BRIDGE CLUB: The Country Girl (1954)

Directed by George Seaton

Starring Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby, and William Holden

Welcome to BRIDGE CLUB, where I pick what I consider “classic” chick flicks. The same rules still apply (Never seen it, watch it alone, beer). The only difference is these are movies that teenage girls might call “old” with disdain.

I picked "The Country Girl" for two reasons. One, it had Grace Kelly, and dos, I thought it would be a classic example of ella "chick flick". I will take a moment to talk about Grace Kelly. If you don’t know who Grace Kelly is then stop reading right now and go rent “Rear Window” (1954) then come back and read the rest of this. She was…amazing. And, yes, girls…instead of growing up and pretending to be a princess (walking around with “princess” across the ass of her juicy couture sweat pants)…she actually became one. She married the Prince of Monaco. Unfortunately, for us moviegoers, she never really acted again. This gives us only a few films to enjoy with Grace Kelly. TCG is one of them, and she won an Academy Award for it. I had never seen it and thought it might be a good classic chick flick.

I was wrong. This isn’t really a chick flick. I will say it does have subject matter that women will find compelling but it doesn’t really fit the genre of “chick flick”. It is really a film about men (arguable) and the women who support them. While this is a really, really good movie I don’t think it is a great movie. Although, Grace Kelly is great in it. It also stars the always manly and forceful William Holden, and Bing Crosby in a dramatic role. I like William Holden a lot (see “Sunset Boulevard” (1950)), but he was the weakest performance (of the three main actors) in this film.

William Holden, plays Bernie Dodd, a successful Broadway director who recently fired the male lead in his most recent production that is about go on the road. Going against the protests of his producer, Bernie brings in Frank Elgin, played by Bing Crosby, an aging “down on his luck” ex-alc0holic Broadway actor whom he always admired growing up. Bernie is introduced to Frank’s stern wife Georgie, played by Grace Kelly, and quickly learns of their shadowed past. They both want the best for Frank who personally worries whether or not he can handle the role.

That’s the set-up….If you don’t want spoilers quit reading….

(SPOILER)

About three quarters of the way through the film I actually said to myself, “What the f*ck?” It was so obvious that the studios were run by men, just in what the actors were saying and how women (Grace in this movie) were reacting to them. Maybe women were different at the time...they were different at the time...but, wtf! You know what I’m not going to spoil the film. Watch it and see for yourself.

SIDE NOTE: So, I think watching all these chick flicks has really changed the way I watch movies. Especially, some of these “classic” films…I’m starting to approach them and watch them more from a women’s perspective. How are the women treated, how are they written, how are they reacting. In this way, this film almost disturbed me…but had a saving grace (no pun intended) at the end.

Maybe this blog is making me soft. I don’t know. I don’t really care. As far as the rating goes for "The Country Girl" I have rated it differently then I would say “Never Been Kissed” (1999). I’m giving both a 4 out of 5. However, “The Country Girl” is by far a superior film. The difference is that TCG is film while NBK is simply a movie.

FORCE THE BOYFRIEND: 6 out of 10 (1 means he'll hate it, 10 means he'll like it)

Watch if you liked....Classic films.

Chick Flick: 4 cartons of ice cream (out of 5) - rated harder than other chick flicks

DVD: 1 pieces of milky chocolate (out of 5) - good quality image..nothing on DVD

Beer: 4 manly high fives (out of 5)