A Great American Tragedy

I was damn surprised by this little very sensitive and moving TV feature. The typical close to reality TV product, as there were thousands of them all over the years, not only in the USA but in many countries. So, this one offers the particularity to be made by a Brithsh director who, for his second part of career, worked for Hollywood industry, and for large big action flicks, such as GUNS OF NAVARONNE , TARASS BULBA, MC KENNA'S GOLD, etc...and this very small TV film about an engineer, living in a suburban area, the perfect normal American worker and family man, losing his job, this so predictable and so many times spoken about subject, this topic surprised me a lot from a director as Lee Thomson. I would have not from let's say a director like Jud Taylor, Paul Wendkos, Ted Post or Lee Katzin. Plus, Lee Thomson made it between two big budget films of the PLANET OF APES saga !!!! He did nearly the same a couple of years later with another TV movie : WIDOW, speaking of the difficulty for a woman to resume her life after the death of her husband. Another compelling story too.

I saw this once, long ago, and as I recall found it surprisingly compelling. People lose jobs every day, but this story shows in fairly grim detail how it can grind you down over time and cause fissures in the other parts of your life. It's also an interesting consideration, by the time it ends, of what our jobs actually do for us, and what they take away. Again, as I recall, strong acting, writing, and direction in a thoughtful and entertaining drama.

Brad (George Kennedy) is a middle-aged aerospace engineer who has been living the good life. However, when he is laid off, his life turns upside down, as due to his very specialized training and age, he cannot find work. He also is an internalizer....a guy who keeps things inside....resulting in him pushing people away during this time of crisis. The film also centers on the impact of all this on the lives of Brad's family and how the unemployment and severe economic problems destroy his marriage.

"A Great American Tragedy" is a very moving and well written film...much better than you'd expect for a made for TV movie. However, I should also point out that the film is NOT fun to watch and it's tough watching the family fall to pieces. Because of this, I would NOT watch this if you are depressed....it'll likely only make this worse.

...because 1970 marked the first time since the Great Depression that a well educated man(almost all engineers in 1970 were men), with a good position in his company, could lose his job through no fault of his own. This was part of the great "engineering recession" that lasted from 1970-1973 and was mainly caused by the fact that the government needed its money for bullets in the Vietnam War, we had made it to the moon in 1969, and the government had no money for designing fancy expensive defense gadgets, in particular aerospace gadgets. Thus aerospace engineers, the kind of engineer George Kennedy plays in this film, got hit particularly hard. The ones who were over 40 had the same problem those over 40 hit by the Great Recession starting in 2008 had - nobody wants to hire you for a professional position because you are too old. What they tell you is "you are not a good fit". Or "we'll call you if something comes up".

George Kennedy plays the out of work aerospace engineer, and as the film opens he is cleaning out his spacious office - he obviously had a good career - as he has been laid off. Vera Miles plays the supportive wife. Even though his job search yields nothing - as does those of his engineer friends - he insists on throwing the big Fourth of July barbecue bash that the family has every year. It really is not about putting on a show for the friends and family as it is a way of stating that his self worth is still the same as it has always been.

I remember a particularly poignant moment is when Kennedy is driving down the street and the engineer friend he had that kept saying "prosperity is just around the corner" is spotted by Kennedy's character pumping gas back in the days when people were actually employed to do that for customers. Kennedy has a look on his face that says "Is that going to be me?".

I haven't seen this film for 45 years when it first ran, and it has never been on DVD and likely never will be. It was on VHS at one time, but is out of print. It will never be on DVD because being booted by your company after decades of service - if you last that long - for no reason has become the "new normal". Nobody remembers that for the first 25 years after WWII anybody who wanted a job could find and keep a job.

Why do I remember this so well? Because I am an engineer and my dad was an engineer. I remember every Friday as a teenager in the early 1970's dreading him coming home and saying he had lost his job. It was a real possibility. It happened to one of his carpoolers and it happened to my uncle with a catastrophic impact to their respective finances.