I have a question about the movie back street. Was Paul Saxon already married when he met Rae Smith for the first time? My mother has a bet with my aunt about this, and is driving them nuts to see who won. Any info about this would be greatly appreciated. Thank You, Ellybama23
shareYes. Absolutely Paul Saxon was married with two children when he met Rae Smith. The marriage was the mistake that sent "into the military and his wife (who didn't care for him) not trying to stop him." (paraphrase of the dialogue)
Great tear-jerker. The last scene between Paul and his son (with Rae on the phone) could have been longer and wringed many more tears, but overall it was pretty satisfying as melodramas go.
THis is real late but I don't think he was married when they first met because Rae was suppose to marry Paul but the guy who liked her with the car made her late for the date. So he thought she didn't want to marry her so he married his wife.
shareMarbleAnn, you are correct about Paul and Rae not being married when they first met. The scene where Rae thinks back and wishes she had made that plane is the fork in the movie, meaning they would have gotten married if she hadn't missed that flight. But NOOOOOOOOOOO! This movie is one of my all-time favorites.
shareI think Paul was already married when he met Rae. Isn't that one reason he went into the Marines -- to get away from the shrew? And if he weren't married, why was he so reluctant to take Rae with him when he left Lincoln? Rae later tells her sister that she checked newspaper files and found that Paul was married. It seems unlikely that so soon after meeting and falling in love with Rae, he'd suddenly marry the obnoxious Liz. One final note, don't you wish there would have been more shots of John Gavin in his swimsuit on the beach?
shareI watched this again and here's the key line. Paul to Liz during one of their arguments in Rome: "Our marriage wasn't working a long time before I went into the Marine Corps." Since Paul was leaving the Marine Corps when he met Rae, this settles the question. He was already married when he got off that plane in Lincoln, Nebraska.
share
marbleann, you are referring to the book.
in the movie...he was married, and he wanted to work it out, that's why he got the extra ticket, even though he knew it was going to be a real *beep* storm when he got back home.
This is a logic free zone:
Use of logic will be met with uncomfortable silences
No, Paul was not married when he met Rae. The same storyline is used in the original film version with Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne. In that film she misses a boat instead of a plane.
share(SPOILER BELOW)
Actually, the '41 version starred Boyer and Margaret Sullavan - and indeed she does narrowly miss him as his boat leaves the dock.
The '32 version starred Irene Dunne along with John Boles.
In that version she misses meeting him at the band concert when a man refuses to to drop her off at the park - and instead takes her off to the outskirts of town.
In Fannie Hurst's novel, she misses him (and his mother) when she fails to show up in front of the lion cages at the Cincinnati zoo - she is delayed when she goes off to confront the guy who has apparently gotten Ray's step-sister Freda "in trouble."
In the case of the novel and the '32 and '41 versions, Ray dies of hunger at the end. Penniless. Alone.
He WAS married when he met Rae.
Went into the service to get away from Liz.
When Rae tried to call him, she found out he was married with two kids.
TCall2004 has this exactly right. I just saw the film again last night at a theatre here in San Francisco, and Paul was married with two kids when he met Rae. Remember folks, we're not talking about the book or the earlier film versions with Margaret Sullavan and Irene Dunne. We're discussing the 1961 version with Susan Hayward and John Gavin, and in this version Paul already has a family when he meets Rae.
shareI just watched this last night and it was pretty clear to me that Paul was married when he met Rae.
In a scene where Paul and wife Liz are arguing, he remarks to her that they have known the marriage was over for a long time but they both had avoided acknowledging that. Paul then notes that this is why Paul joined the Marines and Liz didn't try to stop him from enlisting. Clearly, they were married when military uniform wearing Paul met Rae.
I didn't really understand the "dream flashback" at the end --- where Paul and Rae reconnect at the airport rather than what actually happened. Someone could interpret this as if Paul was NOT married; however, the early dialogue said the exact opposite. Paul was already taken when he met Rae so it was irrelevant where Rae found him in the airport or not. Rae was going to be the mistress, not the wife, whether she caught that flight or not.