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The Worst Film Ever

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I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

This is my favorite movie of this time period and I watch it every time it comes on. I'm a boomer and this movie brings not only the heat and repressed and not so repressed sexuality many reviewers comment on but more importantly, it juxtaposes it with the innocence and naivete that were a part of America, especially small town America through the end of the 70's. Everything from the opening shots of this Midwestern small town, to the house, and especially the Labor day picnic take you back into this time of innocence. The opening sequences are so powerful in evoking that time period that I can smell the marigolds in the garden and feel the warmth of the sun beating down on William Holden's bare chest as he sees Madge for the first time. Even The look on Helen, the elderly neighbors, face when she sees also sees him reminds me that the sense of romance in life, the knight on the white horse that all girls grew up with, is lost in this technological age. Every woman in this movie hungers for romance, with the underlying sexual tension not nearly as important. The sense of wonder and discovery we had then with our first romantic kiss becomes palpable as Madge and he dance. Their bodies barely touching, but like the characters, you can imagine what it will feel like when they finally do touch. I think this is the thing Inge brings to all his works, never more evident than in this movie and in Splendor in the Grass, this sense of innocence and naivete, romance and our yearning for it, head to head with the realities of what happens to the innocence if romance leads unbridled. But Inge always leaves us unafraid of the romance, even if it leads to the worst, you would never trade one moment of that feeling, even if you knew what was ahead. Watch this movie, it does not disappoint.

A former college football star drifts into a small town on Labor Day, disrupting the lives of the locals. Director Logan came from a stage background and he never adapted to the film medium. He did not understand that film acting requires more subtlety than stage acting. Holden is certainly not known for overplaying, but Logan pushes him in that direction. He's not helped by some of his lines, particularly his repeatedly calling Novak "Baby." Yes, Inge's play won the Pulitzer Prize, but it is overly dramatic and contains some really corny lines. Russell is quite energetic. Novak, on the other hand, seems to be on a sedative. O'Connell and Strasberg come off best.

Corny and hokey. This movie is an example of what can happen when a the storyline of a play is changed to conform to a movie format. What is a tight wrapped theatrical production morphs into something almost unrecognizable from the original on the screen. This movie can be best summed up in one word: hokey. True, the movie was made in 1955, but still, by that time Hollywood was already treating the subject of sex in a more candid manner. This movie takes a great play with a lot of intense interactions and transforms it into an overblown mess with a lot of stagy overacting. Despite the title of the play, the story is not about a picnic, yet the movie makes a picnic a central feature of the story, which diverts the audience's attention from what is going on between the principal characters, who get lost in the crowd. If any movie did not need extras, this is the one. Yet for some reason, this movie has an army of extras playing picnickers. William Holden's performance is good but not especially strong or overpowering and there is little chemistry between him and Kim Novak. Much more intense and better acted are the performances by Rosalind Russell and Arthur O'Connell, both in supportive roles. The movie should have been about them.

The drifter Hal Carter (William Holden) hitchhikes by train to a small town to visit the college friend Alan Benson (Cliff Robertson), who is the son of the industrialist Mr. Benson (Raymond Bailey) that is the wealthiest person in town.Hal asks for a small job to Ms. Helen Potts (Verna Felton) and the old lady feels affection for him and tells that nobody works in the Labor Day. She gives a breakfast to Hal and he meets her next door neighbor, the gorgeous Marjorie "Madge" Owens (Kim Novak) that is Alan's girlfriend. Then Hal is welcomed by Alan that invites him to go to the local picnic with Madge's younger sister Millie Owens (Susan Strasberg). Hal is a braggart, but attractive and gentle, and he becomes successful with the local girls. However, he falls in love with Madge and Alan feels betrayed by his best friend."Picnic" is a dated and not believable romance, but also delightful to see. I saw this film for the first day on VHS on 29 January 2003 and in that occasion I liked it more than now. I have just seen this film again on DVD and I found the thirty-seven year old William Holden absolutely miscast in the role of a youngster of twenty and something years old. When the spinster Rosemary (Rosalind Russell) has an argument with Hal and asks him to look himself in the mirror, William Holden is already an older man and the scene loses the impact. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Férias de Amor" ("Vacation of Love")