johnpaizs
Joined Mar 2002
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Reviews2
johnpaizs's rating
... it's just so poorly executed. I.e, the storytelling is s**t. It doesn't unfold in any good way. We're thrown into an action scene to start. It's a teaser. It shows us the kind of thing to expect in the rest of the movie. "This is what we're selling" the filmmakers are saying. All right. But then following that, instead of going into a proper beginning where everything is clearly set up, we meet the protagonist, we are given a reason to like them and root for them, etc, etc, we're just thrown into the middle of another bit of action, but it's just meaningless dramatics at this point because nothing has been set up. We're feeling nothing, nor could we be expected to because we know nothing yet about what's going on. The director's storytelling instincts just aren't there. Unfortunately this is a movie that starts off on the wrong foot and pretty much just hobbles along from there.
Helpful•00
... practically. Watching this film with modern eyes is I imagine a night and day experience as compared to how audiences must have reacted to it back in the day... or is it completely? Andy's beautiful young drama teacher that he's in thrall of does warn him about a line that teachers and their students must not cross. I wonder where that was coming from exactly? Anyway, I don't think it's possible for any modern viewer post Mary Kay and her like to view this without imagining the worst and most sordid possibilities. On another note, this in my opinion is the best of the Andy Hardy series. One particular scene in a classroom at night has an atmospheric mise en scene that goes far beyond what we can expect from an Andy Hardy movie; Helen Gilbert who plays the teacher is terrific; the high-school play that Andy wrote and stars in opposite his usual crush, Polly Benedict, goes off the rails with hilarious results; and the usual Judge Hardy subplot is a good one.
Helpful•10