The Benefits of Looking Ahead (1950)

★★★★★ · Nick says · Spuzz · 2003-01-16

In this atypical Coronet guidance film, Nick, quite possibly the stupidest kid ever featured in any of these films, is so thick headed he doesnt even know what he'll do 10 minutes from now. Soon, as this is a Coronet film, he looks to the skies and listens to voices to tell him how to look ahead. He talks to himself as well, convinced, since this is Coronet film, that making a chart will solve everything. Soon of course, Nick becomes a well adjusted boy in school, and his problems are solved. The actor playing Nick is screamlingly bad, which makes this film so much fun to watch. Highly…

★★★★★ · Nick is Not at All Intelligent · averytheclown · 2003-11-14

Nick is an extremely dimwitted highschol student at danger of becoming a "drifer, or maybe even a bum" if he can't figure out how to look into the future. This film is absolutely hilarious.

★★★★ · The Oscar Goes To... · Dodsworth the Cat · 2021-09-22

About half-way through this short, I felt bad for Nick Baxter. Not the character, but the guy who played him. His acting was stiff as Nick in Coronet's "What To Do on a Date" but this film calls for dramatics that he plays in the same stilted style, but yells more. Having to perform the ridiculous Coronet dialogue doesn't help. The "bum" scene where he sits on a hospital bed likely used in another Coronet film and eating a sandwich, black stuff smeared on his face in lieu of stubble, is a real highlight (and is quickly chopped off along with the English library music). Nick decides success is…

★★★★ · How to be a Bum in Six Easy Lessons · Scott Bot · 2005-03-04

Strange little film on planning ahead for your life. Nick has got to be one of the stupidest people I have seen in an educational film. One wonders why the filmmakers depicted him as being this dumb. Was the audience supposed to feel superior to him? Essentially, what this film says is that if you don't plan ahead and study in school, you will become a bum. Interesting, because in the era that this film was made, there were plenty of good factory jobs available for slackers like Nick. One other thing: how many shop teachers would let someone work on a project in a tie? Aren't there some…

★★★★ · But what if I want to be a drifter, or bum? · dynayellow · 2004-07-20

Thick-as-a-brick Nick can't figure out why he's not picked as "most likely to succeed" even though he never does anything, and never aspires to do anything. Eventually he figures out, through the magic of wood shop, that he wants to be a high-powered executive and joins the math club. Seriously. Several people have pointed out the delightful scene of Nick imagining himself as a bum, gnawing on a hunk of bread (the heel no less!), and I can but add my voice to the chorus. Must see.

★★★★ · Benefits of Looking Ahead · Christine Hennig · 2002-10-07

Nick, the dorky teenager from What to Do on a Date, is just as clueless about career planning as he is about dating. After his "friend" warns Nick that he will probably turn out to be a bum the way he's going (and we see a great scene of an unshaven Nick gnawing on some stale bread in a cheap hotel room), Nick turns to the rickety table he's building in shop class, which falls apart when he tries to pound a nail into it. Nick finally figures out that he needs to make a plan for his table, and then it occurs to him that maybe he should make a plan for his life as well. This guy has to be the…