FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

SimonJack I can't think of many films off hand in which every member of the cast excels. But, "The Catered Affair" of 1956 is one such movie. Billed as a comedy, drama and romance, this film is a wonderful slice of life of a mid-20th century family living in the Bronx of New York City. Better Davis is superb as Mrs. Agnes Hurley, mother of three adult children, including a son who was killed in Korea. Ernest Borgnine is excellent as her husband, Tom Hurley, who drives a hack for a living. Indeed, the word for taxicab used in the film is indicative of the time and place. Davis plays a different role from her usual caustic, conniving and crass character. According to the trivia section of her bio on IMDb, her role in this film was her favorite part, because of its challenge. From Davis's acknowledgment of her being a difficult actress with whom to work, one wonders if the challenge in the part was showing signs of care and love, through a hardened character. Her IMDb bio has some of her quotes. In one she says, "Until you're known in my profession as a monster, you're not a star." That may reflect more her personal character than it does Hollywood or Broadway in general. There surely have been some tough cookies that casts and crews have had to endure, but the list of Hollywood stars include at least as many women of admirable traits and beloved character. Greer Garson, Deborah Kerr, Claudette Colbert, Audrey Hepburn, Loretta Young, Olivia de Havilland, and Irene Dunne are just a few who come immediately to mind. The rest of the cast are very good as well. Debbie Reynolds is the Hurley's daughter, Jane. Rod Taylor plays her fiancé, Ralph Halloran. Robert Simon is superb as Ralph's father, and Madge Kennedy is very good as his mother. Dorothy Stickney is wonderful as Mrs. Rafferty, and Barry Fitzgerald is excellent as Uncle Jack Conlon.

jgertzma These wonderful users reviewers are in telling contrast to those of the contemporary reviewers from the established "papers of record" by the poo-bahs: Crowther, Kael, etc. The users see the realism in scenes, diction, and especially the social and emotional restrictions of lower middle class life. Not to mention the sympathy for the real heroes who struggled through working class limitations in the American 50s. No, all the poo-bahs could see was lack of "character development." Crowther is especially asinine, deciding for himself that David, for ex., disliked "coming down in the world." Or that Borgnine, after Marty, was detached from his role.

l_rawjalaurence Based on a television play by Paddy Chayevsky, with a screenplay by Gore Vidal, THE CATERED AFFAIR focuses on Jane's (Debbie Reynolds) decision to marry Ralph (Rod Taylor). Neither of them want an elaborate wedding; a small ceremony would be perfectly sufficient. Jane's mother Aggie (Bette Davis) will not hear of it, and proposes to organize an elaborate wedding breakfast, even though the cost of it will absorb the $4K that represents Aggie and husband Tom's (Ernest Borgnine's) life savings. This inevitably causes familial conflict, which is further fueled by the continued threats issues by Aggie's brother Jack (Barry Fitzgerald) to quit their house for various reasons. Richard Brooks' film is notable for its use of tight camera angles focusing on the protagonists' every gesture: Aggie's deteriorating emotional state is signaled through the way in which she repeatedly clasps and unclasps her hands. In one memorable sequence, designed to reveal Tom's sense of social inferiority, Brooks shows a close-up of Tom's side profile juxtaposed with that of Ralph's father Joe (Robert Simon). While Joe's face dominates the screen, the viewer's eye is drawn towards Tom, who keeps trying to enter the conversation yet finds himself continually interrupted. No one, it seems, has the time to listen to a mere cab- driver. THE CATERED AFFAIR is very fixed in its views of gender: as a homemaker Aggie is expected to play a secondary role to that of her breadwinner husband Tom. This has an essential bearing on the film's ending, which seems a little forced, almost as if Chayefsky and screenwriter Vidal were trying to tie up the loose ends of the plot as quickly as possible. THE CATERED AFFAIR is seldom shown on television, but represents a good example of Davis' mid-career oeuvre.

bkoganbing Paddy Chayefsky wrote this second ode to the Bronx to follow up what he had received in acclaim from Marty. Though The Catered Affair did not win all the awards that Marty did, it certainly is a well done film with a lot of merit on its own. The Jewish Chayefsky certainly was a good observer of the other cultures where he grew up. Marty was about an Italian butcher who starts to find romance late in his life. The Catered Affair is about a young Irish couple getting married and the effect a big wedding is having on the family finances and structure.Ernest Borgnine switches quite easily from working class Bronx Italian to working class Bronx Irish. He barely makes enough to support a wife, two surviving children and a brother-in-law, Barry Fitzgerald who lives with them. One son was killed during World War II.Bette Davis was at her most drab on the screen, but that's not to say she was not great. Richard Brooks put a tight rein on all her Betteisms and got a fabulous performance out of her as the Bronx housewife who wants to live vicariously through a big wedding for daughter Debbie Reynolds. It's been a hard life for her and the family and she wants a little glamor in it.Rod Taylor and Debbie Reynolds are an appealing young couple and Robert F. Simon and Madge Kennedy do fine as Taylor's parents. The best part of A Catered Affair is Barry Fitzgerald and Dorothy Stickney as the woman who woos him away from free loading on his sister. Davis and Borgnine certainly had a challenge just to keep the whole picture from being stolen by Barry Fitzgerald in what was really his last great part.A few people have compared The Catered Affair with Father of the Bride and the problems that upper middle class lawyer Spencer Tracy faces as compared to lower middle class cab driver Ernest Borgnine faces in giving their daughters an expensive wedding. It's that other Bronx family of the same era, the fabulous and illegally rich Corleones that beggars comparison. I look at that wedding scene that from The Godfather and the lavishness that was bestowed on Talia Shire's wedding and who wouldn't want a wedding like that. But I have a feeling that Reynolds and Taylor will make it last, a lot more than the much married Connie Corleone did. I did so like looking at the Bronx in the Fifties where at least some establishing shots were done. The first time I was in the Bronx was for my first Yankee game. It's changed a lot now, but a place like Morris Park for the Italians and Woodlawn for the Irish still has the flavor of the areas where the Hurleys and Hallorans of The Catered Affair and the Pilettis from Marty lived and worked.And if you like seeing the New York of your childhood, The Catered Affair is a film to enjoy.