A Date with Your Family (1950)

★★★★★ · Interminable · Kieran Kenney · 2004-02-12

Oh my god. This movie goes on for ever. Once you get past that, there's something else that's quite striking and creepy: it's actually better to lie and suppress in order to have a good relationship with your family. The who boys are, for instance, greeting their dad on his arival home from work "as though they were genuinely glad to see him." God forbid they actually are. This is one of the saddest families I can think of. Nobody seems to like anybody else. The mother seems very left out, the father seems universally disliked, and he conversely has genuine distaste for the company of either…

★★★★★ · And we still wonder why hippies came into existence? · heiniken · 2004-04-19

This has to be one of the most outdated and ridiculous films I have ever seen. Besides the fact that the characters are simply refered to as "daughter" and "father", it's an example of one sick person's idea of a perfect dinner. I can only imagine how those poor kids turned out today. "Junior" probably spends most of his day now attending a psychiatric ward while "Sister" is still trying to appear attractive for her family. (Incest?) The father always appears ready to beat his kids within an inch of their life for doing things like hogging up the dinner conversation. Also the brother has to…

★★★★★ · A true classic! · Johnny Squares · 2006-09-08

From the smooth yet authoritative voice-over by Hugh Beaumont(Ward, I'm worried abut the Beaver too), to the rigid roles each family member must conform to...this film is the ultimate "how-to" for a 1950's America. Mon, Dad, Sister, Brother and Junior are going to have a nice family meal together even if it kills them. I find myself asking questions like "who worte this film?" and "why?". The answer, I'm afraid, is that it was written by the guardians of a paranoid and repressed culture. They made this film because this was going to be how things will be forever and ever. So you better know…

★★★★★ · Don't make to much of it · *Roxy* · 2010-08-06

I Enjoyed this very much and although it may not be a page out of true history, it is a page out of cinematic history. I always find this type of stuff entertaining and humorous and although I may not wholey agree, I do get where they were headed with this in terms of the message.....sit down, have a meal and converse with your family every night and while doing so how about showing interest, appreciation and and a few kind words for one another(just maybe not nearly at the cheese level suggested in the film).

★★★★★ · Hilarious! · clr2sea · 2009-01-14

First, to LatinGal: I'm glad you left America too, u have no sense of humor. Now, about the movie: hilarious! I think stuff like this is funny because anyone who knows anything about the fiftys knows it wasn't at all like that. My own little family was never like that; I didn't live in the 50s, but my family members who did have told me quite some stories about it, and nobody had a "perfect family". I love Ward Cleaver's narration. If u like this, you'll love Leave it to Beaver, with the Beaver hating on girls and Eddie Haskell training to be a lifelong criminal. Stuff like this helps to poke…

★★★★★ · A Date with Your Family · Christine Hennig · 2002-10-16

Are you afflicted with 50's nostalgia? If so, this film is a good cure. 50's kids are told in no uncertain terms that family harmony is their responsibility and is dependent upon good manners and "appropriate" behavior at the dinner table. A standard of perfection in family dining is shown that kids are expected to live up to every night! There is no room in the perfect family dinner for emotions, child requests of any kind, or any other kind of talk likely to stir the emotions. This kind of repression was the dark side of the "nice" families portrayed in sitcoms of the period. In fact, it's…