ellgees

I recently watched this movie, believing it was an important Australian contribution to the world of cinema. How wrong I was!

It certainly is a well-known film, but perhaps that is only because of the play on which it is based received much publicity. Or perhaps because of its leading cast of well-known Hollywood etc stars.

This movie, originally titled "Summer of the 17th Doll," was in my opinion very disappointing. Firstly, I found the sound so distorted it was difficult to understand the dialog. The accents, mentioned here by other reviewers, were deplorable, and I will never understand why Australian actors weren't used in an Australian working-class story. I suppose the producers wanted "big names" in the important roles, but as hard as they tried, most of the cast never sounded convincingly like Aussies, so all I heard was a changing jumble of false working- class English accents.

The movie itself had some welcome humorous moments, if one could ignore the above comment, and the story line was interesting and believable. What was UNbelievable was the exaggerated and histrionic reactions of the characters to their every frustration. I expected more than melodrama from actors of this calibre.

It could have been so much better.

Although bemused and irritated by much of this movie, I persevered to the end and found it worth watching overall.

The kid, while obviously very intelligent (and autistic or something), was a loud-mouthed self-centered little brat and I know I would not have had the patience or practiced the extreme indulgence displayed by his grandparents and mother, who let him come and go as he pleased, treat people however he wanted and run around New York by himself.

Still, my sympathies were with the child, annoying though he was, and I ended up having a good weep. So if it made me cry, it couldn't have been all bad. (Okay, so I'm blonde.)

The story was a bit contrived - full of coincidences - not really acceptable in a serious movie, in my opinion. Without the backdrop of the 911 tragedy, I felt the story line wouldn't be at all satisfying.

But I intend now to read the book, which promises to be more pleasing.

I recently viewed this movie for the second time and found it just as funny and entertaining as I did when it first hit the theaters all those years ago.

Having just read through some of the reviews here I am startled that some people who are fans of the Western genre were disappointed because it was a musical and a comedy; others who love musicals were disappointed because it had a Western theme.

I didn't mind that some of the singing wasn't of a high standard - most of the songs were of a humorous bent anyway, and didn't purport to be anything but an accompaniment to the visual romp on screen.

Interestingly though, the couple of serious songs are actually quite beautiful, hauntingly wistful, lyrics lamenting the characters' forlorn lonesomeness. ("They Call the Wind Maria", and "A Million Miles Away Behind the Door.")

Anyway I say to all that didn't like this movie, where is your sense of humor? It is light entertainment - a comedy first and foremost, and employs a good amount of slapstick and satire. And with just a truthful drop of the real history of that era with its sadness and desolation.

An enjoyable fun movie.

Unless you are a fan of the most sappy movies, forget this one! Unsophisticated, excessively mawkish, infantile, unbelievable plot.

This movie just made me mad - irate, that is. I find it incredulous that ANYONE could tolerate such a horrible misbehaved animal in their home, and just shrug in cheerful resignation while they gaze lovingly at this fiend --- aka the beloved family dog.

It was inevitable to me that the story could only end in one of two ways before he managed to kill them all (accidentally, of course) - either he had to die or he had to start behaving.

Ridiculous.