The Catered Affair | |
---|---|
Directed by | Richard Brooks |
Screenplay by | Gore Vidal |
Based on | "The Catered Affair" 1955 teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky |
Produced by | Sam Zimbalist |
Starring | Bette Davis Ernest Borgnine Debbie Reynolds Barry Fitzgerald Rod Taylor |
Cinematography | John Alton |
Edited by | Gene Ruggiero Frank Santillo |
Music by | André Previn |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Loew's Inc. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 92 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1 million [1] |
Box office | $1.5 million [1] |
The Catered Affair (also known as Wedding Party) is a 1956 American comedy drama film directed by Richard Brooks and produced by Sam Zimbalist from a screenplay by Gore Vidal, based on a 1955 television play by Paddy Chayefsky. The film stars Bette Davis, Ernest Borgnine, Debbie Reynolds, Barry Fitzgerald and Rod Taylor. It was Taylor's first film for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer after signing a long-term contract with the studio. [2] The film score was by André Previn and the cinematographer was John Alton.
Agnes Hurley is a disillusioned housewife, married to Bronx cab driver Tom Hurley, who works for a large taxi fleet. Agnes wants something better for her daughter Jane, while Tom has been saving for many years to purchase a taxi medallion and become self-employed.
When Jane announces her engagement to Ralph Halloran, Aggie sees this as an opportunity to have a romantic elaborate wedding, which she never had because they could never afford it. However, Tom protests that they cannot afford it, and Jane is upset by the discord it is causing in the family.
The film deals with the ensuing money troubles and conflicts within the family, which also involve Uncle Jack Conlon, who lives with them. The conflict is resolved when Agnes realizes that it is the happiness of her family, rather than the expensive ceremony, that is most important. Plans for the expensive wedding are shelved and Tom gets the medallion and a new taxi.
MGM bought the screen rights in 1955. Ann Blyth was originally announced for the female lead. [3]
Debbie Reynolds later said she "hated making" the film "for personal reasons. I like the result and he directed me well but the director made it difficult for me and gave me a hard time." [4] She claimed that Brooks hit her in the face and had to be pulled away by the assistant director. [5]
According to MGM records, the film earned $947,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $520,000 in other countries, resulting in a loss of $106,000. [1] Critics' reviews were largely negative, with the film holding a 17% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. [6]
New York Times critic Bosley Crowther compared the film unfavorably to Marty and said the film lacked "compassion or appeal." He said that was "partly the fault of the writing, partly the fault of the film and partly the fault of the direction, which is uneven in compass and style." Crowther criticized the performances, saying that Davis's performance was "uncomfortably complicated and alien to the lowly locale." He wrote that Davis gave the role "the air of a gentlelady who has come down a little in the world and deliberately uses bad grammar, with some effort and considerable shame." Borgnine, he said, "gawks gargoylishly as her Bronx mate." [7]
A musical adaptation also titled A Catered Affair , with book by Harvey Fierstein and lyrics and music by John Bucchino, premiered at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre in 2007 and the following year played on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre. The cast included Faith Prince, Tom Wopat, Leslie Kritzer and Fierstein.
The play received mixed reviews and closed after 116 performances. [8]
Mary Frances "Debbie" Reynolds was an American actress, singer, and businesswoman. Her career spanned almost 70 years. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer with her portrayal of Helen Kane in the 1950 film Three Little Words. Her breakout role was her first leading role, as Kathy Selden in Singin' in the Rain (1952). Her other successes include The Affairs of Dobie Gillis (1953), Susan Slept Here (1954), Bundle of Joy, The Catered Affair, and Tammy and the Bachelor (1957), in which her performance of the song "Tammy" topped the Billboard music charts. In 1959, she starred in The Mating Game and released her first pop music album, titled Debbie.
The following is an overview of 1956 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
Jane Powell was an American actress, singer, and dancer who first appeared in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals in the 1940s and 50s. With her soprano voice and girl-next-door image, Powell appeared in films, television and on the stage, performing in the musicals A Date with Judy (1948), Royal Wedding (1951), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), and Hit the Deck (1955).
Rodney Sturt Taylor was an Australian actor. He appeared in more than 50 feature films, including The Time Machine (1960), The Birds (1963), and Inglourious Basterds (2009), and voiced the lead role in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961).
The V.I.P.s is a 1963 British comedy-drama film in Metrocolor and Panavision. It was directed by Anthony Asquith, produced by Anatole de Grunwald, and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film was written by Terence Rattigan, with a music score by Miklós Rózsa.
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is a 1962 American psychological horror thriller film directed and produced by Robert Aldrich, from a screenplay by Lukas Heller, based on the 1960 novel of the same name by Henry Farrell. The film stars Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, and features the major film debut of Victor Buono. It follows an aging former child star tormenting her paraplegic sister, a former movie star, in an old Hollywood mansion.
These Old Broads is a 2001 American comedy television film directed by Matthew Diamond, written by Carrie Fisher and Elaine Pope, and starring Fisher's mother Debbie Reynolds, as well as Shirley MacLaine, Joan Collins, and Elizabeth Taylor in her final film role. In a 2001 BBC Omnibus documentary about Taylor, MacLaine says that Julie Andrews and Lauren Bacall were originally planned to be in the film. The role of Miriam Hodges was originally offered to June Allyson, who ended up in a cameo instead.
The 30th Academy Awards ceremony was held on March 26, 1958, to honor the best films of 1957.
Payment on Demand is a 1951 American drama film directed by Curtis Bernhardt and starring Bette Davis and Barry Sullivan. The screenplay by Bernhardt and Bruce Manning chronicles a marriage from its idealistic early days to its dissolution.
Old Acquaintance is a 1943 American drama film released by Warner Bros. It was directed by Vincent Sherman and produced by Henry Blanke with Jack L. Warner as executive producer. The screenplay by John Van Druten, Lenore Coffee and Edmund Goulding was based on Van Druten's 1940 play of the same title.
Practically Yours is a 1944 comedic film made by Paramount Pictures, directed by Mitchell Leisen, written by Norman Krasna and starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray.
A Catered Affair is a musical with a book by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by John Bucchino. It is based on both the 1956 film The Catered Affair written by Gore Vidal and the original 1955 teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky, set in 1953 in the Bronx. This is the first of Bucchino's scores produced on Broadway.
June Bride is a 1948 American comedy film directed by Bretaigne Windust. The screenplay, which was based on the unproduced play Feature for June by Eileen Tighe and Graeme Lorimer, was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Comedy. The film starred Bette Davis and Robert Montgomery. The Warner Bros. release marked the screen debut of Debbie Reynolds, although her appearance was uncredited.
Phone Call from a Stranger is a 1952 American film noir drama film directed by Jean Negulesco from a screenplay by Nunnally Johnson, based on the 1950 novelette of the same name by I. A. R. Wylie. The film centers on the survivor of an aircraft crash who contacts the relatives of three of the victims he came to know on board the flight. The story employs flashbacks to relive the three characters' pasts.
Bunny O'Hare is a 1971 American comedy film directed by Gerd Oswald, starring Bette Davis and Ernest Borgnine. The screenplay by Coslough Johnson and Stanley Z. Cherry focuses on a pair of senior citizens who, disguised as hippies, engage in a crime spree.
Dangerous When Wet is a 1953 American live-action/animated musical comedy film starring Esther Williams, Fernando Lamas and Jack Carson, directed by Charles Walters and featuring an animated swimming sequence starring Williams with the cat-and-mouse duo Tom and Jerry.
The Concourse Plaza Hotel was a luxury hotel at Grand Concourse and East 161st Street in the Concourse neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. Once the site of presidential campaign stops and host to major sports stars, it is now a senior citizens' residence owned and operated by the government of New York City.
Suspicion is the title of an American television mystery drama series which aired on the NBC from 1957 through 1958. The executive producer of half of the filmed episodes (10) of Suspicion was film director Alfred Hitchcock.
Say One For Me is a 1959 American comedy musical film directed by Frank Tashlin and starring Bing Crosby, Debbie Reynolds and Robert Wagner. Say One for Me was listed in the 1978 book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time. Stella Stevens made her film debut in Say One for Me and received the Golden Globe Award in 1960 for New Star of the Year-Actress for this film.
Three Brave Men is a 1956 drama film directed by Philip Dunne and starring Ray Milland and Ernest Borgnine.