Absolutely Fantastic

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

After seeing Glenn Ford in "The Mating of Millie" I was looking forward to watching this movie. In the "MOM" Ford played a witty, confident man full of personality and humor. I thought I would see this type of character in "The Courtship of Eddie's Father." Unfortunately, however, I discovered, that instead of a fun romantic comedy I got a bland, forgettable drama. Ford plays Tom Corbett, a widower, and Ron Howard plays Eddie, his son. I was somewhat surprised at some of the "adult" lines they gave Ron Howard to say, which I thought were unnecessary and inappropriate. There were also some pretty dramatic scenes (e.g., Eddie screaming bloody murder after finding one of his goldfish had died, etc.) that I hadn't expected, which just didn't seem to fit too well in this movie. Ford's character was somewhat likable, but too detached and dull. He really didn't have much personality at all. I was expecting some humor, but there were hardly any funny parts and the whole story involving Norman Jones (Jerry Van Dyke-his employee at the radio station he and Corbett worked at) and Dolly Daily (a woman Corbett met in town who was working on her "self-esteem" so she could fulfill her aspiration of becoming a beauty queen) was boring and superfluous to the story. I found both Norman and Dolly to be wooden and vapid characters. If you want to see a clean, witty, funny romance I highly recommend "The Mating of Millie" over this disappointment.

Little Ronny Howard gives a remarkable performance in this film, which is so much better than the television series it spawned. Howard was only 9 when he made this film, and I can't say that I have ever seen as wonderful a performance by a child of that age in any film.Glen Ford is superb as the father, recovering (as is Eddie) from his wife's (mother's) death. In fact, this may be Ford's most ingratiating role. Shirley Jones is equally as wonderful as the woman next door. Dina Merrill is fine as the stuffy country-club-type Eddie's father almost marries, but right from the first few minutes of the film, we all know he'll end up marrying Shirley Jones. Jerry VanDyke -- the more talented of the two brothers -- has a different role here...as a sort of playboy; he does it well. Stella Stevens' role as a ditsy but bright unattached woman is a distraction from the main story, but quite entertaining...particularly her drum solo.There's humor, some drama, and lots of sentimentality, but this strikes me as a film that is not too far from the reality of how a child would feel when his mother dies.Excellent family film, well worth watching. Perhaps the best of its genre.

Very smooth, plushly produced nonsense about widower father dating different women, unaware that the divorcée next-door might just be the perfect gal for Pop and his precocious young son. Some surprisingly cynical bits amid the sentiment, despite a strange penchant for big events to happen off-screen. Vincente Minnelli's direction isn't as detailed or full-bodied as one might hope (and the picture doesn't flourish as a result), but the lead performances by Glenn Ford, Shirley Jones and young Ronny Howard are first-rate. Stella Stevens is colorful in stop-and-start supporting role that is never allowed to really take-off. Later the basis for a rather melancholy TV series. *** from ****

I disagree that this movie is sexist at all. In fact, I believe that the character of Tom Corbett is quite different (in a good way) from the fathers of that time. I continue to find this movie extremely entertaining (while ertainly more "fluff" than depth) and nostalgic, due in most part to Ron Howard's superb and engaging performance. The parts where Eddie tells his dad at summer camp that he is in love, and the end of the movie, where Eddie is "practicing" with this dad on what to say to the neighbor to ask her out on a date, are absolutely priceless. Watching Ron Howard in this movie makes you realize why he was sought after as a child actor.