great movie but.....
i wished they either got married or something happened to one of them.
shareI saw this again, for the first time in many a year, on TCM, and for the first time uncut or uncensored (since I had no desire to see it when released, I depended on TV showings.) I will not discuss how little I like the soggy theme song (the same clique of composers marred many a late 1970s-- early 1980s film with that mush) or how difficult it was to watch Alan Alda fighting the urge to play George as "Hawkeye Pierce", and nearly losing the battle (actually it was a draw.) Frankly, I liked him better in "The Four Seasons" wherein he was (relatively) subdued.
However, I CAN address the question at hand, should this have been settled with the characters getting married. I don't think Doris and George should have gotten married, for the sake of a conventional "happy ending" or just closure. Their relationship served as an escape valve for the both of them; thus if they were together always, perhaps one or both would have felt they needed yet ANOTHER way to blow off the steam of too much familiarity and possible disillusionment. Such marriages have a bad track record, statistically speaking, and some give credence to the adage "once a cheater, always a cheater." If nothing else, there was (to the partners' credits) a twinge of guilt ready to hit them at odd moments.
Another reason: George himself. He is the most brazen of this pair of liars. No matter how one justifies this affair, it's still an extramarital affair that might have destroyed two whole families, and necessitated a never-ending stream of lies and evasions. One gets the feeling, though, if Doris was confronted by her husband or anyone else, though obviously she wasn't about to volunteer information, she would have owned up to her actions and accepted the consequences. But George is consistently trying to evade truth, even within the context of this "honest" relationship, and tells some of the dumbest whoppers I've ever heard. Plus cruelly manipulating Doris at the end. He's lucky EITHER of his ladies stuck by him.
P.S., it struck me how dated this film has become, because how easy cell phones and instant messages would have made this cosy little adultery.
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One thing I was thinking at the end when he asked her to marry him, is that their children would never accept them as a couple. They were cheating on their respective spouses for 20+ years. The kids would never get over that. It would be like a betrayal to the memory of George's wife.
I liked that they didn't get married at the end. Their relationship was never going in that direction anyway. They worked best seeing each other only once a year. Things would definitely change if they saw each other every day.
Tomorrow's just your future yesterday!
I agree with everything you wrote KAnnD86.
99% of the time a hero is someone who is too cold, tired & hungry to give a damn.
Why thank you, LoveFest1969. :)
Tomorrow's just your future yesterday!
I did like this movie years ago when I first saw it. I was younger then and the adultery did not bother me because I realized that it was a once a year thing that allowed the two families to go on. But now I don't like it, becaue it was cheating emotionally. Which can be just as bad.
I feel it cannot hold up like a lot of old movies because time has changed the world SOOOO much. Cell phones, voice mail, caller ID, etc...Caller ID would have prevented George from answering the phone that day and conversing with Harry for one thing. Caller ID would have also allowed them to call each other on those temporary cell phones too. No it would not work today.
Also, in their dialogue they seem to be catching up more than one year in time. I know for the sake of the movie it had to be that way but it is disconcerting to have them asking questions of each other as if they have not seen or talked to each other in 5 years and yet they supposedly they were together a year ago.
It was so obvious that the writer could not figure out how to make it seem as if they were really together each year, because they could only show 4 or 5 episodes.
I would not advise a remake, but the way they are making remakes of old movies every time you turn around, who knows?
Nina