Father Goose
directed by Ralph Nelson, 1964

With a title like Father Goose and an era like the early to mid-sixties, it's easy to guess that this is a light film. And that's exactly what it is. A very light bit of fluff that is unusually charming.

I'm not sure why, but I always enjoy watching this movie. One of the last, if not the last leading roles Cary Grant played, the wonderful actor gives us something a little bit different, though also very much the same. And that's not a bad thing.

The real difference is that Grant isn't the sauve, well-groomed heroic figure we remember from such films as Charade or To Catch a Thief. Rather, he is a slovenly drunk. But given the period the film was made, the drunk is curmudgeonly yet loveable. (Made today, he would be a thoroughly tragic, depressing figure.)

But clothes (and a clean shave) don't make the actor. Grant plays this role with his well-learned comic brilliance.

His timing is perfect; his "takes" are dead on.

It's fun to watch this film and compare it to a much earlier work like Arsenic and Old Lace to see just how well his comic talent has matured.

And the story ... World War II, South Pacific. Grant is a drunken misanthrope who is leaving the world to blow itself up - he wants no part of it.

But he is manouevered into working for the Allies by a Navy captain played perfectly by Trevor Howard. (Howard is one of the best things in the movie - great counterpoint to Grant's character.)

Grant's character is now living alone on an island watching for Japanese ship movements for Howard. Then, Leslie Caron and a troop of young girls arrive. So not only is Grant's solitude interrupted, it's intruded upon by children.

Hi-jinks ensue, as they say.

The movie is probably what would be called a family picture. But rather than the over-abundant sachharine associated with such movies, Father Goose is simply sweet and charming.

I think the main reason it succeeds is the performance of Grant who juggles a funny, crusty performance with the just the right measure of fatherly assurance (if that makes any sense).

While not a great movie by any means, this is certainly a delightful one and an example of how Cary Grant's talents were as powerful at the end of his career as at any other time.

Other Cary Grant movies:

- Topper (1937)
- Awful Truth, The (1937)
- Bringing Up Baby (1938)
- Gunga Din (1939)
- My Favorite Wife (1940)
- His Girl Friday (1940)
- Talk of the Town (1942)
- Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
- Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)
- I Was a Male War Bride (1949)
- Monkey Business (1952)
- To Catch a Thief (1955)
- Affair to Remember, An (1957)
- Houseboat (1958)
- Father Goose (1964)

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