The comparisons between The Best Years Of Our Lives and I Want You are constantly being drawn. Both are from Samuel Goldwyn and have the same look about them. I don't recall the name of the town where the Greer family and their fellow citizens are from, but it sure does have the same look and feel of Boone City, Iowa.
The Greer family which consists of Robert Keith and Mildred Dunnock and their sons Dana Andrews and Farley Granger has already given one son up for the USA during World War II. A late brother of their's is referred to. Dana also served in the second World War and now just wants to raise his family with wife Dorothy McGuire. The second son Farley Granger is your average kid looking to have a good time and is somewhat irresponsible and a concern to the rest of the family. Granger's seeing Peggy Dow much to the consternation of her father Ray Collins whom as it were just happens to sit on the local draft board.
So when the Korean conflict begins and Granger gets his greetings letter from President Truman this sets off a chain of events for the rest of the film. Granger is reluctant to go and the whole film is centered around everyone else's reaction to him.
I Want You had a lot of potential and never quite realizes it despite some very sincere performances uniformly by a very good cast. Our attitudes were a whole lot different in this war than they would be in Vietnam. I can't imagine this film being made in 1971.
In fact the days of the Selective Service are behind us. If the draft was ever re-instituted in this country, today's generation would understand far better what is going on.
I also think that the ending is so unbelievable that it almost rates being in the Twilight Zone. Let's just say that sacrifice and patriotism do have their limits.
Two very good performances are given by Walter Baldwin and Martin Milner who play a father and son who work for the Greer family. Milner is drafted and becomes an early fatality in the Korean War. Baldwin's scene in the local bar after this happens might be his best moment ever on screen.
I Want You is an earnest, but sadly dated film. It is also a good look at American attitudes in the middle of the last century.
The Greer family which consists of Robert Keith and Mildred Dunnock and their sons Dana Andrews and Farley Granger has already given one son up for the USA during World War II. A late brother of their's is referred to. Dana also served in the second World War and now just wants to raise his family with wife Dorothy McGuire. The second son Farley Granger is your average kid looking to have a good time and is somewhat irresponsible and a concern to the rest of the family. Granger's seeing Peggy Dow much to the consternation of her father Ray Collins whom as it were just happens to sit on the local draft board.
So when the Korean conflict begins and Granger gets his greetings letter from President Truman this sets off a chain of events for the rest of the film. Granger is reluctant to go and the whole film is centered around everyone else's reaction to him.
I Want You had a lot of potential and never quite realizes it despite some very sincere performances uniformly by a very good cast. Our attitudes were a whole lot different in this war than they would be in Vietnam. I can't imagine this film being made in 1971.
In fact the days of the Selective Service are behind us. If the draft was ever re-instituted in this country, today's generation would understand far better what is going on.
I also think that the ending is so unbelievable that it almost rates being in the Twilight Zone. Let's just say that sacrifice and patriotism do have their limits.
Two very good performances are given by Walter Baldwin and Martin Milner who play a father and son who work for the Greer family. Milner is drafted and becomes an early fatality in the Korean War. Baldwin's scene in the local bar after this happens might be his best moment ever on screen.
I Want You is an earnest, but sadly dated film. It is also a good look at American attitudes in the middle of the last century.