Interesting to red the other reviews of this film,most of which see this movie as wonderful or awful, with little room in between. But that's what I'll give it: an in-between "7".
The bad news is that this film suffers from the same fate as almost every other film that tries to explore troubled teens: adult film-makers simply can't tell that kind of story. It seems to almost always come across as hokey, as it does here.
The better news here is that there is some good acting. James MacArthur made the best of the situation. I wasn't much younger than him, and I remember really liking him on television and in movies.
I had long since forgotten about actor James Daly, who plays the father here. What came back to me was remembering that it seemed as if he always played very serious to sour roles, as he does here. But he was good at it.
Kim Hunter was not at her best here. Her acting seems a bit awkward.
I wonder: did James Gregory ever play any different character? Or did he just always play himself? Nevertheless, he was entertaining in his own way.
I always thought of Whit Bissell as one of the really good, later character actors.
The last little disappointment in this film is the ending. While the film was awkward, the ending wrapped up way too neatly and quickly. And that perhaps is the film's worst mistake. Here, the dialog between father and son should have been extended a bit. A friendly punch in the should just didn't do the trick.
Still, I'm glad I watched it. Once.
The bad news is that this film suffers from the same fate as almost every other film that tries to explore troubled teens: adult film-makers simply can't tell that kind of story. It seems to almost always come across as hokey, as it does here.
The better news here is that there is some good acting. James MacArthur made the best of the situation. I wasn't much younger than him, and I remember really liking him on television and in movies.
I had long since forgotten about actor James Daly, who plays the father here. What came back to me was remembering that it seemed as if he always played very serious to sour roles, as he does here. But he was good at it.
Kim Hunter was not at her best here. Her acting seems a bit awkward.
I wonder: did James Gregory ever play any different character? Or did he just always play himself? Nevertheless, he was entertaining in his own way.
I always thought of Whit Bissell as one of the really good, later character actors.
The last little disappointment in this film is the ending. While the film was awkward, the ending wrapped up way too neatly and quickly. And that perhaps is the film's worst mistake. Here, the dialog between father and son should have been extended a bit. A friendly punch in the should just didn't do the trick.
Still, I'm glad I watched it. Once.