chewning

I loved the Waltons as a kid -- it premiered on my seventh birthday. I was so disappointed by the reunion movies. Seeing Ralph Waite recently on Bones made me think about it. Why did they need to "jump the shark" and make a movie out of linear time? They did that the first time with the one about the Kennedy assassination. The original show was perfect -- these final movies (and unless they correct all the errors of the first three I hope they were the final ones) were just heartbreaking for anyone who loved The Waltons. In this movie Mama and Daddy are supposed to be celebrating their 40th anniversary. If that were so, then their first six children were born our of wedlock, and Mama, who is always portrayed as having been a beauty in her youth, withered unmarried on the vine until she was almost 30. We know that's not true -- why make it so fake in a movie based on something we who actually watched the series when it originally ran loved so much? So disappointing. But it's nice to hear John Boy's voice on Mercedes commercials these days.

For a 1932 film, this had a lot of good moments. I thought the scenes with Roberta as a baby were wonderful -- very good direction. But then, it's Frank Capra.

What I couldn't really follow was the point of the first five minutes of the movie. We know she's going on a vacation with her life savings, but why set her up as a small town librarian and then never make reference to that part of her life again in the movie? Seemed unnecessary and a little confusing. And who names their daughter Lulu? But the best part of the movie -- the best worst part -- is how old everybody gets after only about sixteen years. Stanwyck's character is probably only about 40 at the end of the movie, but 40 in 1932 is like 70, clearly, so they pile on the make-up and give her a grey wig. At least she's not wearing a shawl and walking with a cane. She actually carries off those scenes well, and she looks gorgeous. I really enjoyed it.