I Never Sang for My Father (1970)

Director:

Gilbert Cates

Writers:

Robert Anderson (play)
Robert Anderson (screenplay)

Release Date:

22 November 1971 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Hackman plays a New York professor who wants a change in his life, and plans to get married to his girlfriend and move to California...

Plot Keywords:

Professor | California | Anti Semitism | Doctor | Aging

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Melvyn Douglas	...	Tom Garrison
Gene Hackman	...	Gene Garrison
Dorothy Stickney	...	Margaret Garrison
Estelle Parsons	...	Alice
Elizabeth Hubbard	...	Dr. Margaret 'Peggy' Thayer
Lovelady Powell	...	Norma
Daniel Keyes	...	Dr. Mayberry
Conrad Bain	...	Rev. Sam Pell
Jon Richards	...	Marvin Scott
Nikki Counselman	...	Waitress
Carol Peterson	...	Nurse #1
Sloane Shelton	...	Nurse #2
James Karen	...	Mr. Tucker (old age home director)
Gene Williams	...	Dr. Jensen (state hospital director)

Also Known As:

Strangers (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:12 (video) | Sweden:Btl | USA:GP (original rating) | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Quotes:

Margaret Garrison: Look how he walks. Like a brigadier general. He may not always remember where he is going, but he always goes there with a firm step.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Will & Grace: I Never Cheered for My Father (#6.21)" (2004)

Soundtrack:

Strangers

Still Remembered Thirty-Five Years Later

This is one film that has stayed with me since I first saw it; in spring, 1971; in a time before I had to shave everyday. The movie theater in which I saw it has long-since been turned into a touring-company playhouse...and the name of my date has long-since slipped my mind. Not really...but my wife might read this.

A friend of mine who is a physician told me that no one ages gracefully. As much as I value his friendship and judgment, Melvyn Douglas must be held as an exception to that dictum. Though his role here is little different from that of Paul Newman's father in "Hud," he plays it magnificently. One can scarcely imagine him as a romantic leading man, although he was...and opposite Greta Garbo, at that. His scene with Gene Hackman at the funeral home is too real and too devastating to pass off as "schmaltz." Gene Hackman has never given a bad performance, and his role here, as the dutiful, though semi-distant son, is (arguably) one of his best. He realizes he must live his own life...though, being a widower himself, he knows on an adult level what his father--suddenly all-too-human and frail--is suffering. He must choose between fealty to the man who gave him life and the woman who now gives his life meaning and passion. The bedroom scene, in which he discusses his doubts with her, is very real. Not every middle-aged adult has faced such choices.

I saw this film when I was 17 and have not seen it since. But as I grow older its meaning and significance grows ever-increasingly important. We, all of us, want to gain the approval of our father. Yet, our passions, those things that give meaning to our life, might not be what our father values...and so we share them with others and not with the one whose approval, love, and affirmation we most desire and most need.

Is it schmaltzy, as some have said?....Is life?