Harper Valley P.T.A.

Good sitcom-ish movie that makes for a pleasant few hours entertainment. A cast of old-style character actor pros make the rather silly plot worth watching. The revenge set-pieces are the highlights, but the action ending doesn't ruin the fun. Any movie that focuses on good guys squelching the snobs is worth getting, and Barbara Eden is always watchable.

Someone had the right idea of visualizing Jeannie C. Riley's fantastic country-western song "Harper Valley P.T.A." with a low-budget and a low brow. A big glossy look and lots of celebrities in the cast would've sapped the raucous spirit of this piece. As party-girl Mrs. Johnson, Barbara Eden is perfectly cast, as are Susan Swift as her somewhat embarrassed daughter and Nanette Fabray as her gal-pal. The picture moves along swimmingly until a chase-climax pops the balloon (it's too routine and badly extended). Still, the details here are just right and the writing is pretty solid--and creating a screenplay from one song can't be easy. **1/2 from ****

I don't really like to respond to specific reviews, but there's just no other way to rebut. Harper Valley PTA was not a made-for-TV movie, it had a theatrical showing, albeit not a particularly successful one. It also was very true to the events as portrayed in the song. The first 20 minutes of the movie, in fact, recreate the lyrics almost exactly, at times verbatim. The episodes of revenge and counter-revenge which follow are a logical progression from that story.

I don't think Harper Valley PTA will ever be considered even a good film, much less a great one. It is fun to watch, though, especially during the middle section. I've never seen a movie that starred Barbara Eden that wasn't at least watchable. Her screen persona is so natural and likable that it doesn't really matter what vehicle she's in.

Again this was one of those movies I added to my Netflix queue just to see if it was as good as I remembered. It was well worth watching again.

It's another small town movie, actually filmed in Lebanon Ohio according to the end credits.

A great send up of small town politics and social cliques that try to be something more than they really are. Yes, It's based on the song and one of the few C&W hits I will listen to.

I noticed in the movie that Barbara Eden appeared to have aged and did some research. She was 44 when the movie came out. Too bad all 44 year old women don't hold up that well. I found myself wondering more than once how she got in those tight pants though. :-) The movie appeals to the lecher in every man because of her looks but in reality she was just trying to be a good single mother and had the right to enjoy herself as well. The innocent romantic scenes with Will will please most women.

The high school scenes were realistic and as I remembered them from my high school years. Typical stuff, popular athlete won't hardly speak to anyone except the cheerleader type.

I like older movies like this because they were funny and didn't rely on a lot of vulgar language and car crashes to grab your attention. Just good wholesome humor with enough adult themes to keep you from being bored.

The hay truck dumping barn waste in the board members car and the credit of "Manure supplied by Seattle Slew" were about as adult as it got. That and the ubiquitous high school sex education film clips. (Did everybody have to sit through those in high school?) Probably not a movie you should let your five year old watch and most teenagers would think it was lame.

Well worth another look just to see how Hollywood has forgotten how to make a lightweight comedy.

This was a surprise. I really wasn't expecting something quite so unhinged and full of gags. I guess I thought I was going into something more conversational, more plot driven. This had some conversation, but it was more about the gags.

A lot of revenge plot. Done for laughs.

Not bad, but not my thing generally.

The most shocking part of this film is the closing credits, which lists where the manure from one of the gags came from. I am stunned! They use real manure!! I feel so bad for the actress or tunable who had to have manure dumped on them!! This movie lost to half star because of that.

A plus for the movie though is that in the opening credits, JJ is listed as one of the actors, which is my Joan's nickname and initials. And right after that, Joan is listed as one of the producers. Once I saw that, I knew there had to be an Alice in the movie somewhere. And sure enough, The main characters best friend in this film is named Alice! Where there is Joan, there is Alice! I love that!

I watched this movie because I was on an old sitcom kick, which is sort of a lifelong thing. Sitcom from the 1950s and 1960s - somewhat of the 70s, they mean more to me than all TV shows. So I was really getting into "The Dick Van Dyke Show and "Bewitched". Still am. And we all know Barbara Eden, the star of this film, was also the star of the "Bewitched@ rival show, "I Dream of Jeannie". So, if you're a classic TV show fan like I am, and you especially favor it comes from the 1950s through the 1970s, you will find this of interest. It was also adapted into a sitcom of its own.

Not my thing, but not bad. The opening credit song is the best part of it though. It's amazing that a movie can be made just from a song, and for that, it is definitely worth seeing.