Never Too Late (1965)

Fifty-something Edith Lambert is thrilled to find out that she's going to have a baby. Her husband Harry, however, is less enthusiastic.

Director:

Bud Yorkin

Writers:

Sumner Arthur Long (play), Sumner Arthur Long (screenplay)

Stars:

Paul Ford, Connie Stevens, Maureen O'Sullivan

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview:
Paul Ford	...	Harry M. Lambert
Connie Stevens	...	Kate Clinton
Maureen O'Sullivan	...	Edith Lambert
Jim Hutton	...	Charlie Clinton
Jane Wyatt	...	Grace Kimbrough
Henry Jones	...	Dr. Kimbrough
Lloyd Nolan	...	Mayor Crane

Storyline

Middle-aged Harry lives comfortably with his wife Edith and his daughter and her husband. Though rather sour and a bit mean, he is in fact content. So when Edith finds she is pregnant again he is anything but overjoyed. Apart from the changes it will mean, he is now seen as some sort of older superman in town. Meanwhile his daughter sees child bearing as a way out of the extra housework she is having to do, the achievement of which starts to put pressure on her increasingly tired husband.

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Plot Keywords:

father in law son in law relationship | mother in law son in law relationship | father daughter relationship | mother daughter relationship | drunken singing | 

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Taglines:

Broadway's bouncingest bundle of joy... on the screen.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 November 1965 (USA)

Also Known As:

Das Baby und der Haustyrann

Filming Locations:

Concord, Massachusetts, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Tandem Productions

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Hoping to attract bigger box-names, the studio originally tried to sign Spencer Tracy and Rosalind Russell for roles eventually played by Paul Ford and Maureen O'Sullivan, the stars of the Broadway play.

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Goofs

Late in the movie, a phonograph on a table at the foot of the stairs alternates between being crooked on the table, and being aligned with the table edge.

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Quotes

Charlie Clinton: A lot of people hate you. What's that got to do with it? Look, if the city needs lumber, it might as well be ours.
Harry M. Lambert: Just what do you mean by a lot of people hate me?

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Connections

Referenced in What's My Line?: Maureen O'Sullivan is the Mystery Guest; (first show since unexpected death of panelist Dorothy Kilgallen) (1965)

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Soundtracks

Spirit of Independence
(uncredited)
Music by Abe Holzmann
Played when Harry and Charlie are marching around the living room

User Reviews

The people of the 60's were still living in the 50's in most parts of America...

... as this film clearly demonstrates. This is a cute little film about a 50 year old woman (Maureen O'Sullivan) and her 60 year old husband (Paul Ford) who find out they are going to be parents a second time. Their first and only child is a 25 year old married daughter (Connie Stevens) who, along with her 27-year old husband, lives with her parents in their large home. Her husband works for her father in his lumber supply business. This was produced by the team of Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin, and you can't help but feel they were warming up for "All in the Family" with this one, there are so many similarities. The middle-aged wife is named Edith, and prior to the pregnancy being discovered, she is running around the home at a manic pace doing housework. The son-in-law is constantly being kicked around and disrespected by his father-in-law, and the daughter is constantly bursting into tears and becoming hysterical. All that's missing is the social commentary of All in the Family.

Maureen O'Sullivan's character feels a new-found pride and femininity in her condition. Ford's character, however, is embarrassed beyond belief. After all, it proves at their advanced age they're still having sex! What's worse, they live in a small New England town where everyone knows them and stops and stares at them on the street. The grown daughter is unhappy because at the tender age of 25 she has to grow up. Mom is too old to be keeping such a large house in her condition and now it is the daughter's turn to do the cooking, the cleaning, etc. No more sleeping late, handing her dirty laundry to mom, and heading off for an afternoon of tennis. Her solution - if she gets pregnant too, her cheapskate father will have to spring for a paid housekeeper.

Sure, many of the values demonstrated here are quite dated and even sexist, but it's a cute romp with lots of humor, and who would ever have thought that the 60's could be looked back upon with nostalgia as a simpler time. Well, in this film they can be.