Customer Reviews

I Never Sang for My Father [VHS]

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I recently discovered this absolute gem, which seems to be totally underrated.

The movie features Melvin Douglas as the father of the title (Tom Garrison in the movie) and Gene Hackman as the son (Gene Garrison in the movie). Tom Garrison's drunken father deserted the family and his mother died when he was 10, leaving him to fend for himself and his siblings, which he did very successfully. He ends up hating his father, but nonetheless keeps his picture and the only note his father ever wrote him. He grows up a seemingly self-centred, cold, even mean and very dictatorial old man to his children, Alice and Gene. His background explains, however, why he finds it difficult, if not impossible, to show love. The dialogue reveals his hurt about his father and his lost childhood, as well as his very deep affection for Gene - but he cannot show it.

Gene tries everything to please his father to gain his approval and his love, but never seems to succeed, leaving him feeling inadequate. Tom still gives him directions to the house he grew up in! He doesn't really like his father, yet feels bad about it and still endeavours to somehow get the approval he never had.

The relationship reaches its climax when Gene's mother dies, leaving Tom Garrison alone, now starting to display the effects of early Alzheimers. Gene knows that he has to do something about his dad. He wants to get married again and move to California, Tom wants him to stay and support him. This leads to the powerful inner struggle Gene experiences: can he just leave his dad to fend for himself and how can he deal with the guilt he would feel if he pursues his own life? On the other hand, if he stays to support Tom, he will probably never really have a worthwhile relationship with his father and will give up his opportunity to live a meaningful life outside of the dominance of his father.

The horror music another critic complains about is perfectly functional here, playing whilst Gene visits an institution for the aged. The scenes of senile old people strikes a very false chord with Gene and he cannot envisage his powerful father in such an institution, despite the onset of Alzheimers.

The conflict between father and son (verbally and psychologically) is brilliantly acted out by Melvin Douglas and a young Gene Hackman. The final scene acts out the effects of Gene's eventual decision - and his father's reaction to it.

If you had a father figure who seemed rough and unloving, yet strong and somehow comforting - you will identify with this movie.

Find the movie and see it - it will enlighten you about parental and other relationships.

What a masterpiece and view into the lives of a father and son and their ambivalent and painful relationship. Anyone watching this film will recognize these characters as being so much like relatives, friends or acquaintances. You find yourself applauding "Gene's" sister "Alice" when she opens up to her brother and gives him the advice he so needs but doesn't want to heed because of his deep desire to have a close relationship with his maddening and impossible father. This is a film that you'd love to have others watch so you can have a deep discussion about the problems of having a rigid, elderly father who can't accept the fact that his child is an adult with the right to live his own life rather than having to stifle all his own life desires to please a selfish and manipulative parent. It's so well worth watching, pondering, and discussing.

Gene Hackman is simply astonishing in this film. It has to do with troubled relations with a father that doesn't know he's alive. It captures all the angst of middle age, combined with the heartache of trying to capture a parent's love. It isn't a happy film but I strongly urge you to see it if you like quiet, sensitive films- one of the best! I'm waiting for it to come out on DVD.

Really bad soundtrack with music playing at inappropriate times for way too long? Main character who is practically engaged but who has a bedmate when he needs it -- but somehow we are not supposed to question his commitment to his girlfriend? Sound like a typical early 1970s movie to you? Well, you're right, but this one has a powerful script involving a son (Gene Hackman) whose guilt over not loving his father (Melvyn Douglas) and his inability to stand up to his father threaten to keep him from moving forward with his life. This is a film that begs to be remade, but in the meantime, this version has great acting by Hackman and Douglas, and a truly powerful last scene. Yes, you have to suffer through some excruciatingly long dialogue-free scenes with the awful music mentioned above (Hackman walking around his parents' house with some God-awful ballad in the background; later taking a tour of an old age home with horror (no, I'm not kidding: HORROR!) music playing), but it's all worth it for the final confrontation. If you've ever had family problems, this movie will hit you hard.

Gene Hackman,s ending monologue is somewhat reminiscent of Tom Wingfield,s ( The Glass Menagarie). Its a downbeat film about real people..in terminal conflict.

Is there any doubt that Mr. Hackman is one of our finest film actors. Here, Douglas delivers as he did in films such as " Hud" 1962.

If your tired of FX, absurd ..high decibel film scores and you want to see a good drama...this is a good bet. Estelle Parsons is around as Hackmans sister whose realities in life are understood better than her brothers.

CP

As I discovered only this year, you won't & can't truly appreciate the emotional impact of this film until losing your own father. It's only then that the brilliant performances & piercing insights, which you might have felt intellectually & emotionally, strike home at a visceral level.

Which isn't to say that such a loss is required before viewing. Far from it! While this is clearly a universal story, it's told with very specific characters. You come to know & understand them in the course of the film: their motivations, their hopes & wounds, their entirely human need to somehow connect with one another, to allow their genuine love to overcome the obstacles of time & history.

In a way, this is a fascinating companion film to something like "Field of Dreams." In that lovely fantasy, the father & son reconciliation that so many seek actually happens, transcending death itself. In "I Never Sang For My Father," we're presented with the more painful reality, the knowledge that for all our best intentions & effort, so much goes unsaid, undone, until it's too late. And perhaps some wounds can never be completely healed.

While the entire cast is superb, it's Gene Hackman & Melvyn Douglas who carry the emotional weight of the film. Not only is the dialogue keen & poignant, but the subtle facial expressions & body language of the actors make that dialogue all the more powerful.

Dated? Not in the least. It's been the same story since the dawn of time, and it never seems to change, no matter how much cultures & societies & fashions change. I don't think you'll find a stronger telling of this inescapable narrative anywhere; and you won't soon forget it after the final credits roll.

So all that remains now is a DVD release of this neglected, deeply moving film. Commentary would be a nice extra, but it's not a necessity -- this is one film that speaks for itself, saying all that has to be said ... and much that inevitably goes unsaid. Most highly recommended!

I saw this movie in the Mercury theater in Middleburg Heights, Ohio in 1970 when it was first released. It was the first movie I ever saw that featured Gene Hackman, and I was just blown away. His performance as a somewhat estranged son to Melvyn Douglas's character was riveting. Melvyn Douglas, in an equally powerful performance, played a recently widowed man who is forced to cope with his two grown children, played by Hackman and Estelle Parsons. To make a long story short, it is a story of two men, father and son, who never connected, of parental expectations not fulfilled and a relationship, finally, iretrievably broken. It will, literally, bring you to tears.

Anyone who grew up in a difficult family, who is still dealing with those issues as an adult, and who is now confronted with the past as they deal with the present reality of aging parents should see this film. Stumbled upon it the other night on AMC.

There is *nothing* dated about the relationships and struggles portrayed. (I speak from experience.) The human element is right on target. The scenes when Hackman shops for a nursing home were particularly powerful, horror music appropriate. Been there recently, and things haven't changed much in 30 years...

I watched "I Never Sang for my Father" for the first time today and it surprized me that I hadn't seen it before. This is an excellent movie that deals with a real issue in many families. The issue is adult father/son relationships and how individuals involved handle their changing roles. The roles don't need to transpose themselves although this sometimes happens as parents reach advanced age. What ideally needs to happen is that love and respect would mature along with father and son. In this way authority would evolve into encouragement and instructions evolve into advice while obedience evolves into support and responsibility becomes second nature. This is NOT the relationship we find in "I Never Sang for my Father". The father (Melvin Douglas) is a domineering man whose life is focussed around himself. An important aspect of the movie is understanding the father's relationship with his own father (or lack thereof). The son (Gene Hackman) knows their relationship has always been one-sided but is willing to try to do the right thing.

The movie is a powerful drama that examines their relationship. Something cannot be broken if it was never whole and that seems to be the biggest stumbling block. The two outstanding preformances are supplemented by the roles of the mother/wife and sister/daughter. This is not a happy movie but it is an essential movie written, apparently, by a man who understood what he was writing about.

I had to give it four stars because in truth INSFMF is somewhat haphazardly directed, but the acting is out of this world. Melvin Douglas is watchable in just about anything, but he really gives one astounding performance here, as do the rest of the cast.

The film rather unflinchingly looks at a strained father & son relationship brought to a head by the mother's death and fathers advancing senility. I think the script does a good job of showing how both parents and children are profoundly flawed in their understanding of each other, and provides no easy answers as to what "the right thing to do" is when human frailty requires tough choices.