mark.waltz "She'll write like any other American girl, when she needs money." That's what happens when Sandra Dee heads off to college, ending father James Stewart's homebound headaches but adding new ones. It's too soon for him to learn that silence is deafening as he still has one daughter at home, as well as a straight talking wife (Audrey Meadows), maybe no longer a Honeymooner, but still gifted with that delightful raspy voice that could crack ice. If having been approached for autographs by kids who think that he was the star of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" isn't enough, he has to hear wife quote "Que Sera Sera" from "The Man Who Knew too Much". But those un-plot related references to other Jimmy Stewart movies are forced laughs, while the real plot line has him recounting his story to the executives and board of his employers, deciding whether or not to ask for his resignation or fire him.An often eye rolling farce tests trying too hard to be "hip", this uses Stewart's hearing at his job and phone calls to explain what's going on in the story. If this reveals anything, it's the ridiculousness of some college aged kids obsession with social issues (often doing it simply to be involved with the crowd, not even understanding the whole issue), and getting involved with the "wrong" crowd. Stewart, getting involved in trying to talk some sense into his daughter, keeps getting into hot water thanks to his dizzy daughter. Bob Denver adds a few minor chuckles as a beatnik college student, while John McGiver plays the stereotypical staid stick in the mud businessman. One thing the script does get right in this unbelievable version of a forgotten Broadway hit is the description of Dee as "Cuckoo, the Bird Girl", unintentionally getting pop into trouble, but he's no rocket scientist either. There have been much better films (comic and dramatic) about the generation gap, here proving that the gap is located between both generation's ears. The film is too episodic to really grab the viewer completely, stuck in its decade and locked on its reels with superglue. Poor Meadows is sadly wasted as the stereotypical mom, no different than Joan Bennett was in "Father of the Bride", window dressing only. Unlike the quietly ignored Spencer Tracy in that film, though, Stewart keeps making a fool out of himself, perhaps a good reason as to why pop always pays but never gets involved. Pretty photography in exotic settings doesn't hide the film's mediocrity, complete with some truly stinky songs, including one about Paris that I hope to never hear again, especially as sung by the tone deaf Ms. Dee.

Robert J. Maxwell I usually get a laugh out of this cornball material because the Ephrons have done such a good job on the script, Jimmy Stewart is in his element as the perplexed and grouchy father, and, as his daughter, Sandra Dee was a 1950s icon, with her magnificent bosom and fruity New Jersey voice.The story, briefly: Dee leaves her bourgeois home in Pacific Palisades and goes to a fancy woman's college in New England to study art. He letters home indicate that she has met boys and a mysterious telegram arrives at 2:30 in the morning explaining that all charges have been dropped and she's been released. Puzzled and irritated, Stewart flies East where he's introduced to Beatnik coffee houses and sit ins for free speech.Dee flunks out and gets an art scholarship to Paris, where she hooks up with a young man who must be handsome because he resembles Warren Beatty. Of course, he's an aristocrat and terribly wealthy too, so we know the movie will end expectably. Before that happens, Stewart flies to Paris to check on her, gets arrested in a French whore house, and is photographed jumping in his underwear from a tourist boat on the Seine.It was about this time that Stewart made a couple of family comedies -- this one, "Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation," and "Dear Bridget." This is the best of the three, by far. Stewart's appeal was fading because he was getting older, as all of us are. He had some good movies ahead of him but few involved romance. Cast as a naive lover, as in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence," he seemed out of place, not because of anything in his performances.He plays the same role here, essentially, as in "Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation" -- the pompous, self-righteous, thoroughly conventional father who is unable to cope with the social changes taking place around him. He can't bring himself to use the word "virgin" in front of his post-pubescent daughter. He's the guy who querulously demands to know why Dee's mother, Audrey Meadows, hasn't had one of those "talks" with her daughter to explain the birds and the bees. I swear I'm not making that up.The script is a lot funnier than the other attempts at comedy, which were pretty low brow. I'll give an example. Stewart visits a coffee shop in which Dee is employed as a singer and dishwasher. It's all very innocent but Stewart has reason to believe that Dee is a stripper. Peeved but sly, he asks the waiter if the girls take off their clothes. "No -- if they did, who would look at them? I'd rather look at my Aunt Minnie." Now Stewart is piqued. He collars the young kid and demands an apology. "Why? What's it to you if I don't look at them?" Stewart explains he's Dee's father. "You mean you WANT me to look at them?" Absolutely not! Stewart replies that he doesn't want the waiter to look at his daughter naked but he resents the implication that his daughter isn't worth looking at naked. It sounds silly, but the exchange is really amusing and Stewart and Bob Denver handle it perfectly.I find it curious, too, the way the film balances itself so delicately on the old-fashioned values of the 1950s and the revolution of youth in the 1960s. Stewart represents the former and Dee gradually changes from complacency to independence.Nice job.

bkoganbing It's been commented on by many critics that James Stewart has been the actor most partnered with top directors. His films with Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, and Frank Capra have been studied over and over again. But it would surprise many to learn that after the eight he did with Anthony Mann, the second place finisher is Henry Koster with five films with James Stewart.The five films are Harvey, No Highway, Mr. Hobbs Goes On a Vacation, Dear Brigitte and Take Her She's Mine. And then they further subdivide as Stewart plays three types of character. He's the absent minded professor in No Highway and Dear Brigitte and the harassed father of girls in Mr. Hobbs and Take Her She's Mine. Both of which he plays to perfection. And of course there is Harvey in a class all by itself.Father is the last to know that his daughter has grown up to be a "dish." But that is in fact what Sandra Dee has done. Apparently just hanging around has put all the boys' hormones into an exponential overdrive. Poor Stewart is walking innocently into all kinds of grief trying to protect Dee's virtue. The California based Stewart's concern has taken him to New England and then to Paris.Some pretty funny things happen to poor Jimmy. But I think you'll like best the way his costume falls apart on a chartered boat in the Seine due to some bad advice that he gets from a fellow hotel guest Robert Morley. Still cracks me up 43 years after first seeing it.Audrey Meadows plays the patient wife and mother to Stewart and Dee borrowing a little from Alice Kramden. And I think today's audience will appreciate seeing Bob Denver essentially reprising his role as a Maynard G. Krebs type beatnik. Look for James Brolin in a tiny role as one of the hormonally charged college kids.Koster and Stewart work well together. Maybe at some point his partnership with Stewart will get some study as well.

Coxer99 A naive teen provides plenty of excitement for her well intentioned Dad, who tries keeping her on an even keel. Fun for die hard fans of Jimmy Stewart, like me. Originally, a play which starred Art Carney and Elizabeth Ashley, who won a Tony for her performance.