Father Goose
Father Goose
| 10 December 1964 (USA)
Father Goose Trailers

During World War II, South Sea beachcomber Walter Eckland is persuaded to spy on planes passing over his island. He gets more than he bargained for as schoolteacher Catherine Frenau arrives on the run from the Japanese with her pupils in tow!

Reviews
Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.
Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.
Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.
Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.
FilmBuff1994 Father Goose is a brutal movie with a very poorly developed plot and a cast that lack any sense of dedication. I wanted to watch this movie initially because I am a big fan of Cary Grant, who was an amazing actor and terrific in the majority of what he has done. However, there is no sense of him wanting to be in this movie, it is as if he lost a bet or realised early in to production that he made a terrible decision, and when the lead actor does not seem to be having fun, you will not either. There is essentially no plot, a man investigating air crafts during World War II is forced to look after a teacher and several students who crash land on his island. It is a Odd Couple- type of set up, but the gags that ensue between these two very different people are not one bit funny, and as a result of Leslie Caron's irritating performance, is a bit painful to watch.It is also a complete drag, a two hour movie that should not have stretched beyond ninety minutes, it never uses the war theme to add any sort of emotional depth and build up characters' relationships, instead going for one lazy gag after another. Dull, unfunny and poorly acted, I could not, under any circumstances, recommend Father Goose. A man spying on Japan's naval movements for the US has his life turned upside down by a shipwrecked teacher and her pupils. Best Performance: Cary Grant / Worst Performance: Leslie Caron
jhkp Father Goose cobbles together elements of The African Queen, The Beachcomber, and the Monty Woolley WWII comedy, The Pied Piper.Cary Grant, as a South Seas wastrel, plays against type. He's a bit mussed up (he wears his shirt tail out) but never really conveys the gritty, grimy nature of the role. Even "playing unattractive," Cary is attractive. And elegant. Not that he's miscast, it's more that he and the director don't take it far enough.The comedy is broad and not always hilarious.Leslie Caron is potentially quite funny but the film doesn't seem to give her enough opportunities.The schoolgirls in the film don't really act the way I think they would in the situation of the film. They're not very well defined characters, and it would be nice if they were people we could identify with at any point.Trevor Howard has a part as a British naval officer.
Jakester I've loved this movie since it was on "Saturday Night at the Movies" on NBC in about 1967 - I was 12 years old and I suddenly wanted to be Cary Grant - not the debonair Cary Grant of "To Catch a Thief" who hooks up with Grace Kelly (that desire would come about a year later) but the beach-bum Cary Grant with the cool boat from "Father Goose." I've re-watched the film a couple of times since then, including one viewing quite recently, and it strikes me as completely charming. Grant is outstanding (he felt this role was close to his real-life self). Caron is good. The kids are marvelous - very funny and alive. The boat is as cool as ever. Trevor Howard - that old grizzled Trevor Howard - is very fine. He doesn't have a whole lot to do - I get the feeling he shot his role in about a week in a Hollywood studio - but he makes the most of it. The script offers some interesting subtleties, such as the way Grant proves himself worthy of Caron's love - nothing REAL subtle, but kinda subtle. All in all, good family fare. And I still want to be a beach bum with a cool boat.
bob-790-196018 Let's see. Cary Grant plays a drunkard and ne'er-do-well. At the start of the film, we see him stealing military supplies from off the wharf. His country is fighting the Japanese in a war for survival following Pearl Harbor, but this character just wants to drink and fish--or drink like a fish.Then he meets the Leslie Caron character and the seven little girls in her charge. They all get marooned on a jungle island. Cary wants no part of the little girls and doesn't seem concerned that they have no place to sleep and no food, could wander off into the jungle and get lost, be bitten by snakes, etc. Not his problem...And by the way, he's the hero of our story.Then there's the Leslie Caron character. She takes over Cary's hut, confiscates all of his supplies, strips his boat of any usable goods....And she's the heroine.Of course, the whole point of this obnoxious behavior is that it's supposed to be funny. Certainly the Motion Picture Academy thought so. They gave the screenwriters an Oscar for best original screenplay.The 1960s were an abysmal time for the movies. Sex comedies that made wives look like broody hens. James Bond lookalikes with Playboy lifestyles that now seem like the fantasies of 12-year-old boys. On and on. Surprising how many movies of that decade are now unwatchable.
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