MovieChat Forums > The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963) Discussion > Way Too Soon for A Widower to Marry Agai...

Way Too Soon for A Widower to Marry Again

posted 10 years ago by PretoriaDZ
6 replies | jump to latest

I think the character rejected the neighbor because she was best friends with his dead wife and made him feel he was being unfaithful, whereas Dina Merrill's character was very different from his wife.

It was Ronny Howard's character that pushed the father too soon to think about remarrying. The character probably thought the hurt about his mother for both him and his father would go away sooner if they became a complete family unit again.

I thought Stella Stevens's character was important because she added a lightness to a very dark subject. She also was a good counterpoint to Dina Merrill's supposed "independent" woman. Stella's character was actually very smart and talented, the only thing she lacked was confidence but she was smart enough to go look for that.

The tendency to think that a good looking woman is probably dumb still exists today, sad to say.

This positively infantile preoccupation with bosoms!Terry-Thomas about US 1963.Hasnt changed much!

[–] IcingOnTheCake 10 years ago

Yes, the father was hurting. People remarried more quickly in the past, especially if they were a working man and/or had children to raise.

[–] rpniew 10 years ago

In the beginning I was thinking it was too soon, but if you look at the movie carefully it does take place over a longer period of time. Yes it does kinda start off while the woman's body isn't even cold yet, but it does spread things out a little bit. I was a little uncomfortable with it at first but over time it seemed to work out.

[–] spookyrat1 9 years ago

Yes it does kinda start off while the woman's body isn't even cold yet, but it does spread things out a little bit.

Yes, agree with you on that. It definitely is supposed to take place over a period of time.🐭

[–] spookyrat1 9 years ago

The tendency to think that a good looking woman is probably dumb still exists today, sad to say.

Stella kind of got pigeon-holed in to a lot of those sort of roles throughout her career. I thought her character added little to the story here and was just tossed in for some comic relief. But the Dollye and Norman scenes only really succeeded in padding the story out to an interminable 2 hours.🐭

[–] Techto (1376) 6 months ago

Absolutely. Tom’s dead wife was hardly buried before he was out in a date. Pretty unseemly.

[–] liscarkat (19031) 6 months ago

Up to him, and nobody else's business.