I tuned in to this one because I'm becoming a real Glenn Ford fan. I think he's a superb and underrated actor with a wide range, and he indeed shines in this charming and unpretentious flick. As far as all the comments about being dated and politically incorrect, I recall the admonition of my college history professor that we cannot judge past eras by the standards of the culture we live in. And this film is not that ancient. I and many viewers grew up in the era in which this movie was made, and considering things nowadays I wouldn't mind going back. Anyway, the film does have its flaws, primarily the speed with which Eddie goes from mourning to trying to get his Dad hitched again. It's a bit unnatural, but we should just suspend disbelief. The chemistry between father and son is what makes the film shine, and in this age of broken families and parents willing to discard their children, it's sadly nostalgic to see such devotion. The film never overplays Tom's relationship with his two paramours. Character development is well done, including the housemaid Mrs. Livngstone, who finally learns Spanish, only to find out she studied the wrong language. It's a charming and tender movie, and the production values are great. The color technology in films of that era was so superior to today's.

I'd always avoided seeing this partly because of the title, "The Courtship of Eddy's Father." Seeing the father of some kid named Eddy being courted was not in itself an attractive subject. Then somebody told me that Shirley Jones was yummy in it and an obscure but ovviously puerile impulse forced me to sit through it.It was everything I'd feared. Yes, Shirley Jones was pretty and buoyant as always, but the rest is terribly dated. Marriage for Glenn Ford's handsome, charming, steady, wealthy widower is on the mind of all the women he meets, especially Dina Merrill, wearing a black wig to signal us that she won't win the prize. I guess, to be fair, Stella Stevens as the luscious but stupefied girl in the penny arcade isn't interested in marrying him. The movie wouldn't allow it because it would be infra dig for Ford to show an interest in anyone less wholesome than Shirley Jones.There's no reason this couldn't have been a winner. The presence of a kid, not even a cute red-headed little Ron Howard, who asks all these precocious questions, is not necessarily poison to a movie. And it was directed by Vincente Minelli, who knows how to handle this kind of material with aplomb.The Doris Day series that preceded this -- beginning with "Pillow Talk" -- were an expression of similar mores. Nice women don't put out and they all want to get married and build a home. The Day series had good gags and funny situations, good farces, even the sequels. But this? It has an element of melancholy running through it. Ford isn't a reckless bachelor. He's a sorrowful widower and there's too much revolting sentimentality attached to it, as if the script wanted us to cry instead of just laugh. Maybe most repugnant is the scene in which the kid goes into a screaming fit because the death of his goldfish reminds him of his mother's death. And the laughs just aren't good enough to compensate for this facile tear-jerking. Here's an example of a gag.Stella Steven in a tight skirt is on a date with Jerry Van Dyke. They're bowling and he can't bowl so she tells him she going to show him how to do it. She takes the ball, bends over, and instructs him to keep his hips loose. She wiggles her pert little behind innocently. "Do you see my hips?" He's gawking at them. It could have been worth a smile if Van Dyke had never taken his eyes from her face and said his lines sensibly, as if they had nothing to do with her buns. But, as in a cartoon, his eyes are bulging out and his lines are emphatic: "I DO, I DO!" I'm reminded of a scene in Frank Tashlin's "The Girl Can't Help It." Jayne Mansfield, she of the mammoth mammaries, in a low cut dress and holding two milk bottles at her chest, leans over a table and asks Tom Ewell if he thinks she's "equipped for motherhood." Ewell, with a fixed, agonized smile, never breaks his gaze, as much as he's dying to, but replies in a slow and deliberate manner that, yes -- yes, she is equipped for motherhood. THAT'S funny. Courting somebody's father is a pretty crude business when you get right down to it. It needs to be a little subversive to be really successful. Maybe all comedies do.

Are you kidding me? How about the scene in the bowling alley when Dina Merrill tells Glen Ford "You know the old saying that behind every man is a woman? Well that's not for me. I want to be right next to him. Is that too much to ask?" To which Ford replies "You'd better be happy with the vote, because that's never going to happen." If that isn't sexist I don't know what is. Merrill's character is painted as a heartless "career woman" and Elizabeth, played by Shirley Jones, is using her nursing career to run away from her problems.This is a wonderful movie with great acting, beautiful costumes and sets, and a heartwarming plot. But that doesn't make it any less sexist.

Having only seen the sitcom that was made for television, we decided to take a look at the 1963 original film directed by none other than Vincente Minnelli, a man that almost always delivered. It's sad to see that neither Mr. Minnelli, nor the screen adapter, John Gay, had any clear ideas about what to make of the material. The movie could have done much more, but ends up as a typical comedy of that period.Tom Corbett, a widower with a young son, Eddie, is at the center of the story. Being still relatively young, Tom is the object of desire by women that are looking for a husband. The problem is that it's obvious the girl next door, Elizabeth, is really the one for him from the moment we set our eyes on her. Eddie, who is going through some bereavement pains, has a problem, accepting his mother's death.Tom and Elizabeth irritate one another when they are together. This is part of what will become a match made in heaven, or so we think, but no, Tom decides to pursue someone else, Rita, who is into fashion, and clearly the wrong woman to bring home to Eddie. That becomes quite clear when Rita suggests to send Eddie to be with relatives for a while when they get married. This suggestion is what triggers Tom to realize how wonderful Elizabeth is after all.Glenn Ford was good as Tom. Mr. Ford always gave an honest performance, as he does here. The lovely Shirley Jones is perfect as Elizabeth. It is however Dina Merrill who makes is a joy to watch her as Rita. Ms. Merrill is an actress that deserved much better parts. She was radiantly beautiful and projects such an elegant figure in the movie. Ron Howard, was at a cute stage of his career. Roberta Sherwood is fun as the housekeeper.This is a film to watch as a curiosity. Vincente Minnelli's direction doesn't go anywhere.