Tuyos, míos, nuestros

I have always just loved this movie! I saw it as a teenager in the 60's, getting ready to go off to college and thought it was great fun at that time. Since I was a teenager, I remember really enjoying the character of Mike, played by Tim Matheson. I always thought he would go on to be a real big movie star instead of TV movies, since he had lots of charisma and maturity at that young age. However, he has done very well in the roles on television he has played and is always a real treat to watch. I don't think I thought Lucille Ball was too old the first time I saw it, because anyone over 25 seemed old to me at the time! I recently caught this movie on TV and enjoyed it again from an adult perspective. It was a little corny but still a good film. Life in the sixties even with Vietnam and all was a much more innocent time especially with what kids face today. I would give it a 100 just because it is so uplifting.

YOURS, MINE, AND OURS reunites Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda, who had worked together in the 1942 B-film THE BIG STREET, the former a heavy-handed drama making a contrast to this lightweight comedy. Reminiscent of CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, the premise -- a man and woman, both with a huge family, meet, fall in love, and marry -- would be unbelievable if it weren't true.

Based on the autobiographical novel by Helen Eileen Beardsley, YOURS, MINES, AND OURS is a blueprint of sorts of future television shows "The Brady Bunch" and "Eight is Enough" but amps it up to eleven. While on those shows we never got to see just how a real household was handled (being situation programs, their stories were resolved in minimal time), here we get glimpses of what happens at dinnertime, or how groceries get done, and it's those trivial things that keep the charming story in check instead of throwing it into la-la land. Both Fonda and Ball are well-matched and have funny scenes together despite that both actors were a little too old for their characters, but it's not even a minor contrivance. Very enjoyable, witty, sunny: just what this kind of movie should be.

"Yours Mine And Ours" is one of the best "family films" of the 1960s. (Very) loosely based on the real-life story of Helen North, a Navy widow with eight children, who married Navy career man Frank Beardsley, a widower with ten children of his own. Lucille Ball bought the rights to Mrs. Beardsley's book "Who Gets The Drumstick?", co- produced it, and took the starring role of Helen North. For those who know her chiefly as a comedienne, this film will be a pleasant surprise. For not only does she have the opportunity to indulge in some of the slapstick she is famous for, she proves conclusively that she was an excellent dramatic actress as well. Moreover, she can switch abruptly (and seemingly effortlessly) from comedy to pathos, sometimes in the same scene! Henry Fonda takes the part of Frank Beardsley and gives it both dimension and strength. As his bachelor friend, Van Johnson is a welcome presence, as is Tom Bosley as a sardonic doctor. There is also a hilarious performance from Louise Troy, as Frank's date early in the story. The kids are well cast and include future notables Tim Matheson, Suzanne Cupito (who grew up to be Morgan Brittany), Mitch Vogel and Tracy Nelson. A good deal of the plot involves the mutual dislike most of the kids have for their step-siblings, but a great deal of charm is present as well. Aiding the production is a nice score by Fred Karlin, a lovely song "It's A Sometimes World", and handsome San Francisco location photography. A remake has just been completed and will be released around the holiday season, but it's not likely to top this one. Incidentally, if you read the original book by Helen Beardsley, you will most likely come away with a far different picture of the Beardsley family, one which may not have transferred as well to the screen. This may also explain why there is no mention of the book as the story source in the movie's opening credits.

Lucille Ball reined above Hollywood as Queen of Comedy and also the CEO of Desilu with not one but three studio lots in Hollywood,Desilu Gower, Desilu Cahuenga and DesiluCulver ( The old Selznick Studio where Gone With The Wind was filmed). Taking chances was Lucy's forte: starring in a TV show "I Love Lucy" and insisting on the casting of her husband Desi Arnaz and her also equally famous decisions authorize the productions of "Star Trek" and "Mission Impossible" against the recommendations of the Desilu Board of Directors. Ball's last great accomplishment as a CEO was the insistence of filming "Yours Mine and Ours" as a theatrical movie hoping to make Desilu a force in film production as well. Make no doubt about it if one re reads the story that Rex Reed wrote in the New York Times on Lucy while she was filming this movie, Ms. Ball ran the show and event titled his great article on Lucy " I Run My Studio Like I Run My Home".

Lucille Ball-looking youthful and beautiful- is superb in the title role of Helen Beardsley and her nuanced performance should have garnered Lucille Ball a long sought after Oscar nomination. Ms. Ball is at times both funny and in a departure from her TV "Lucy" quite soft and underplays many scenes. Henry Fonda is a perfect "Mr. Beardsley". Van Johnson a pal from Lucy's old MGM days is cast and gets a nice role supporting both Stars.

Many were surprised by the success of this film. I have no idea why. It is a fine and lasting comedy classic directed by the sure hand of the fine Melville Shavelson.

I worked with Helen Beardsley at a hospital in Fresno, CA in the early 80's. She was a nice woman with a take-charge attitude. (I think you have to have one when you are the mother of 19 children.) She used to live in an ocean-view house in the Carmel area, but then sold it to move to Fresno. We always kidded her about doing that; she said the weather was better inland. I think that she was proud of her book and movie. She sold the rights to her movie early on, before it achieved sort of cult-favorite status. She told me that she regretted doing that. I did not know that she died until I read it on this comment page. I was sorry to read that; she wasn't that old and she was a strong woman.