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This is one of those early 1960's movies where you have to suspend disbelief for ninety minutes, but it's well worth it. Shirley Jones is the widowed mother of three rowdy little boys and Gig Young is the naval commander that she falls in love with and vice versa. Red Buttons and Carolyn Jones are very good in their supporting roles. The ending is appropriately wacky (weather balloons!), fun and heartwarming with a little drama thrown in for good measure. 'A Ticklish Affair' is not a movie that a jaded cynic will enjoy, but if you like 60's romantic family comedies then I highly recommend this one. I happened to catch this one on Turner Classic Movies by accident and I'm so happy I taped it. I was smiling like crazy by the end. Great movie.

"A Ticklish Affair" begins with Navy Commander Key Weedon (Gig Young) arriving at the Martin household. It seems the youngest, Grover, was sending Morse code distress signals from their house in San Diego! And, the US Navy noticed it and went on alert! This was the kooky meet cute in the film....and soon Amy Martin (Shirley Jones) and the Commander begin dating and fall in love. But there's a major hitch here. The widow lost a husband in the Navy AND if she marries the Commander, she'll have to move with her three small boys to Italy! This is too much for her...and you certainly can understand her rejecting the Commander's offer. And, it's a shame as the boys really love the guy and want their mother to marry him.

This first 3/4 of the film was great...and the dilemma was real and you could understand Amy. But what follows was just stupid....and it really made a great romance an okay one in the end. It seems that Grover 'accidentally' flies away on a cluster of giant balloons and soon the fire department, police AND Navy are all scrambling to save this dopey 6 year-old. Talk about contrived!!! It really, really was a bad decision...as before this ridiculous portion, the film was amazingly good....and Jones was simply radiant.

I wondered how this movie with Gig Young, Shirley Jones, Red Buttons, and Carolyn Jones could only rate 2 stars out of 4 on my TV's guide. Then I saw the last 20 minutes. The movie had the stars and the start of a decent premise and then was ruined by ridiculousness in the last 20 minutes. They must have thrown some serious money at the 4 stars to get them to buy into this one. I can't see that it's ever been released to home video, so that should be a key indicator. It's that disappointing.

Perky, pretty San Diego widow with shapely legs attracts the attention of a bachelor Commander with the US Navy. The fact she has three rowdy young boys doesn't seem to bother him; rather, he's anxious to become a father to this happy brood, while the kids work overtime trying to fix Mom up with the uniformed catch. Breezy comedy with familiar ingredients seems to take place in La-La Land--a plastic paradise--wherein an unmarried man cannot come to the aid of an unmarried woman without coy romance hanging in the air. Shirley Jones (perhaps substituting for Doris Day or Debbie Reynolds) is convincing as a young mother, but she seems a bit tense with Gig Young, who looks nonplussed throughout. Better are the alternate couple, a frisky Red Buttons and Carolyn Jones. The prolonged finale--with Shirley's youngest taking off over the city by way of some helium-filled balloons--is probably the most memorable aspect of the picture, not the characters nor the love story. ** from ****

The Navy led by Commander Key Weedon (Gig Young) rushes to investigate an SOS signal coming from land. They find Navy widower Amy Martin (Shirley Jones) with three kids. The youngest one had send the signal with his imaginary friend. There is also the family's Uncle Simon Shelley (Red Buttons).

There is no romantic chemistry in this rom-com. The meet-cute is only cute for Shirley Jones and her kids. I wouldn't mind having a family-friendly misadventure with those four characters plus Red Buttons if they could have better writing. Instead, we're stuck with a stiff officer and Shirley Jones demurring into a girlie girl. It loses any hope for intensity or romantic heat. This is bland. At least the balloon ride seems fun. My one suggest for that is getting brighter colored balloons. This is desperately trying to be a family-friendly romance. Obviously, this has a lot of Navy involvement. I hope it didn't extend into the writing but I fear that's probably the case.