NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Holstra Boring, long, and too preachy.

Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

jacobs-greenwood Produced and directed by Gilbert Cates, and written by Robert Anderson, this above average drama features a Best Supporting Actor nominated performance by Gene Hackman and a Best Actor nominated performance by Melvyn Douglas. Given the fact that Hackman's character is in virtually every scene, and indeed may have gotten more screen time than Douglas, the studio's submission and, subsequently, the Academy's recognitions are curious categorically. Anderson's screenplay also received a nomination. Though the film's plot may have had a larger impact at the time, it still packs a punch as the story of a man trying to connect with his aging, difficult father, who had no role model for such in his own life.Gene Garrison (Hackman) is a teacher and a writer who's father Tom (Douglas, who made a habit of playing dysfunctional fathers towards the end of his long career) still treats him like a kid, instructing him in the most basic things including giving him directions from the airport to their house. Gene is also a widower, his wife having passed a year earlier, who's found a new life across the coast in California with a woman doctor his folks have yet to meet. His mother, Margaret (Dorothy Stickney), encourages Gene to marry her and move away from his bitter memories of their town, those of his departed wife and his cantankerous father. She tolerates her husband's increasingly selfish ways even though she herself is weakened by a heart condition. She also maintains the relationship with their daughter Alice (Estelle Parsons), whom her husband had thrown out after telling her not to marry the man she had chosen. So the Garrisons only see their two grandchildren a couple of times a year because Alice and her family live in Chicago.Even though Gene feels estranged from his father, he feels guilty leaving him. He was once a great man in the community, a successful businessman that was later Mayor and even headed the Board of Education. He's upset that his father is now forgotten in the town that he served for so many years, even though his own accomplishments are ignored and/or belittled by Tom when he's with him. After these humiliating experiences, he seeks refuge with Norma (Lovelady Powell), a woman who listens to his ranting after she welcomes him to her bed. Instead of feeling guilty for "cheating" on his fiancée, he's too focused on his anger towards his father, who was so detached from his own wife's final hours that he insisted on taking his son to a Rotary meeting while she lay in a hospital oxygen tent. Conrad Bain plays their Reverend. After his mother dies, Gene and their family doctor (Daniel Keyes) visit the depressing reality of a couple of old age facilities, one private (headed by James Karen) and one public (headed by Gene Williams). Plus, Alice returns and the aforementioned storyline is revealed, and played out again. His sister also tries to convince him to pursue his life with his new love Dr. Peggy Thayer (two time Daytime Emmy winner Elizabeth Hubbard), who comes to visit as well.So, Gene must decide whether to stay and care for his father in the house of his youth, or leave to start his anew. The film's most powerful moment occurs in Tom's bedroom as father and son finally connect and then revisit the painful truths of their unresolved relationship.

mark.waltz Tom Garrison (Melvyn Douglas) is a charming, if stubborn older man, determined to keep his dignity as he gets old. Of course, anybody can understand this, but there's more to Tom than meets the eye. He seems to spend more time badmouthing his own father (who abandoned him and his mother when he was a youth, turning up at her funeral only to be rebuked by his son) than really taking the time to get to know his children, loyal Gene Hackman and rebellious Estelle Parsons, never caring to know their own dreams and goals or sharing their passions. Yes, he's a very warm person, certainly not cold like "On Golden Pond's" Norman Thayer, but there's something controlling in his warmth. Parsons ran out on the family years before, disappointing her father by marrying a Jewish man, which left her and Hackman's mother (the lovely Dorothy Stickney) lonely for the companionship of their children.Hackman's Gene (yes, the same first name as the actor) has stood by his parents as they've aged but secretly both hates his father and desires the chance to really get to know him. When mom passes away suddenly (from a broken heart Douglas accuses Hackman of giving her when he announces his desire to marry and move to California), Parsons shows up and together they try to get their father to make plans. But the old man at first gently claims that he's capable of making it on his own (as long as Hackman is around to check on him once or twice a week), and this leads to a verbal fight between Douglas and Parsons because of her insistence that he get a live-in housekeeper. She's through with the feelings of guilt, having only been a recurring presence in the household since running off, while Hackman has stood by. The anger deep inside Hackman which he has held onto finally explodes after a scene insinuating a possible emotional closure, and as many old people find out, their children aren't as willing to kow-tow to their every whim as they think they are.Powerful, emotional family drama, nobody is the villain here and yet nobody (except maybe Stickney) is perfect. Douglas, the romantic leading man who kissed Garbo, Crawford, Colbert and many others, is now the Lionel Barrymore of his day, an irascible but lovable man who shoots himself in the foot by being unable to give his children the unconditional love they require. Of course, he's wounded from the memory of his own father and the premature death of his beloved mother, so the scars are real. While the story seems to surround Hackman, it is Mr. Douglas you will long remember, feel sorry for, even though you can tell that being in the same shoes as Hackman and Parsons (a nice reunion as siblings after playing husband and wife in "Bonnie and Clyde") would make you react the same way. There's not really a conclusion here, but a winding circle that continues to tick the clock of time, where each generation must learn from the mistakes of the previous generation of how not to be.The lovely Elizabeth Hubbard, then playing a doctor with many romantic issues on daytime's "The Doctors", is sweet and loving as Hackman's fiancée (even though he cheats on her with Lovelady Powell in an earlier scene), and a far cry from her lioness businesswoman/mama Lucinda Walsh on "As the World Turns". With sandy blonde hair, a gorgeous face and an unforgettable voice, Hubbard makes something really shine in the small part. Character performers like Conrad Bain, James Karen and Sloane Shelton pop up in small roles, all providing something special to this excellent ensemble piece.After sharing "Life With Father", Broadway vet Dorothy Stickney takes that character to a modern, aged level as Douglas's loyal wife, quietly lonely since the departure of her children. I would have loved to have one scene between Stickney and Parsons, but even in excellent theater, you can't have everything. Parsons isn't the screaming harpy of "Bonnie and Clyde" or the judgmental, nagging mother on TV's "Roseanne". She's a totally happy woman, content as long as she is away from her father. When she declares how much she misses her mother, the years of regret seem to erase itself from her mind as she remembers exactly why she departed in the first place. Hackman, bursting on the brink of becoming a leading man, almost is the leading man, snipped by just a hair by the presence of Douglas as his father whom he never sang for. This film has many reminders of why families usually fail in their attempts to remain together as old resentments continuously resurface, especially when never properly dealt which when the original circumstances occurred.

17268 The first time I saw "I Never Sang for My Father" was first-run in a theatre (one of the last movies I saw in a theatre). When the first frame and the offscreen voice of Gene Hackman came on screen, I started crying and cried throughout the movie: this was three generations of my family on screen. The identical scene and dialogue at the end of the movie was even more powerful. I can't help but think that many other fathers and sons will have a similar reaction. The same sensitivity that Robert Nathan showed in his magnificent screenplay for "The Nun's Story" is repeated here. His screenplay, as well as the performances of Melvyn Douglas and Gene Hackman, was nominated for an Oscar. All of them should have won--as should the movie itself. "Patton," the winner, was good--"Father"was great, a movie that has only gotten better with each repeated viewing. Everything about the movie--direction, production, writing, performances--is superb. The problem of caring for aging parents has, unfortunately, become even more prevalent in today's society. Anyone who is not tremendously moved by "I Never Sang for My Father" is advised stick to the dreck that constitutes most of today's fare. This is a movie that will always be relevant--I would give it more than ten stars!

Psalm 52 What an honest, thought-provoking surprise to view this film after learning it stars Gene Hackman whom I know of through the 70's/early-mid 80's "Superman" franchise. Aside from the knowing writing, and the nuanced performances (Hackman's mother and sister are excellent) the main factor that makes me enjoy this gem is that I strongly relate to the story's main issue: how do adult-children best care for elderly parents AND keep their lives intact? In my real-world version, my mother survived my father and is now, almost three years, living in a "home", but since summer 2000, I've wrestled with the question of how is she-to-be 'best-cared for' while I am in control of my own life. I recommend viewing this as a companion to "Where's Poppa?" which deals with the same topic (adult-children caring for elderly parents) but in a hilarious, upside-down, "Is this happening?" style (both films released in 1970).