Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

bkoganbing Leading roles for senior citizens are hard to come by so when Melvyn Douglas was cast in I Never Sang For My Father of course he grabbed it up. Douglas was enjoying a rejuvenated career on the big screen since 1962 when he got a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Hud. For the 50s he concentrated on the stage and the small screen.The picture we get of Douglas is he came from a hardscrabble background with little place for any kind of charm or social grace. He worked hard his whole life, but all work and no play leave Jack rather arrogant. His wife Dorothy Stickney has put up with him, but love has not been returned evenly to say the least.It was difficult growing up for kids Gene Hackman and Estelle Parsons. Hackman is now a widower and Parsons has her own family. Parsons got out as soon as she could. Hackman who is a university professor never got any encouragement whatsoever. Douglas is really quite ignorant, he does not know what a jungle academia is and what it takes to survive.Then Stickney dies and Douglas gets more cantankerous than ever. Where will they put him, who will get stuck with him. A man who prided himself on always doing for himself won't concede that soon enough he will need help just for day to day living.Robert Anderson's play on Broadway ran 124 performances in 1968 and starred British actor Alan Webb as the father, Lillian Gish as mom, and Hal Holbrook as the son. Anderson got an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for his own work.The Garrison family dynamic is something to see. I Never Sang For My Father got two other Oscar nominations for Melvyn Douglas as Best Actor and Gene Hackman as Best Supporting Actor. Their scenes together fairly crackle, the crackling on Douglas's part with Hackman for the most part going into his defensive shell, but the worm does turn.Next year Gene Hackman would win his first Best Actor Oscar with The French Connection. You couldn't find two more different characters than Popeye Doyle in that film and Professor Garrison here. Hackman never played characters like Garrison for most of his career, they were usually bluff and expansive like Popeye.Old age ain't no fun for yourself and those around you as I Never Sang For My Father shows.

Jay09101951 The aging Baby-Boomers are faced with exactly the same issues that Gene Garrison and his sister faced in 1970. We are part of the "sandwich generation", caught between caring about our own kids and our aging parents .Our parents are living longer because of new medicines but with what quality of life? A question a doctor tells Gene in the film. We are forced to decide when our aging folks have to start giving up some freedoms, like driving a car. When is the time to put them in assisted living or a nursing facility. Anyone in their 50's or 60's faced with these issues will understand this movie and maybe it will help them face the choices they are forced to make.

Deusvolt I saw this movie as a very young man with a father who was growing very old. Even then it worried me as it reminded me of my relationship with my own father who had complained that we weren't spending as much time together as in my boyhood. Remembering this film now with three grown sons makes me wonder if they suffer from the same contradictory feelings I had for my father at their ages.And this is exactly what makes this film great. It essays the human condition in its stark reality.Quite frankly I wouldn't have seen this film if I didn't know Gene Hackman from his French Connection series. Oh, I knew it would be some kind of very talky drama but just the same I wanted to see how he would do in such a story. He did very well.If you are curious about the title see my question in the discussion board and the compleat answer by Cassandra.If you like themes like this see also Death of a Salesman (the version with Frederic March) and Nothing in Common (Tom Hanks).

jotix100 "I Never Sang for My Father" has to be one of the saddest films ever made. Relations between parents and grown up children are examined in this tight drama that rings true from beginning to end. We can relate to how the dynamics in a family change as parents get older and children are now involved in problems of their own with their families.This is basically about the special relationship between a father and a son. Tom Garrison, the father, is in his eighties. His son Gene has lost his wife and is now seeing a woman doctor in California. When Margaret, the mother, suffers a heart attack and dies, Tom and Gene come to a confrontation because the father wants to keep a grip on his son to help him during that adjustment period. Gene, who has always been a good son, has to make a decision that will put him at odds with his father.The idea of children taking care of their parents during their old age is questioned here. On the one hand, Tom, the father, is a self made man who struggled hard for all he achieved in life. Gene, the son, is in the eyes of the father, a failure, because of his passive nature. Tom has counted on relying on Gene for those late years and because of his intransigent nature, he is not willing to compromise in the solution the son has for him.The film version of Robert Anderson's play, and directed by Gilbert Cates, gathered a stellar cast to bring the family alive. Melvyn Douglas, in one of his best screen appearances, makes Tom Garrison come alive. Mr. Douglas' take on his character shows a man that while giving an appearance of being strong, underneath, shows his vulnerability. Gene Hackman, who plays the son, is a perfect match for Melvyn Douglas. Their scenes together show a raw energy between a domineering father and a son that has gone along to please him. Estelle Parsons is seen as Alice, the estranged daughter and Dorothy Stickney who plays Margaret, the mother.