The Subject Was Roses

Name: The Subject Was Roses
Genre: Drama
Released: 1970-02-12
Duration: 1 h 47 min
Rating: 7
Cast: Patricia Neal, Jack Albertson, Martin Sheen

19681968
GG
1h 47m

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

1.7K

YOUR RATING

Drama

A young man returning home from World War II finds himself caught up in his parents' turbulent relationship.A young man returning home from World War II finds himself caught up in his parents' turbulent relationship.A young man returning home from World War II finds himself caught up in his parents' turbulent relationship.

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

1.7K

YOUR RATING

See production, box office & company info

See more at IMDbPro

Won 1 Oscar
- 2 wins & 3 nominations total

Photos51

Patricia Neal in The Subject Was Roses (1968)

Jack Albertson and Patricia Neal in The Subject Was Roses (1968)

Martin Sheen and Patricia Neal in The Subject Was Roses (1968)

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
This movie was the first film Patricia Neal made after suffering three massive and near-fatal strokes early in 1965. Neal was in a coma for two-and-a-half weeks and underwent emergency brain surgery. Paralyzed on her right side and unable to talk, she had to learn how to use her limbs again, how to speak again, and had to relearn the alphabet in order to spell the simplest of words. By early 1967, her recovery was so remarkable that it was difficult to tell that she'd suffered a stroke, although Neal admitted to still having memory problems. In April 1968, while shooting this film in an old warehouse on Manhattan's West 26th Street, Neal reflected on her ordeal to critic Rex Reed: "I hated life for a year and a half, then I started learning how to be a person again, and now I've loved life for a year and a half. And I love it a lot."

Goofs
1960s vehicles can be seen in the background when Nettie rides the bus out to the seashore.

Quotes
Nettie Cleary: I never doubted he'd do as well as anyone else.
John Cleary: Where he's concerned, you never doubted, period. If he came in right now and said he could fly, you'd help him out the window.

Connections
Featured in Pat Neal Is Back (1968)

Soundtracks
Albatross
Written by Judy Collins (uncredited)
Sung by Judy Collins

User reviews30

Review

Featured review

9/10

1968 Film Remains Relevant

This film version of Frank Gilroy's unforgettable play should be considered a classic. Patricia Neal, Jack Albertson & Martin Sheen deliver outstanding performances as the parents & young adult son in an Irish-American, lower middle class family living in the Bronx at the end of World War 2.

The story centers on the son, Timmy, who has just returned home from the Army after fighting in combat as an infantryman in Europe. He returns to a home in which the relationship of his parents is undergoing strain, due primarily to discreet but nevertheless damaging extra marital affairs occasionally indulged in by the father, who is a kind of loquacious, traveling salesman type who meets lots of people in his work. The mother is played as a suffering in silence housewife who, although she loves her husband, has been deeply hurt by his infidelities.

Timmy, now changed by the war & his experiences away from home must come to terms with things as they now are. He loves both of his parents deeply but comes to realize that in order to live his life fully he will have to leave his parent's house which is now no longer what it used to be for him. His parents, while dealing with their own problems, want Timmy to stay but on another level realize that he has to leave. You will have to watch to see how things are resolved.

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