Father Was a Fullback

I am so due to watch this film since I really enjoyed it the last time I saw it, which was almost 10 tears ago. I wouldn't think a cornball movie like this, one a lot of people today would think is stupid, would be enjoyable....but it was.

Here's another classic movie in which I enjoyed the corny expressions of the day. Usually I hear those most notably in the early 1930s films but there is lot of it here, too, many of them coming from little Natalie Wood.

Betty Lynn, playing older sister "Connie" to young "Ellen" (Wood), also is good in her kooky role. Fred MacMurray and Maureen O'Hara play the parents, "George and Elizabeth Cooper." This really isn't a football story, despite the title. It's a screwball family-type comedy, many of which I never cared for me, but this has good charm and humor. MacMurray is his normal likable self, as when he played in the early Disney films such as "The Absent Minded Professor."

Since MacMurray plays a football coach, there is some gridiron storyline in here, and it's unique because of the different-kind of ending regarding his team.

This movie has a neat twist at the end of it, too. Not well-known, I suspect, this is a true "sleeper," a fun family movie another era long gone.

George Cooper(Fred MacMurray)is the losingest coach State U has ever known. A well meaning square fresh from Elm Tree High, his team has potential but is yet to win a game in this his first season, which will make or break him. Comic relief comes in the form of his family's maid who knows to always bet against his team, and two daughters: Natalie Wood as a scruffy tomboy spouting poetic slang in which I must say is her best role, and Betty Lynn(who in real life is actually only eight years younger than Maureen O'Hara)as an angst-ridden hormonal teen with no writers block nor lack of pubescent imagination when she secretly sends in a unique offing to "True Romance" magazine. Her true calling apparently does not help matters any, except when it turns out that Joe Burch, the ploy her parents use to bring her out of her shell, turns out to be a high school football hero all the colleges have been bartering for. He had been intending to go to the leading team school, but in the end decided State U, "to be near Connie...she's the first thing I liked more than a football...." Hurrah! The team now has an official starting star for next season, and George's coaching contract will be renewed. A Happy End.

"Father Was a Fullback" is loaded with talented actors of the mid-20th century. The story is a good look at the culture of the time from a few points. Teenagers began to be more heard and families seemed to be conflicted over the changing relationships that emerged in the years after the war (WW II). College football had a completely different look from the sideline benches, with the alumni, and in other ways.

This isn't about anything heavy or startling, and modern audiences may not find it that interesting. Even for someone who lived - that long ago, the plot of this film is just so-so. The best thing about it is the cast. Fred MacMurray and Maureen O'Hara, as George and Elizabeth Cooper, were stars who would continue in that lofty realm for at least two more decades. But this film also has some supporting players who would become household names in the years ahead. Among these are Thelma Ritter as Geraldine and Jim Backus as "Sully" (Professor Sullivan). And, this is just the 11th film of 11-year-old Natalie Wood. She would be one of the few child stars to become a major star as an adult before her mysterious ocean drowning in 1981 at age 43.

There may have been a clever thought behind the title, but it escapes one today. Cooper is a college football coach who's in dire need of a fullback. The film may seem very slow to many. But, for those interested in what life was like back then, it should provide mild entertainment.

Fred MacMurray is George Cooper--the coach of State's football team. They are having a horrible season and everyone seems to be second- guessing him...and he's worried that he'll soon be out of a job. In the midst of this, his teenage daughter, Connie (Betty Lynn*) is driving him crazy. The girl is unbelievably emotional and walks about in a Goth-like funk feeling sorry for herself. When George tries to help, he only makes things worse. The maid says he should just 'belt her one'! And, when you see how annoying (too annoying) she is, you kind of wish he'd take the maid's advice! Among the kooky antics involving the daughter are an attempt to create a fake boyfriend to pick up her spirits as well as Connie writing an article about teenage pregnancy...and her parents think she is pregnant. The antics, at times, seem straight from a second-rate sitcom--which is a shame as the rest of the film is much more enjoyable. The 'bubble dancer' portion involving Connie is kind of funny as is the aftermath.

Overall, the film is slight and enjoyable but occasionally the writing lets down the actors--with ridiculous situations and a character (Connie) who is much more of a caricature than a realistic person. Worth watching but don't rush to do so. Fred MacMurray, Natalie Wood and Maureen O'Hara have simply done better films.

*Betty Lynn is best known as Barney Fife's girlfriend, Thelma Lou, from "The Andy Griffith Show". Here, she is considerably younger and her part is incredibly poorly written. Poor Ms. Lynn!

Maltin's movie guide gives this TCF production two-and-half stars which means some staff member didn't wake up in time to turn on the TV. Because this is a sparkling little comedy with inventive lines, lively performances, and first-rate direction. (For example, note director John M. Stahl's clever touch with the love-seat cushion.) Of course, the family-- right out of Wholesome Living, 1940's Style-- is both dated and idealized.

Nonetheless,, the plot hasn't dated at all. Mac Murray's a harried football coach about to lose his job because of a losing season, at the same time his oldest daughter is trying to survive adolescence. The comedy grows out of his sputtering attempts to cope. Four outstanding screenwriters are credited with the chuckle-a-minute script which surprises me. I would think such a concentration as this would cancel out, but happily, it doesn't

Of course, Natalie Wood steals the show as the wise-cracking little sister. Was there ever a child actor more gifted and without annoying affect than she. (Her wrenching performance in The Green Promise {1949} remains an unsurpassed classic.) Wide-eyed Betty Lynn too is outstanding as the angst-ridden, dateless teenager. And, of course, there's the incomparable Thelma Ritter perfecting her stock-in-trade as a mordant housekeeper never stuck for a fractured comment. As good as Mac Murray, Sullivan, and the old pro's are, it's really this supporting cast that makes the movie scintillate.

I expect a programmer like this passed quickly onto the shelves, without appreciation of the minor gem that it is. I'm glad there's an internet opportunity for circulating the recognition these entertainment efforts deserve-- even though the Coopers' are now a long way from the typical American family. And shame on you, Leonard Maltin. Next time, set your alarm.