I Accuse My Parents

I'll be up front with you; I've never seen this movie in its original unadulterated form. I think if I had, I would found it a harmless (if slightly dull) melodramatic "message" film.

The truth is, I've only seen this movie as an MST3000 episode, and as such, it is one the funniest and most entertaining movies I've ever seen! Young Robert Lowell (the poet?) as Jimmy is endearingly dim-witted, and Mary Beth Hughes is charmingly wooden as his love interest. (I like her singing, by the way). But the clincher here is George Lloyd as Al, the kindly gravel-voiced father figure and church-going diner owner who tries to set our hero straight (good luck!). When Al's scenes come up, I rewind and watch over and over and over...

Of all the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Episodes I have seen, and I haven't seen that many, this movie is probably the least terrible of them all. Sure it is slow, boring, outdated, and without any redeeming quality, but at least it has a coherent plot and resembles a professional film. It isn't as bad as some other MST3k stinkers like "Manos: The Hands of Fate," "Mitchell," "Eegah," or "Santa Claus Conquers The Martians." However, if it weren't for Joel and the bots, I don't think I would have made it through the entire movie; which is true for all the MST3k movies.

I accuse my parents is a film that definitely has not stood the test of time. Blaming one's parents for your criminal ways is a very out-of-date idea, and the whole premise is silly. There are people out there who have grown up in abusive homes and managed to make things work out fine for themselves.

Don't watch this unless you're looking at the MST3K version. In the end credits they mention that this film was sent to our fighting forces in Europe. They probably used it as a torture device.

This film is one of those "message" films from the 1940s. Produced by PRC, one of the cheapest of the B pifcute studios, this film premise is that parents had better take more of an interest in their children's lives, otherwise your child might find himself involved in uderworld sumggling rings and commit murder.

The title of the picture is poor, for no matter how you view this film, the parents of the lead character have no more to do with his downfall then you or I.

This was one of those cheapie B films made to fill the lower half of a double bill.

Early in their career, songwriters Jay Livingston & Ray Evans wrote the laughable "Are You Happy in Your Work?" (Do you never, ever shirk?). I suppose this makes the movie notable to trivia buffs, but the film and song are not really worth the effort. Thankfully Jay & Ray went on to write much better songs ("Buttons and Bows", "Silver Bells", "Que Sera, Sera", "Mona Lisa", etc.) for much better films.