Wordiezett So much average

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

dougdoepke Pretty funny take on the perennial college conflict between football and scholars. The bookish Turner (Fonda) fumbles around trying to keep wife (de Havilland) from old flame and ex- football star Joe Ferguson (Carson). But, Turner's really in trouble since the big game is on and everybody's talking football. I love that pep rally, more like a tribal event than the eve of a sporting event ("fight", "fight" gets chanted over and over). And catch that roaring bon-fire in the background, big enough for a human sacrifice. So what's poor skinny Turner to do when it's the muscles that reign.Fonda is perfect as the dithering husband and professor. Ditto, Carson as his egotistic rival who never does figure out where the disappearing teacup went. Their little dust-up is a hoot of physical comedy, but then Turner has picked a battleground where he's bound to lose. That's because he thinks he should do what males of the animal world do, a world where unfortunately the strongest win and he loses. Good thing he's drunk when he challenges Joe, otherwise we might wonder how he got to be a teacher in the first place.It's also a good thing for the professor that there's a more serious side to the film. And that's the realm of ideas, Turner's true battleground where he's got the muscles. The trouble is that college trustees (Palette) don't want him flexing them by reading to his class from the pages of notorious anarchist Vanzetti. In fact they threaten to fire him if he does. But Turner stays strong and defies the agents of censorship. In the process, he also wins the undying affection of a now unconflicted wife. For she recognizes there is a different kind of strength that only humans have—the strength of commitment to ideas, in this case, a respect for eloquence whatever its source. (Too bad the screenplay fudges by making the Vanzetti quote harmlessly bland in content.) So brains wins out over brawn after all and makes a good point at the same time. The movie's adapted from a James Thurber play, so some of the snappy lines along with the story's moral should not be surprising. All in all, it's an entertaining 90-minutes, both funny and thoughtful, including a good glimpse of 1940's youth (unfortunately, on the eve of a great war).

MartinHafer This is a lovely little romantic-comedy that actually has a lot more to say than first meets the eye. Mousy college professor Henry Fonda is married to flighty Olivia DeHavilland. She is excited because an old boyfriend is coming to town for the big homecoming game at the college. Fonda is less excited because this old boyfriend (Jack Carson) is both obnoxious and not all that bright--yet Carson is a big hero because he was an All-American football player. Fonda's distaste is well-founded, as Carson is a jerk and DeHavilland becomes an idiotic "fan girl". This naturally makes Fonda feel very inferior, though this inferiority is made worse because DeHavilland is an idiot. On one hand, she admires Carson for his manliness, but on the other she encourages Fonda to give up his intellectual integrity to get along with the fascist-like college president. My wife and daughter watched this film with me and they both instantly hated DeHavilland and I can't say I blamed them. This is one of her less likable roles (heck, I liked her more as a person even in HUSH HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE).At the same time all this is occurring, there is a similar but lesser plot involving Herbert Anderson (otherwise known as Dennis the Menace's dad from the TV show). He wrote an article about intellectual integrity and fascism creeping into our schools and instead of being applauded for standing up for the American system, he is attacked for being a "red".Later, when Anderson and Fonda get together to complain about their lots in life and share a few drinks, the film switches into comedic high gear--as both (particularly Fonda) become roaring drunk and it is handled in a very funny way. I particularly liked when Fonda then attacked Carson and tweaked his nose! At the end, there is a nice little showdown scene in the film highly reminiscent of the stand taken by Jimmy Stewart in MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON. Everything is wrapped up perfectly and everyone lives happily ever after--huzzah! This is just a lovely old fashioned film--quality throughout and with a great message about intellectual integrity in our colleges. Unfortunately, I am not sure how many people learned from this film, as the right-wing repression of the early 40s and "red scares" have in some schools been replaced with left-wing repression and "political correctness" during the last couple of decades. Too bad, as the prospect of BOTH is enough to nauseate me.

spamcahn This may be hard to fully appreciate outside the context of the football-mania of OSU in football season, but even in exclusion, the comedic performances of Jack Carson and Eugene Palette upstage one of Henry Fonda's great performances. There was an element of mad cap thirties comedy pushed into a script that is classic James Thurber. Look for Jack's description of the fake fake (apparently). Ex Football players will want to get out there and really fight once they're through looking for the cream pitcher. Hattie McDaniel's reactions alone are reason enough to see the movie and if you're worried about Fonda showing up, don't - and Bartolomeo Vanzetti may get some peace.

Clark Richards On the outside, "The Male Animal" works most of the time as a lightweight comedy starring two heavyweight actors, Henry Fonda and Olivia de Havilland. However, from the inside, 'The Male Animal' is more than just a 'brain vs. brawn' type of film, it is a convoluted mess of love triangles, rival jealousies, and a liberal viewing of the moral ideals that separate liberal America from conservative America. And if that's not enough to chew on, there's also a superfluous sub plot that features a love triangle mirroring the lead love triangle. This sub plot is one of the weakest parts of the film, perhaps because the supporting parts in it end up being largely inconsequential to the main plot and therefore just become lighter and younger copies of the main characters. Does it really matter that Patricia Stanley (Joan Leslie) finds herself caught between two college crushes, the first being the current football star Wally Meyers (Don DeFore) and the second being a nerdy journalism major named Michael Barnes (Herbert Anderson)? Not really, but I have the feeling it was supposed to.The strongest attribute from this film comes by the way of the comedic interplay through the leading love triangle between the ex-football player Joe Ferguson (Jack Carson), his old cheerleader flame Ellen Turner (Olivia de Havilland) and her husband Tommy Turner (Henry Fonda). Much of the film centers on the homecoming of Ferguson and the subsequent home wrecking of the Turners. Ferguson's arrival brings out the young romantic dreamer in Ellen and the insecure jealousy in Tommy. Ellen and Tommy keep a smiling facade for Ferguson and school boosters who traipse in and out of the house, but behind closed doors lurk a lot of pent up questions that quickly turn to accusations. This love triangle works well through a good part of the film; however the impending, or rather, the implied and impending divorce arrangement that is understood, or better yet, misunderstood by the lead characters quickly becomes monotonous. One wonders how better this film would have been had it been directed by Preston Sturgess instead of Elliott Nugent. The funniest line in the film centers on the response Tommy gives Ellen when discussing Tommy's irritability at having to entertain house guests. Ellen suggests that Tommy have a soda to calm his nerves, to which Tommy calmly replies, "let's not bring this down to the level of bicarbonate of soda".If the dizzy love triangles account for the comedy in this film, then it is the threat of a letter being read by Turner to his English Literature class, penned from the hand of a convicted criminal and communist, that makes up the drama of the film. Ed Keller (Eugene Palette), the chairman of the board of trustees at the college mentions to Turner that their college isn't a place for "too many ideas". Keller, although never having read the letter, thinks this type of letter goes against all that he sees as good in America; namely 'Abraham Lincoln', 'right guys, stand up guys', 'pep rallies with bonfires' and of course, 'The big game'. Turner could always watch from the safety of his porch the yearly mob mentality of a pep rally during homecoming, when all that was at stake was a football game. However, this mob has assembled to burn him at the stake. His job, his marriage, and his safety all hinge upon whether he can make the whipped up mob not only listen, but try to understand the beauty and composition of the letter. Before Turner starts to read from the letter, his wife, in the audience with Joe Ferguson, looks on with pitying eyes. By the time that Turner has finished his letter and calmly walked off stage, she feels she's made a terrible mistake by not standing by her man. What happens next is a very clean and tidy ending. Everyone in the film is in smiles and Turner finally gets to enjoy a rally away from his porch and his bicarbonate of soda.Everyone in the cast has their moment to shine. Fonda and Carson get the bulk of what is good. Fonda seems at his best when he's in a film where he is standing up for what is right, whether it be as a juror in '12 Angry Men' or the voice of reason in 'The Ox-Bow Incident'. 'The Male Animal' is no different; his reading of the letter is brilliant. I didn't care too much for his drunken buffoonery that lead up to the end, but the letter reading at the end more than makes up for it. Carson is always a solid second banana. He is outstanding as the ex-footballer and ex-boyfriend to Olivia de Havilland. I always like to see Olivia de Havilland, she's always good, but she seemed just a tad wasted by the end of this film. She was great whenever she would become emotional at the realization of how difficult Fonda was making her decision to run away. She's a terrific actress who is easy on the eyes, but mixing comedy and drama in this film was not her highest moment.Just like the trick 'Statue of Liberty' play employed by the school to win the big game, you might not appear to have had a ball watching this movie, but it still features a few extra kicks in it, and after all, that could be the small difference in the big game.8/10. Clark Richards