Free to Be... You and Me

I'm a sixteen year old who loves this movie. My parents bought it when i was little and i still am an avid watcher. Like someone said earlier, this is a good movie to watch when it's rainy out. My copy is still in great shape since i want it to last for my kids.

I have not seen this movie since preschool, but I've remembered it vividly for years! It was not only humorous, but full of lessons on being yourself. Let me just say that Marlo Thomas was years ahead of her time, but I'm glad she had the foresight to create this. As soon as I find a copy, it's mine!

Can I be the ONLY person to see this? Haven't we learned yet that there is no such thing as a "value-free" education? This product of the post hippy-flower-child 60's crap-a-thon (that I lived through) is a perfect example of that impossible goal. It is simply the replacement of one set of values and judgements with another.

Tradition, gender roles honored and functioning for thousands of years are now to be mocked and abandoned. We are not just to tolerate differences but to celebrate them, even the deviant and previously anti-social ones. "It's all cool!" we shouted. "You gotta do your own thang!" we cried. Until we found out that we were lonely, lost, and needed money. Then, suddenly we realized how wise previous generations were.

Please spare your child this vapid tripe of political correctness. They'll learn more and better values by watching old Frank Capra films or any of the old Warner Cartoons.

I'm finding it interesting that everyone keeps calling this a "movie". I guess that is because we just don't have variety shows, and "specials" on television like we used to.

This wasn't a movie. It was a television special, with numerous guest stars, which gave a wonderful message that we could all still use today. Girls don't HAVE to be stuck in a house, dependent on a husband, or they CAN be in a home, dependent on a husband, but enjoying that role. Boys don't HAVE to never cry, or always play with war toys.

There is a reason this special, aired one time in 1974, is still remembered so well today. I was 17 when it aired, and while a little old for it, it was still a good show.

Although I myself did not get to experience the seventies, being born too late, I still got a little taste through this movie. My parents showed it to me first on laser disc (how many of you remember that phase?) and I must have watched it dozens of times. It's really a fantastic film for children to watch to get the message that it's okay to be different, to not do what everyone else is doing. I always loved the "William Wants a Doll" vignette, and of course who could forget Marlo Thomas and Harry Belafonte singing "Parents are People"? I have a copy of this on DVD, because I fully intend for it to be a part of my children's lives. Really, it's very sad that there aren't as many children's movies like this anymore. Let's all have a moment of silence to commemorate the death of the seventies.