Ce bon vieux Sam

This spoof was kind of tedious and one joke. I was cheering for something bad to happen to Sam and his freeloaders. Louise Beavers being in on the family dysfunction with Ann Sheridan was amusing. But Gary Cooper as Sam simply put his wife and family dead last. His wife was not a partner, she was a house slave he took for granted and never consulted as an equal. The neighbors kids came before his children. Some might think this is a satire on Christian charity. It was actually a joke movie about a man's compulsion to sacrifice his family's wants and needs to satisfy others....any needy soul will do. All without considering them. If there wasn't one he'd probably dig one up to sacrifice for. Why? What was at the heart of his compulsion? I know it was a comedy but his compulsion had to hold some credibility. While I was watching this movie I boiled at the prospect of being married to a guy like Sam.

I recently had the opportunity to see this film after about 30 years and I think I enjoyed it more this time! What a wonderful film! This should be on the list of 'must sees' for any Gary Copper fan. The talented Cooper was able to play anything from a western to the wonderful, good hearted Sam. This is a light hearted look at the consequences that can occur when you extend yourself once too often. I never laughed so much at the comical situations that good ol' Sam gets himself into. The dead pan Ann Sheridan was the perfect choice for Sam's wife. She was really an untapped source as an actress, very underrated! If you have the chance to see this delightful film, please do, you won't be sorry!

In this comedy-drama from Leo McCarey, Gary Cooper plays Sam, seemingly the one guy in the world who takes the Christian tenet of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you seriously. And for his efforts, he is constantly being taken advantage of to the point that his wife, the sassy Ann Sheridan, is ready to take the kids and leave him. Sly writing relieves some of the sappiness, and Cooper has such a solid male presence that he doesn't seem terminally wimpy despite the fact that others use him like a doormat. Finally, after Sam threatens to abandon his Good Samaritan philosophy, all his selfless deeds pay off, and his family comes together in a warm, homespun conclusion. To those who say this isn't worthy of Capra, well, I love Capra, but McCarey has a body of work that any director would be proud of.

One joke movie, the jest being that altruist Sam never met a schnorer he didn't like, whose endless variations on it become stale after about 30 min and downright dull after an hour, which is when I bailed. Some of Ken Englund's dialogue produces a chuckle but the dearth of physical humor is hard to understand from the director of "The Awful Truth" who cut his comedy teeth on Hal Roach two reelers. Plus Coop is even stiffer than usual and Anne Sheridan is given virtually nothing risible as the long suffering wife other than a couple sarcastic rejoinders. Give it a C.

Leo McCarey's Good Sam, the story of a suburban good guy who can't say no to his friends and neighbors, should have been a masterpiece. It has many of the same ingredients as It's a Wonderful Life, and was directed and co-written by a man who was at his best Frank Capra's equal. McCarey directed the best Marx Brothers picture, Duck Soup, plus the splendid Ruggles Of Red Gap, the heartbreaking Make Way For Tomorrow, the enormously popular (if overlong) Going My Way, and its sequel, The Bells Of St. Mary's. He was even in a partnership with Capra, to produce films independently, but lost his touch after the war. Good Sam shows McCarey's brilliance with actors, all of whom (Gary Cooper, Ann Sheridan, Ray Collins, William Frawley) are excellent, but the script is convoluted and the story, an inspired idea, is, as told, hard to follow. It's worth watching, for McCarey's directorial "touches", which are wonderful, but the film is plodding and episodic, and seems to go on forever.