The Actress

This movie is so much more than a sentimental reminiscence. I'm not much at all for those "I remember..." mom or dad or whatever memory movies. Also, there are so many, many plays and movies about a family's career aspirations for a son, aspirations that get challenged because of what the son wants to do instead. Here we have a story set after the turn of the 20th century, about a working class father's career aspirations for his DAUGHTER - a career that will provide her with financial stability but isn't at all what she wants to do. Spencer Tracy plays a curmudgeon, working-class, not-at-all refined father in a role I've never seen him in before - and he's AMAZING. The dialogue has some one linters that are, at times, hysterical - any person who has every been embarrassed by their parents, or every had a parent say something like, "Why did you ever have to be so different?" will warm to this movie immediately. And the Mary Wickes moment is why she makes every movie better even if she's in it for less than 20 seconds.