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The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
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The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
7.2/10   1,088 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 7% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Nunnally Johnson
Writers:
Nunnally Johnson (screenplay)
Sloan Wilson (novel)
Contact:
View company contact information for The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
8 May 1956 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama | War more
Tagline:
The year's most dramatic book...the year's most distinguished picture! more
Plot:
An ex-soldier faces ethical questions as he tries to earn enough to support his wife and children well. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
1 win & 2 nominations more
User Comments:
a great movie in need of better editing more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Gregory Peck ... Tom Rath
Jennifer Jones ... Betsy Rath

Fredric March ... Ralph Hopkins
Marisa Pavan ... Maria Montagne

Lee J. Cobb ... Judge Bernstein
Ann Harding ... Helen Hopkins
Keenan Wynn ... Sgt. Caesar Gardella

Gene Lockhart ... Bill Hawthorne
Gigi Perreau ... Susan Hopkins
Portland Mason ... Janey Rath
Arthur O'Connell ... Gordon Walker
Henry Daniell ... Bill Ogden
Connie Gilchrist ... Mrs. Manter
Joseph Sweeney ... Edward M. Schultz
Sandy Descher ... Barbara Rath
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Additional Details

Runtime:
153 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
2.55 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)
Certification:
Netherlands:16 | USA:Approved (certificate #17865) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Finland:K-16
Filming Locations:
Westport, Connecticut, USA

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Average Shot Length (ASL) = 16 seconds more
Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: As Betsy is driving Tom home from the train at the beginning of the film, the car doesn't correctly respond to how she moves the steering wheel. more
Quotes:
Judge Bernstein: [referring to a man who is trying to cheat Tom Rath out of his home] If you're going to be slick, be slick in the city. They're not as smart there. more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in "The Bob Newhart Show: The Gray Flannel Shrink (#3.6)" (1974) more
Soundtrack:
Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
24 out of 26 people found the following comment useful:-
a great movie in need of better editing, 11 April 2001
Author: Dtkoyzis from Ontario, Canada

I had trouble finding this film in the local video store but finally saw it on television. It's well worth watching. It's a wonderful commentary on the American suburban corporate culture emerging in the years following the second World War. Peck plays the stereotypical businessman living in Connecticut and taking the New Haven Railroad into New York City each day. He is faced with a number of seemingly mundane dilemmas, such as settling a deceased relative's estate, how to deal with a dissatisfied wife more ambitious than he, whether to switch jobs for better pay, and whether he should tell his new boss what he *needs* rather than *wants* to hear. Hanging over him are the ever-present memories of his wartime combat experience, which intrude on him occasionally – especially during those otherwise empty hours spent commuting on the train.

I disagree with the reviewer who found the film boring apart from the war scenes. One of the reasons why this film works so well is that it regularly jolts the viewer, nearly lulled into complacency by the apparent ordinariness of suburban life, with those sudden flashbacks of the horrors of war. The juxtaposition of these quite different scenes was quite deliberate and speaks volumes in itself. How is it possible for someone who has spent four years both killing and avoiding death to settle into a normal life of family and work? Obviously it's not easy.

Furthermore, death continues to haunt the family in various, almost light-hearted ways, particularly by way of the children who were born after the carnage had ended and for whom death is no more real than the gunfights in those television westerns to which they are so conspicuously addicted. A scene near the beginning has one of the girls suffering from chicken pox, a fairly minor malady, as everyone knows. But she tells her father she has "small pox" and her sister keeps teasing her with the morbid suggestion that she is going to die. The father tells her to stop, but she keeps it up. He knows what death is all about; his children do not.

The term "workaholic" had not yet been coined in 1956, but the contrast between the man who chooses a fuller, less driven life – including time for family – and the man married to his career could not have been more starkly portrayed. The viewers find themselves applauding the choice Peck eventually makes and pitying March for not having done so himself.

I am a great fan of the score's composer, Bernard Herrmann, whose music is uniquely capable of evoking a range of strong emotions in the listener. The music here is typically Herrmann, although it is not as central a "character" in this film as are his scores in, say, "Vertigo" and "Psycho." It is impossible to imagine the latter two films without the music, while this film seems less obviously dependent on its score.

Although I quite liked this film, it is overly long and could have been better edited. The several subplots needed to be better integrated into the whole. What, for example, was the purpose of the challenge to Peck's inheritance, other than to show the persistent salvific role Cobb played in his life? This subplot could easily have been cut and the film would have suffered nothing in terms of its overall impact. In fact, it might have been better for being more tightly constructed.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
What was the point? Catfishbunter
Notes on THE MAN IN THE GRAY FLANNEL SUIT JSlack3
Incredibly sensitive score by Herrmann lordhack_99
Betsy Rath a Hateful Woman? fiat0903
Movie's issues are still timely + relevant moviemaniac2002
Question about the ending inyczreflex
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