Too much of everything

Great Film overall

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

These wonderful users reviewers are in telling contrast to those of the contemporary reviewers from the established "papers of record" by the poo-bahs: Crowther, Kael, etc. The users see the realism in scenes, diction, and especially the social and emotional restrictions of lower middle class life. Not to mention the sympathy for the real heroes who struggled through working class limitations in the American 50s. No, all the poo-bahs could see was lack of "character development." Crowther is especially asinine, deciding for himself that David, for ex., disliked "coming down in the world." Or that Borgnine, after Marty, was detached from his role.

"The Catered Affair" (1956) Is Wonderful....Acting, Writing, Direction...Wall-To-Wall Quality Thru and Thru!Bette Davis stated this movie was the best she ever did, and her favorite. I can see why.I'm a collateral relative of Bette's (also of 8 other famous movie actors, FYI), and have studied her career.She did this movie before the strange horror movies she did in the 1960's (e.g "What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?" etc.), way before she acted in "The Whales Of August" (1967) old ladies waiting to die movie with Lillian Gish, who was over 90 in 1987.But in 1956, Bette Davis wasn't yet doing freak, or unusually old age character movies. She was still normal. Depicted as married to Ernest Borgnine (a fellow Best Actor Academy Award winner), depicted as then young Debbie Reynolds' mother....letting Debbie know at the start of the movie that marriage is no joy ride (how true, how true....I was married 3 times.....well, the first week all 3 times as a joy ride, but after that...? Damn!)Bette Davis, Debbie Reynolds, Ernest Borgnine, Barry Fitzgerald, Rod Taylor, screenplay by Gore Vidal based on a Paddy Chaevsky play.....all presented only one year after Chaevsky's and Borgnine's triumph with "Marty" (1955) starring Ernest Borgnine, who won the Best Actor Academy Award for that movie.Both Gore Vidal and Ernest Borgnine passed away recently in 2012, almost 60 years after the 1956 "Catered Affair" movie was released.Wonderful Bette Davis is long gone by now, then young, sweet Debby Reynolds is now past age 80.......These incredible people were part of s simple black and white movie about working class Irish-Americans in NYC in the early 1950's worth seeing and worth thinking about.Movies like this one, based on stage plays, show off good acting and thoughtful ideas.....gimmicky visuals and other eye candy are not the main thing......the actors and the writing, and the ideas of the gifted authors (Chaevsky and Vidal here) carry the whole thing, with the help of understated but still highly skilled direction (Richard Brooks directed this movie, and did a great job).My breath is taken away.SEE this old movie, Americans and others living in 2012 and beyond.It sets a standard almost never achieved in the present era. It was done, created in a Golden Age now past by people mostly angels by now, or soon to be.----------------------------- Written by Tex Allen, SAG-AFTRA movie actor. Visit WWW.IMDb.Me/TexAllen for movie credits, biography, and recent (2012) photos of Tex Allen. Email Tex Allen at [email protected] other Tex Allen written movie reviews....almost 100 titles.... at: http://imdb.com/user/ur15279309/comments (paste this address into your URL Browser)

I didn't have great expectations for this film. After all, the real star of the movie was Ernest Borgnine, with a nearly 50-year-old Bette Davis as his wife. Debbie Reynolds is the daughter. Barry Fitzgerald, in my view an actor who became a caricature of himself, played Davis' brother. Three of the cast members I generally don't care for, and the fourth -- Bette Davis -- well, I thought she was brilliant in the 1930s and 1940s, but it wasn't often after that, that I found her very impressive.Surprise! This is a great film, and each of the four main actors is excellent. This role is just right for Borgnine -- a cab driver struggling to make ends meet as a cab driver, and struggling to survive in a mundane marriage. This was just a year after his success in "Marty", and this is one of the films that will remind you of just how good an actor he could be.Davis is frumpy looking here...right on character...and it wasn't all makeup. She was a bit fat here, sloppy looking...perfect for this character. She portrays a woman in a marriage whose life has passed her by, and she becomes obsessed with throwing her daughter a wedding party that she and her husband can't afford.Reynolds is very good as the daughter about to be married, who is torn between the wants and needs of everyone else in her extended family. And Barry Fitzgerald's character is difficult to sympathize with in the early parts of the movie, but shows a very different and sympathetic character later in the film. One of his better roles.The theme of this film is that everyone can have a drab life, or everyone can see the opportunities for a more fulfilling life. The question is -- will each person take the opportunities that are there?

Why is this terrific movie so little known? It's a simply fabulous production on every level. What seems like a relatively mundane theme - the financial stresses that a marriage places on a lower class urban family - is turned by the masterful Paddy Chayevsky into an absolutely gripping domestic drama, and is a reminder to us of his rank as among the greatest of Hollywood screenwriters. The cast is superb. It's wonderful to see the indomitable Betty Davis shine in a role completely different from the patrician parts she usually played. The underrated Ernest Borgnine as great as the put-upon father, as is Debbie Reynolds as the bride-to-be. The legendary Barry Fitzgerald provides comic relief as Uncle Jack. Director Richard Brooks doesn't drop a beat and keeps the dramatic tension moving. By all means do not miss this fantastic flick!