BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

MartinHafer With two top actors, Gary Cooper and Ann Sheridan, and one of the best directors of his day, Leo McCarey, you have the formula for a great film. Unfortunately, "Good Sam" is NOT a great movie...nor is it even a good one. In fact, it's one of the biggest wastes of talent due to a painfully bad script with a painfully unfunny premise. In fact, I found it painful to sit and watch this film.Gary Cooper plays Sam (Good Sam--Good Samaritan...get it?!). Sam is just too nice to be true and makes Ned Flanders (from "The Simpsons") seem like Hitler by comparison! This is because Sam is so generous, so nice and so trusting that everyone in town takes advantage of him. However, in the process, his own family keeps getting the short end of things and his ultra-patient wife eventually has enough. And, after seeing Cooper play such a simpering guy, your probably have had enough by then as well! The bottom line is that NO ONE is that nice as well as that thoughtless when it comes to their family. The story just comes off as contrived and ridiculous.Incidentally, this movie was a big box office loser when it debuted, so it's not just my opinion that it's a bad film--America and film critics at the time also thought it was pretty bad!

vincentlynch-moonoi The plot sounds pretty good -- an altruistic man who seems to be drowning in his own generosity. But something smells here...and in my view, it's the script's dialog and the director's pacing. And that's a little surprising, since the director is Leo McCarey, who usually directed some snappy comedies. Oh well, on this Capra-esque story, he just didn't meet the standard.Gary Cooper and Ann Sheridan seem uncomfortable in some of the scenes here, and Sheridan later admitted that the two of them had no chemistry. Cooper was good for this role, but seems to over do it in some scenes. Ann Sheridan is her usual snappy self, but seems uncomfortable.It doesn't help that the print shown on TCM is quite poor...particularly a fuzzy sound track. Production values here were so low that it looks like an early-1950s telepic.Bosley Crowther, upon the film's release said it was a satire of Capra-type films...as did one of our reviewers. But if it was, the ticket buying public didn't get it either...they stayed away in droves. So, if it was sincere, it was a flop. If it was a satire, it was a flop.This movie just plain stinks! One of those rare films that I watched all the way through, just to find out how bad a movie can be. And I say that as a viewer who usually enjoys both Cooper and Sheridan.This film doesn't belong on anyone's DVD shelf,

edwagreen This film was a box office flop when it debuted in 1948 and part of the reason was that the chemistry between Ann Sheridan and Gary Cooper was just not there.This picture was the typical holiday feel good movie in the attempt of "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town," (1936) or "Miracle on 34th Street." (1947). The theme of the film is the basic good qualities of people and how you have to take a chance on them. Of course, the Gary Cooper character goes overboard as the do-good person; he sacrifices almost everything for good quality people at the expense of his own family.Ann Sheridan is impressive here going between her laughter at her do-good husband and anger when things don't go their way. The end of the film reminded me somewhat of the classic- "It's A Wonderful Life," (1946) where everyone rallies around our protagonist at a time when things couldn't appear to be bleaker. This film is basically the fulfillment of the American dream by doing good to your neighbor. It fails to reach its height because after a while you get tired of Cooper's constant good deeds and his drunken scene near the end gives us a necessary break from all this and shows the human frailty.

Varlaam Leslie Halliwell didn't like this film either. He called it Capraesque, and it seems quite obvious that that is the effect the filmmakers were going for.Frank Capra certainly had a special touch. It wasn't always infallible, mind you, but he could do wonders with some pretty soppy material. Maybe it's good to have an example of what happens when you go Capraesque without Capra.Gary Cooper is a Good Samaritan so generous that he consistently gets himself into dire straits. The idea isn't bad, but the execution... Cooper's character goes way past selflessness and on into suckerdom. (Suckerhood?) He's so virtuous, he's neither believable nor sympathetic. I've seen this film twice in the past couple of decades, and both times the impulse to reach out and throttle him was difficult to suppress. He's infuriating to watch. An actual person like this would be a menace to his family and friends. He simply begs to be walked all over.Ann Sheridan is Coop's wife. What a waste. The following year, 1949, she was paid back in spades for her generosity in suffering through this one by co-starring in the uproarious "I Was a Male War Bride" with Cary Grant. Capra fans will recognize Todd Karns immediately. He played Harry Bailey, Jimmy Stewart's younger brother, in "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946). It's because of films like that one that you can find a word like "Capraesque" in the dictionary.