Picnic

Rating:
Summary: My favorite movie since 1956 when I was 16!!
Review: Well, here I am watching "Picnic" on AMC, even though I have the video tape! When I saw it as a 16-yr.-old, I knew the story and characters would haunt me forever. Many years passed before I was able to view this movie again, when Cinemax showed it in Dec. 1989, and that was the first time I'd seen it since 1956. I had a VCR by then and recorded it for my and my husband. When the video was finally made available, I had to own it! The themes in this movie really do hold true today, though many don't honor them. I'm sure that today's teens would think much of this movie is "hokey" -- too bad, because Joshua Logan did a fine job with this William Inge play, and the music is also superb. "Picnic" should be in any video collection of those who truly love a classic love story with all its twists and turns--and a satisfactory resolution. Kudos to all involved! BWG

Rating:
Summary: The Best!
Review: This movie is one of the best I've ever seen! Sensuous and erotic at the same time, without being cheesy like today's movies. It's a must-buy!

Rating:
Summary: Labor Day brings disturbances
Review: The first interest of this film is the nostalgia it represents for all Americans who remember Labor Day as the last day of the summer, of the vacation, a day of celebration and joy. Here it is the scene of a big picnic organized by the Chamber of Commerce with all kinds of activities and competitions : pie-eating, three leg running, dancing, the election of a queen, trained seals, etc. But the main interest of the film is the impact this Labor Day has on the five women living in two houses. It is a time of liberation and finally realizing their dreams. An old lady just enjoys the nostalgia. A mother is confronted to the free choices of her two daughters. One daughter decides to break off with her official boyfriend and to run away with another. A school teacher gets drunk and finds the courage to force her manfriend into marrying her. It becomes a day of emancipation, a day when one must follow one's instinct and not one's duty.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

Rating:
Summary: A Picnic They Won't Soon Forget
Review: It's Labour Day weekend in a small midwestern town, and drifter William Holden rides the rails in, looking to get a job from college buddy Cliff Robertson. He meets Robertson's girlfriend Kim Novak, her younger sister Susan Strasberg, their mother Betty Field, old maid schoolteacher Rosalind Russell, and Russell's boyfriend Arthur O'Connell. His appearance sets the stage for a Labour Day picnic they all won't soon forget, as the handsome drifter stirs the women up. Holden is a little old for the role, but does such a great job of infusing the character with desperation, charm, and painful honesty that his age is hardly a liability. Novak is good as the beautiful girl who wants to be known for more than just her beauty. She doesn't bring much depth to the character, but she and Holden have an excellent chemistry on screen together. The supporting cast is uniformly great. Russell pulls out all the stops as the frustrated and pathetically desperate teacher, while O'Connell is laid back and a perfect counter-punch to her histrionics. It's the kind of a story that almost everyone can find something to relate to - if you've ever felt trapped in your life, or been unsatisfied with where your life has gone, or had dreams for something more. It's well written, well acted, and well worth watching.

Rating:
Summary: This movie is Magic
Review: I think that Picnic is one of the best movies ever made in Hollywood.
Everything about it is first rate. The acting, directing, cinematography, music, everything comes together to make a wonderful whole. Rosalind Russell, Susan Strasberg, Cliff Robertson, and the whole supporting cast, are superb. William Holden and Kim Novak, as the main characters in the movie, are really magic together. The chemistry between them, is the most electrifying I have ever seen on screen. If you have never seen this movie, I urge you to do so, and if you haven't seen it for a while, have a look at it again. You are in for a REAL TREAT.

Rating:
Summary: Logans Magic!!
Review: You can start with play by William Inge, Add Josh Logan and James Wong Howe,... Morris Stoloff and screenplay by Daniel Tarradash( From Here To Eternity)...and you wind up with a big big hit.

Shot on location in central Kansas, the flavor of this film is much more than one first perceives. Arthur O' Connell and Roz Russell wonderfull in support. James Wong Howe,s Cinematography must be viewed in letterbox format to appreciate the wonder of it all.

Its a much earlier time in the heart of the USA...and things are much more sublime than now. Great montage scenes...such as the love scene bewtween Holden and Novak by the train tracks...
...They embrace...the train starts to come by...she says" We have to get back to picnic" ....he says( Hal) ..." Do We"?....the train goes by...cut to the full moon in the sky..the score goes up and fade out....................Thats real Cinema!!

Produced by Fred Kohlmar..of course!!

Rating:
Summary: dance
Review: i have never ever watched a movie like picnic!!!!! i have seen this movie over a hundred times and the dance scene between holden and novac is so erotic and sensual! it puts to shame all of the r-rated movies of today without language and nudity.i hope to watch this movie over and over again.

Rating:
Summary: great movie! great acting! great score!
Review: A terrific movie with the stunning and haunting "Moonglow" soundtrack. The cast is wonderful with a standout by Arthur O'Connell and the scene stealer herself, the Glorious Roz Russell!

Rating:
Summary: What a Difference A Day Makes
Review: Some of the finest acting ever done on the silver screen happened in this film, Picnic. William Holden portrayed a "drifter", and there will never, can never be anyone who could make the character of a "bum"...a man without a job, money, car wardrobe, home, etc. appear so appealing,deeply faceted and enticing. He lends to his character Hal Carter, his own untamed spirit, and that is the essence that emits throughout the story. The beauty of it all is that every drifter is searching, but some never know for what it is that they search. In Picnic, he finds Madge Owens, an honestly unassuming feminine beauty, Played so lovely by Kim Novak. This was a story of the sublime in the ordinary..no fancy sets, or wardrobe..just superb acting. Rosalind Russel was someone you must know from your own family or group of friends. She and the other supporting actors areimpeccable in their art, during this film. There is never one moment that they allow your attention to drift other than being with them, on that mid western Labor Day event, that fills the air with the sweetness of late summer. If I could choose to escape anywhere in my fantasy, I would want to be there with all of them, under the "Moonglow", (the most exquisite music score.) When they say this is the stuff dreams are made from...for me, it's "Picnic".

Rating:
Summary: This film blows.
Review: I will admit that this film does a good job of depicting a painfully provincial midwestern town in the 50's -- with everyone busy being violently swell. But it fails to really take flight. The music has horrible melodramatic spikes, the story suffers with implausable character development, and is frankly painful to watch. It is really a pity this film took time from Mr. Holden's life; that he could have used making a better picture. If you must see it, see it on a rental basis. Baby.