Mixed Company (1974) User Reviews (9)

"Yours, Mine, and Everyones?"

[martylee13045burlsink342 · 7/10 · 17 February 2009]

The writer of "Yours, Mine, and Hours" came back to the well with this vaguely similar plot line....but to dismiss this charming, genuine, and very heartfelt little sleeper as a mere retread is to risk missing some big laughs, some great performances, and many deftly wrung tears.

Story of a coach's wife who finds herself drawn to the hobby of collecting "unwanted" kids could have come across as sentimental drivel. This low budget gem instead draws upon the grit of 1974 and brings it's characters to full life with a raw intensity that is all but unheard of today....

The sublime Rush and Bologna may come off a bit broad at first...and the no frills cinematography may give the early scenes a TV sitcom vibe...but stick around until the three orphans begin working their magic on their prospective parents...(and your own heartstrings).

These are damage, scarred kids...and their baggage is displayed in unflinching detail which looks quite shocking now (almost as surprising as the film's flashes of nudity...try and see an uncut print if you can find one).

To my view this film deserves to be a family favorite even more than the original "Yours Mine and ours" ...and I would also it deserved to be remade...if I thought there was a small chance Of modern Hollywood recapturing it's honesty and heart!

Definitely not PG

[jwjwjwjw1 · 5/10 · 19 March 2005]

This is a cute film about families and how members change. The short skirts on Mom really brought back memories. It looked so strange to see short shorts on the basketball players.

One word of warning: the language is horrific. I guess that is to be expected since we saw it on a premium channel, but it seemed to be over the top, especially for a film made 30 years ago.

We especially enjoyed the relationships between the coach and "star" basketball player; the "Indian" boy and the Vietnamese/American girl; the original family and the new family; and the husband and wife before and after the family size increased.

It was also nice to see stars we had forgotten about; 1974 is the date given and it has given us the desire to see "where are they now."

All I could remember about this movie was that Joe Bologna was the Father

[richard.fuller1 · 12 May 2002]

A couple with three children, two girls and a boy, adopt or foster three other children; a Black teen (Haywood Nelson), a Viet Namese girl and a Native American boy. With Joe Bologna and Barbara Harris as those parents, you can guarantee that any conflicts will be met and dealt with. I caught about half of this movie when I saw it and was overwhelmed by the way the subject matter was handled so humorously.

Stephen Honanie as Joe, the Native American child, who was one of the youngest children, was without a doubt the funniest, as on Halloween he wore a feather in a headband, mocassins and buckskin breeches and carried a tomahawk and exclaimed over and over "I'm an Indian, I'm an Indian, I'm an Indian!" It would be years before I would realize the joke here; as far as he could tell, it was the costume that made him the Indian, not his heritage. Ariane Heller as the white child of the couple, their youngest, would also show a child's innocence in what she perceived around her.

Lisa Gerritsen, best known as Cloris Leachman's daughter on Mary Tyler Moore, was the oldest child and on that same holiday, her date removed his Frankenstein mask to reveal what her parents didn't know, nor did Haywood Nelson; that he too was Black.

The final conflict came down between Bologna, a basketball coach, and Nelson, and how each of them would show they care, in the end by cheering on their team at the basketball game. I would love to see this movie again and get a better clue of how the racial lines were crossed. From what I can recall it did an excellent job. This came on the heels of the cancellation of The Brady Bunch and later on there would be Mulligan's Stew with Elinore Donahue. This one got lost in all the shows. It is truly an outstanding viewpoint of the extended family.

Blustery basketball coach and ditsy wife adopt children from many different races. Hilarity ensues.

[mhedrick7470 · 3/10 · 12 October 2006]

This move was entertaining solely for its camp value and rampant political incorrectness. The writing is lazy, sloppy and predictable. As with many movies featuring large casts, the supporting players are reduced to a few quirks which pass for character development. My favorite part of the movie is the way that each and every character (including the kids) say "goddamnit" several times each. Having said all that, Joseph Baloney is always good at playing a blustery character, and Barbara Harris' character is so loony, I would have killed her within the first ten minutes of the movie. The script reads more like a terrible 1970's sitcom than a feature film, with its attempts at "relevance", including a prospective black suitor for the oldest daughter, played with gusto by veteran TV actress Lisa Gerritsen (Mary Tyler Moore Show, Phyllis, My World and Welcome to It). A colossal misunderstanding in the vein of "Three's Company" shows the movies true colors. If you are looking for some so-bad-it's-good 1970's crap, you can't go too far wrong in watching this. We saw it on the FLIX cable channel. Goddamnit!

Funny spin on bigotry

[badjuju_00 · 8/10 · 27 March 2005]

Funny movie based on the life of a coach who adopts children of different backgrounds. At first, they adopt Freddie - a black kid, but Freddie gets so much perks for being a minority that they decide to adopt one more minority to teach him the world is not all about him. Enter Kwan - a Vietnamese girl with trauma caused by war and her pal - a native American boy. With 6 kids, a bigoted neighbor, a basketball coach with a less than stellar team - the mom's challenge is keeping the peace and making the children happy.

People have to think about when this movie was made and how they used humor to take a jab at bigotry.

Great job - Excellent cast!

Good Movie

[piggybank90002 · 5 August 2002]

Mixed Company is a good film which looks at the topic of adopting children.

It features a fine cast, including Joe Bologna and Barbar Harris.

It also raised a little controversy when it came out due to a scene where Joe Bologna spanks a young black boy, Haywood Nelson, on his bare bottom.

Not available on video to my knowledge.

Favorite Scene

[blocherd · 10/10 · 25 March 2003]

I saw this movie twice, first time in the theater. The movie was well written and very interesting indeed. The character I liked best was the couples' youngest and biological daughter, Mary (played by Ariane Heller). She was so cute and mischeivous, and had very beautiful brown eyes! I loved the scene where she was in the bathroom showing her adopted Black Brother, Freddy, that she was all white by removing her bath robe standing there wearing only in her under pants. This scene was so cute!

I wish this film had a sequel, and hope that it will be released on DVD soon!

A very unusual movie--not for the faint of heart, but worth seeing

[bule1 · 8/10 · 21 July 2020]

This movie is above all an unflinching time-capsule that takes you back to the 1970s. It was interesting to me because in the 70s, I was a very young child, and was only dimly aware of many cultural issues of the time. "Racial" or ethnic issues were of course very prominent at that time, but society was at a very different stage in terms of dealing with them and reconciling various groups. Then there is the issue of gender roles and so on. In the 1970s people were trying to deal with these issues, but in a way that, to our 21st-century eyes, seems very ham-handed, if well-intentioned.

Some of the actors do relatively well, others don't; meanwhile, the writing and direction are very odd at times. In one scene, after his Black foster son gets in trouble with the law, Joe Bologna's character gives a monologue in which he recalls his own childhood as a White "juvenile delinquent" in a tough neighborhood. While somewhat naive in that it ignores ethnic issues, his monologue at least recognizes the commonalities between the experiences of a poor White boy and his Black foster son. This leads him to develop a degree of empathy with the boy.

On the other hand, Tom Bosley puts in a brief appearance as the cartoonish "racist neighbor" who seems to react with delight when Bologna's character gives the boy a spanking for misbehaving in the bath. Scenes like this--a White man spanking a Black boy whom he has only recently met--were played for laughs at the time, but would seem shocking to most people today. I think that one has to view this movie in the context of its time, and consider the intentions of the director and actors--even if the execution was sometimes hamfisted.

Another thing about the movie that could be shocking to modern audiences is the children's "vocabulary," let's say--sprinkled liberally with swear words and ethnic slurs. In a strange way, the sheer political incorrectness of this movie can be refreshing, even as it shocks us at the same time. It's definitely not a "great" movie, but it's interesting in its own way, though not for the faint of heart.

Horrible on so many levels

[Ripshin · 30 January 2011]

Seriously, this film is cringe-worthy from the outset. Granted, it is the product of its time, but for whom was it intended? With tons of profanity, a constantly yelling father, naked locker room shots of Phoenix Suns players (rear only) and a tendency to have young children in various stages of undress...it's certainly not a family film in the traditional sense.

I did enjoy the director's somewhat similar earlier effort, "Yours, Mine and Ours," although it also has some surprising content for a family film, as well (the kids getting their father's date plastered with liquor, and the Lucy character losing an undergarment in a crowded bar). However, that film is relatively tame compared to "Mixed Company," where you have kids saying "goddammit" every other scene. Within the first six minutes alone, you have about twenty examples of adult language, and the statement that abortion has "fortunately" cut down on the number of unwanted children. I am not surprised that my parents didn't allow me to see this one, when I was a kid in the 70s.

Politics and such aside, the film has a badly written script, and incredibly annoying performances - adults and children alike. I do like Lisa Gerritsen (Bess from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show") in her role, however. The youngest "original family" child is a brat - unbearable, and far from cute.

A particularly annoying scene is that of the orphanage picnic in a city park - the location of which which is ridiculously convenient, merely for the sake of a plot development.(Seriously, the mother just HAPPENS to stop their car there while arguing about adoption with the father, after she picks him up at the airport??) During this scene (where two new orphans are introduced), a HELICOPTER with a black Santa lands in the middle of a field - the whole point of which is to set up the Vietnamese-kid-afraid-of-helicopters scenario (saw THAT coming). What kind of idiots would have Santa arrive in a HELICOPTER...kids running up to him as he emerges....helicopter blades...dumb.

I almost stopped watching an hour into it, with the closet/crying scene - creepy. Then I held on till the next basketball scene - and even more kid-cursing. Then the Halloween scene - continued kid-cursing. Pot- smoking boyfriend. Extended kid-cursing. More parent-cursing.

At this point, I've heard more "goddamns" than anything since the 80s "Scarface."

All in all, a truly bizarre film.