglow moments
Review: You know it's good:

1. It's the look on William Holden's face when he first catches a glimpse of Kim Novak coming down the stairs in that pink dress. ("Madge is the pretty one"--she sure is)
2. It's the way she shimmies up to him. Revealing her intentions, she never loses eye contact or says a word.
3. It's the moment he takes her into his arms to dance close--he gives a little sigh of pleasure.
4. It's the look on his face when he's dancing--that criptic smile of pleasure and sensuality--all the while knowing that she's totally off limits.

and of course the song itself. This scene in itself makes the movie and with DVD you can play it over and over and over... Not many dance scenes have stood the test of time. I loved it. What can I say--I'm a chick.

Rating:
Summary: Holden Sparks, Novak Smolders, Kansas Burns
Review: In a decade of conformity and great prosperity William Inge and Tennessee Williams tackled subjects ahead of their time. Of course they in some cases had to veil the subject matter but that lead to some wonderful revelations in writing and reading between the lines. In this DVD from Colombia of Inge's Pulitzer Prize winning 'Picnic' we have one of the best films of this genre of sexual repression, animal heat, and desperation in small town America.
Most reviewers of this film might begin with the leads but I must start of with the wonderful Verna Felton as Helen Potts the sweet old lady who is caretaker of her aged mother and lives next door to the Owens family. This gifted and now forgotten character actress sets the tone of the picture as she welcomes drifter Hal Carter (William Holden) into her house. At the end of the film she glows in tender counterpoint to the dramatic ending. She is the only person who understands Hal, even more than Madge (Kim Novak). Her speech about having a man in the house is pure joy to watch. It is a small but important performance that frames the entire story with warmth and understanding.
Betty Field turns in a sterling performance as Flo Owens, Mother of Madge and Millie. She is disapproving of Millie's rebellious teen and smothering of her Kansas hothouse rose Madge. A single Mom trying in desperation to keep Madge from making the same mistakes she did. She becomes so wrapped up in Madge's potential for marriage to the richest boy in town she completely ignores the budding greatness that is bursting to get out in her real treasure. Millie.
Susan Strasberg creates in her Millie a sweet comic oddball. She is the youngest daughter who awkwardly moves through the landscape nearly un-noticed, reading the scandalous "Ballad of the Sad Café" being the only one who is different and can't hide it. Her yearning to get out of the smallness of small town life is colored with the skill of a young actress with greatness her.
Rosalind Russell nearly steals the show as the fourth woman in the Owens household boarder, Rosemary, a frantic, hopeless and clutching spinster. In the capable hands of Miss Russell we have a real powerhouse of a performance. She imbues Rosemary with all the uptight disapproval of a woman who knows that her time has past and there are very few options left. She is electric in her need for love. Every nuance of her emotions is sublime in her presentation. Just watch her hands alone.
Floating above all of this is Madge Owens, the kind of girl who is too pretty to be real. The kind of girl who in a small town like this is not understood to have any real feelings or thoughts other than those that revolve around being beautiful and empty. Enter Kim Novak, who is just such a girl. Who could ever expect such a beauty to be anything more than just pretty? But Miss Novak, a vastly underrated actress in her day paints a knowing and glowing portrait of Madge. Her explosion of sexual heat upon meeting Hal for the first time is internal and barely perceptible until she looks at him from behind the safety of the screen door the end of their first scene. That screen door is a firewall protecting her from the flames. She fights in the early part of the film to keep her sexual desire for Hal in check. That night she loses her fight at the picnic and we watch as she opens to reveal a woman of feelings and dreams so much deeper than the prettiness of her eyes or the luminosity of her skin. This is one of Kim Novak's early great roles and one she fills out with lush and deep emotion.
The lives of all of these women of Nickerson Kansas are changed one Labor Day when Hal comes steaming into town. William Holden gives a raw and wounded portrayal to Hal, a man at the edge of his youth and on the verge of becoming a lost man. He lives as he always has, on the fading glow of his golden boy charm and his muscular magnetism. Holden was 35 when he made Picnic, a real golden boy at the edge of his youth. He was perfect for the part. Some reviewers say he was too old to play Hal, but I disagree. Without being thirty-five in real life as well as in the story Rosemary's "Crummy Apollo" speech would not be so effective or devastating. Hal is a man who never bothered to grow up, a man who never let anyone get too close for fear they might see through is bravado and discover his fears of feeling something, anything before it's too late.
Holden also brings a sexual heat to the film that is eons beyond the time it was filmed. He is presented almost like a slab of meat. He struts around in a pre-Stonewall dream of sexy hotness. Not only the girls in town notice him but a few boys too. (There are several layers to Nick Adams paperboy if one bothers to look.) When finally Holden sparks with Novak they blow the lid off of the uptight code bound studio-strangled world of Hollywood in the Fifties.
The film is photographed magnificently in lush color and cinemascope by famed cinematographer James Wong Howe. The famous score by George Durning is classic not only for the famous reworking of the old standard "Moonglow" but for his virtuosity in dramatic power. This is a giant of a score from the silver age of film music. The direction by Josh Logan is perfect in every way and stands among the best of his work.

Rating:
Summary: Dripping with lust!
Review: Picnic is one of those films that just transports the viewer into another time and era and that's the sign of a truly great film. Holden has the daunting task of playing a loveable hustler with big dreams that he just can't make happen. So he decides to go back to familiar grounds and falls for kim Novak. Novak is a treasure in this movie her exotic beauty and shaky voice highlights her characters uneveness to conform into the town's perfect beautiful young woman. This film at it's time was billed as too sexy due to the dance that Novak and Holden share at the picnic and till this day the scene holds up great. The lust in both their eyes and Novaks raw sex appeal against Holden's rugged good looks is a sight to be hold. But the back story which I won't give a hint of is the true tale of this flick and shows how human nature is always determined by the role society wants you to play based on your looks! This film still holds up today as a work of pure sexual energy and raw human emotions.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Love story
Review: I first saw this movie with my parents as an 8 year old wide-eyed kid. There are several interesting points about this motion picture: 1. William Holden has his best performance ever as Hal Carter, a drifter and charmer in the small midwestern town of Hutchenson Kansas 2. Cliff Robertson makes a spectacular debut as the "Rich Kid Next Door" and cannot believe that anyone can ever spoil his world of power, money and romance. 3. Rosalind Russell is simply fantastic as the over-the hill old maid still searching for love and feeling like she is younger than she really is. 4. Suzan Strasberg is stunning as the younger daughter of Betty Field and a book-worm turned boy-lover with the charm of William Holden. 5. Kim Novak has the plum role in this motion picture. She realizes that love is more than security and being told that she is "pretty." 6. Betty Field is the real star of the picture. As the mother of two daughters, she struggles trying to keep her oldest daughter from making the same mistakes that she made. 7. Arthur O'Connell has a great supporting role as a batchelor who finally realizes that time has run out on him.

If you have a great love of 50's motion pictures, this is a must see film of Josh Logan.

Rating:
Summary: Moonglow moments
Review: You know it's good:

1. It's the look on William Holden's face when he first catches a glimpse of Kim Novak coming down the stairs in that pink dress. ("Madge is the pretty one"--she sure is)
2. It's the way she shimmies up to him. Revealing her intentions, she never loses eye contact or says a word.
3. It's the moment he takes her into his arms to dance close--he gives a little sigh of pleasure.
4. It's the look on his face when he's dancing--that criptic smile of pleasure and sensuality--all the while knowing that she's totally off limits.

and of course the song itself. This scene in itself makes the movie and with DVD you can play it over and over and over... Not many dance scenes have stood the test of time. I loved it. What can I say--I'm a chick.

Rating:
Summary: Much better than Far From Heaven or Mona Lisa Smile
Review: Excellent 1955 classic starring William Holden and Kim Novak that accurately portrays the way things were in America circa 1955. The Technicolor cinematography is absolutely splendid, even more than Far From Heaven's (there is TOO MUCH color, a problem that didn't plague Technicolor movies). And that's not the only thing that makes this movie better: it shows how things REALLY were in the 1950s because it was MADE in the 1950s. There is no liberal vendetta or pro-homosexual propaganda. And that Moonglow dance...AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Rating:
Summary: A PICNIC IN THE COUNTRY
Review: OK version of the William Inge Broadway play casts thirtysomething William Holden in the twentysomething role of Hal, a drifter who blows into a sleepy Kansas town on a Labor Day Holiday weekend. How does the movie shake up the sameness of the one set play? It goes on a picnic, literally showing what the play only eluded to, with an entire town celebrating an Americana holiday weekend, with much sly eavesdropping on the American conciousness. Picture Steven Spielberg's work with New England townies in "Jaws", and Director Joshua Logan accomplisshes much of the same with Mid-Westerners in a down home country state of being. I also liked the visual sky and corn stalks references of the farming industry governing, like a sleeping watchdog, over the rural community. The best thing about it though, and the best performance comes from the featured screen debut of Cliff Robertson who brings much spirit and sensitivity to the role of the lead character's best buddy.

Rating:
Summary: Don't pass this one up!
Review: This wonderful movie satisfies on many levels. It calls us back to a simpler time in our minds. It is Americana. It actually is a very strong love story, almost steamy at times (at least for it's day) - believable yet still cinematic. It is an excellent character study. It is funny, and it is sad. It is a movie THE WHOLE family can watch and enjoy, which these days is saying a lot. Although it is easy to see that "Picnic" was derived from a play, this point does not detract - in fact it enhances the film.

The casting is excellent. Rosalind Russell as the spinstery school teacher is flawless, and her hen-pecked boyfriend (Arthur O'Connell) is great too. As another reviewer noted, Verna Felton, who plays "Mrs. Potts", allows us to put everything into a peaceful perspective......even the "chaos" that ultimately ensues is a normal part of life, as her stable persona continually demonstrates. Cliff Robertson is fine as Alan Benson - he does not allow his role to overtake that of Holden and Novak....a lesser-known actor may have worked better for his role.

Holden (and I must admit to being a huge William Holden fan) is superb. Just enough cockiness and false-bravado contrasting with a genuine naiveté of the real world around him (he's "experienced" with football and women, inexperienced with just about everything else). So many of his scenes are gems - his first confrontation with "Bomber", his "women" stories to Alan, and my personal favorite, the scene where he and Millie (his "unofficial date" for the picnic) are driving to the fairgrounds. After singing a rendition of "Old McDonald" together, Holden turns to Millie and says "Hey kid, here's one my old man taught me". Then, after a pause (and realizing he is with a 15 year old girl), Holden shakes his head and instead starts up another verse of "Old McDonald". Priceless!!

If the movie has any "problems" at all, they are minor. Susan Strasberg ("Millie"), who is supposedly Kim Novak's bookwormy, unattractive sister, is anything but unattractive. It will take more than a pair of pointy horn-rimmed glasses to put her out of Madge's league! And there is something a little "stand-offish" about Novak's performance at times, although I have never been quite able to identify what it is.

But this movie is 5 stars all the way. Sit back and enjoy a movie for the ages, when actors could still act and a great and enjoyable story was still told. If you need violence or vivid sexual imagery to hold your attention, don't bother. Otherwise, you may love this film!