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So much average

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The acting in this movie is really good.

To begin with, it should be noted (and you'd know this, if you've read the other reviews) that "Life Begins for Andy Hardy" is far more serious than the other films in the "Andy Hardy" series. This film marked the third and final appearance of Judy Garland as Betsy Booth in the film series. As Andy Hardy moves to New York to find himself and a job, he starts to learn hard lessons in life. So given the fact this is a drama and not a comedy, it's not a bad movie. But it's not terribly great. At times, it feels down right depressing and downbeat, as Andy Hardy gets some hard knocks looking for a job, and ultimately this is not an upper for viewers who expected the always chipper and juvenile Andy Hardy. In fact, despite the fact Judy sang in the other two films she starred in, her songs that were shot were not used in the final cut. I can only think that (the filmmakers finally decided that) the presence of singing did not seem to go with the somberness of this film and would dilute its impact on the viewer. In one scene, Betsy sees Andy at rock bottom looking pale, undernourished, and ready to pass out. And, he befriends an aspiring dancer, who's had a history of sickness, and who ultimately dies. Death in an Andy Hardy picture! Say it isn't so! While I admire the intention to show a mature Andy Hardy, if I wanted to see more of the film series in the future in the order they were made, I would probably skip this one entirely as it is a complete downer, save for Judy Garland trying to breathe some life and humor into it, with her buoyant presence and passion. Watch and judge for yourself.

There's some bite in this eleventh installment of the Hardy series. Unfortunately, there's also a forced retreat from any kind of controversial follow-through. In the end, the tried and true verities of small town America are once again affirmed, but then that is exactly what audiences expected from this pre-war version of Ozzie and Harriet.What makes this entry more interesting is a dark side not usually seen in Andy's world of proms and parental wisdom. Vaguely bored with the prospect of a settled life, Andy leaves Carver to prove himself amid the challenges of the big city, New York. There he finds a more impersonal and risky life-style, but also glamor and excitement. However, his small town openness and honesty are quickly exploited by a gold-digging glamor girl, Patricia Dane in an excellent performance. At the same time, his in-bred good-neighborliness prompts him to risk eviction by sneaking a penniless youth, Frobisher (Mc Donald), into his hotel room.Unfortunately Frobisher turns up dead in Andy's bathroom, a startling development for such a sunny series. At first, the death looks like a suicide, the boy being penniless with no prospects. It also looks like a hard dose of reality for Andy. More importantly, suicide presents a never-thought-of possibility for Andy too, since he's been struggling in a tight job market. Suicide would have added real weight to the story. However, the script is forced to revert to comfortable series form when it's discovered the boy died of natural causes. Thus a potentially exceptional entry is turned into another series programmer. Apparently it was the Catholic legion of Decency that forced this emasculating change on the studio. What an excellent example of how the dead hand of censorship sanitized reality in the name of protecting the audience from that same reality. And, if memory serves, it wasn't until 1956 (Elia Kazan's Baby Doll) that a studio product was willing to defy the self-appointed censors and treat adults like adults.Of course, in this movie, there's the usual lively, engaging turns from Rooney and Garland, along with MGM's customarily slick production values. Dad Hardy (Stone) works in his usual words of wisdom, this time on the virtues of unmarried abstinence of the unfortunate myopic type that ten years later would help fuel the Playboy, Hugh Hefner revolt. All in all, the series may have idealized a small town America that never was. But it also presented a picture of life as many wanted it to be and still do.

George B. Seitz directs this hard hitting, downbeat and possibly the best of the Andy Hardy series. Andy(Mickey Rooney)makes a deal with his father(Lewis Stone)to spend a week in New York City savoring a slice of life before entering college. Andy discovers that finding a job and working is sobering and easier said than done. And some things will always stay the same ...when there is a nice looking female around; Andy is easily love struck. This is the last of the Hardy series to feature Judy Garland. Rounding out the cast are: Fay Holden, Amm Rutherford, Patricia Dane and Ray McDonald. The Andy Hardy films are so easy to relax with.

Andy Hardy (Mickey Rooney) graduates from high school and decides to move to NYC to make a fortune. His ex (I think) played by Judy Garland, lives there and tries to help him.**Slight spoiler in the next paragraph**I've avoided these Andy Hardy movies like the plague for years...I thought they'd be really syrupy. This one sure wasn't! This is pretty dark and downbeat. A character even dies! Originally he committed suicide but the studio changed that before it was released--they felt that was going too far. Still it all ends happily.The movie looks fantastic, the story flows pretty quickly...but there's too little of Judy. As Leonard Maltin said all her songs were cut out before the film was released! My guess is that they were too cheerful for the grim tone of this film.All the acting is good--top honors go to Lewis Stone (as Judge Hardy--boy, do I wish I had him as a father!), Ann Rutherford (having a good time playing the "bad girl") and Ray McDonald.Dark movie (perhaps not for the kids) but good. Worth catching.