The Restless Years

Gay people could truly identify with the characters that John Saxon and Sandra Dee played here in this Ross Hunter soap opera. This is a story of kids who don't fit in with a small town and I never knew a gay person from a small town with one exception who couldn't wait to get out. These are indeed The Restless Years for our leads.

Teresa Wright is Sandra Dee's mother whose husband left her years ago and she's raised Dee by herself with all the gossiping mouths speculating what happened. Dee's considered illegitimate so the adults snub Wright. On the other hand the kids who are her peers consider her easy at least the males think so.

It was only natural that when James Whitmore who is an air conditioner salesman moves back with wife Margaret Lindsay and son Saxon that Dee and Saxon are drawn together. Saxon is a rebel type and not fitting in at all with the country club set of this town. But Whitmore who knows what public relations is in his job wants very much for Saxon to mix and mingle with the 'right' sort.

Both Dee and Saxon make an appealing pair and the adults in support are perfectly cast. You might also make note of former Disney star Luana Patten as a mean girl, Hayden Rorke and Dorothy Green as her dysfunctional parents and Jody McCrea as her jock boyfriend who picks a fight with Saxon and regrets it.

The Restless Years, a nice depiction of those bland Eisenhower years with an undercurrent of rebellion.