PodBill Just what I expected

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Borserie it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

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.

Steve Gruenwald (Steve G-2) I had seen this movie mentioned here and there for years, but neither the title nor the cast list suggested to me that I would enjoy it. (Ive never been that big a fan of either Ernest Borgnine or Bette Davis, although I knew they were fine actors; and putting sweet young Debbie Reynolds in the same scenes with them did not seem promising.) Finally someone whose taste I respected recommended it, so I gave it a try. What a delight! A subtle, intelligent script, with a cast that absolutely did it justice. None of the characters are perfect; none are terrible; and above all, none are simple. What is remarkable to me is the complexity and depth of the characters that is revealed without any one of them ever explaining him- or herself any more articulately than real people do. It took fine writing (Chayevsky may have done this better than anyone else), fine directing, and fine acting all around to accomplish this. Somehow it escapes being distinctly melodramatic, "gritty," bleak, or even particularly sentimental - while at the same time avoiding being too light, or too witty. It is just eminently watchable.

David Allen "The Catered Affair" (1956) Is Wonderful....Acting, Writing, Direction...Wall-To-Wall Quality Thru and Thru!Bette Davis stated this movie was the best she ever did, and her favorite. I can see why.I'm a collateral relative of Bette's (also of 8 other famous movie actors, FYI), and have studied her career.She did this movie before the strange horror movies she did in the 1960's (e.g "What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?" etc.), way before she acted in "The Whales Of August" (1967) old ladies waiting to die movie with Lillian Gish, who was over 90 in 1987.But in 1956, Bette Davis wasn't yet doing freak, or unusually old age character movies. She was still normal. Depicted as married to Ernest Borgnine (a fellow Best Actor Academy Award winner), depicted as then young Debbie Reynolds' mother....letting Debbie know at the start of the movie that marriage is no joy ride (how true, how true....I was married 3 times.....well, the first week all 3 times as a joy ride, but after that...? Damn!)Bette Davis, Debbie Reynolds, Ernest Borgnine, Barry Fitzgerald, Rod Taylor, screenplay by Gore Vidal based on a Paddy Chaevsky play.....all presented only one year after Chaevsky's and Borgnine's triumph with "Marty" (1955) starring Ernest Borgnine, who won the Best Actor Academy Award for that movie.Both Gore Vidal and Ernest Borgnine passed away recently in 2012, almost 60 years after the 1956 "Catered Affair" movie was released.Wonderful Bette Davis is long gone by now, then young, sweet Debby Reynolds is now past age 80.......These incredible people were part of s simple black and white movie about working class Irish-Americans in NYC in the early 1950's worth seeing and worth thinking about.Movies like this one, based on stage plays, show off good acting and thoughtful ideas.....gimmicky visuals and other eye candy are not the main thing......the actors and the writing, and the ideas of the gifted authors (Chaevsky and Vidal here) carry the whole thing, with the help of understated but still highly skilled direction (Richard Brooks directed this movie, and did a great job).My breath is taken away.SEE this old movie, Americans and others living in 2012 and beyond.It sets a standard almost never achieved in the present era. It was done, created in a Golden Age now past by people mostly angels by now, or soon to be.----------------------------- Written by Tex Allen, SAG-AFTRA movie actor. Visit WWW.IMDb.Me/TexAllen for movie credits, biography, and recent (2012) photos of Tex Allen. Email Tex Allen at TexAllen@Rocketmail.ComSee other Tex Allen written movie reviews....almost 100 titles.... at: http://imdb.com/user/ur15279309/comments (paste this address into your URL Browser)