A nepo baby movie in a way - based on a TV play Deal a Blow by Robert Dozier, son of William Dozier, and starring James MacArthur, son of Ben Hecht and Helen Hayes. When William Dozier became head of RKO he greenlit a film version and got the director of the TV version, John Frankenheimer, to do the job again. Frankenheimer later the experience - he was younger than the crew, who grumbled and fought with him,
It's still basically a TV play. A solid one. MacArthur is a middle class kid, his dad thinks he's done a decent job providing which he has but he hasn't spent any tme.
David Shipman the critic loved this. I'm not sure why - maybe it was personal. MacArthur has a close friendship with a fellow male teen.
I liked that the mum and dad had a relationship that was wobbly but feel this could've done with more scenes outside, in high school, with a girlfriend.
Interesting autobiographical touch in that the kid's dad is a film producer - I was reminded of the Rob Reiner film about his sin.
No comments:
Post a Comment