Mixed Company

Mixed Company is a good film which looks at the topic of adopting children.

It features a fine cast, including Joe Bologna and Barbar Harris.

It also raised a little controversy when it came out due to a scene where Joe Bologna spanks a young black boy, Haywood Nelson, on his bare bottom.

Not available on video to my knowledge.

The writer of "Yours, Mine, and Hours" came back to the well with this vaguely similar plot line....but to dismiss this charming, genuine, and very heartfelt little sleeper as a mere retread is to risk missing some big laughs, some great performances, and many deftly wrung tears.

Story of a coach's wife who finds herself drawn to the hobby of collecting "unwanted" kids could have come across as sentimental drivel. This low budget gem instead draws upon the grit of 1974 and brings it's characters to full life with a raw intensity that is all but unheard of today....

The sublime Rush and Bologna may come off a bit broad at first...and the no frills cinematography may give the early scenes a TV sitcom vibe...but stick around until the three orphans begin working their magic on their prospective parents...(and your own heartstrings).

These are damage, scarred kids...and their baggage is displayed in unflinching detail which looks quite shocking now (almost as surprising as the film's flashes of nudity...try and see an uncut print if you can find one).

To my view this film deserves to be a family favorite even more than the original "Yours Mine and ours" ...and I would also it deserved to be remade...if I thought there was a small chance Of modern Hollywood recapturing it's honesty and heart!

I saw this movie twice, first time in the theater. The movie was well written and very interesting indeed. The character I liked best was the couples' youngest and biological daughter, Mary (played by Ariane Heller). She was so cute and mischeivous, and had very beautiful brown eyes! I loved the scene where she was in the bathroom showing her adopted Black Brother, Freddy, that she was all white by removing her bath robe standing there wearing only in her under pants. This scene was so cute!

I wish this film had a sequel, and hope that it will be released on DVD soon!

Funny movie based on the life of a coach who adopts children of different backgrounds. At first, they adopt Freddie - a black kid, but Freddie gets so much perks for being a minority that they decide to adopt one more minority to teach him the world is not all about him. Enter Kwan - a Vietnamese girl with trauma caused by war and her pal - a native American boy. With 6 kids, a bigoted neighbor, a basketball coach with a less than stellar team - the mom's challenge is keeping the peace and making the children happy.

People have to think about when this movie was made and how they used humor to take a jab at bigotry.

Great job - Excellent cast!

This is a cute film about families and how members change. The short skirts on Mom really brought back memories. It looked so strange to see short shorts on the basketball players.

One word of warning: the language is horrific. I guess that is to be expected since we saw it on a premium channel, but it seemed to be over the top, especially for a film made 30 years ago.

We especially enjoyed the relationships between the coach and "star" basketball player; the "Indian" boy and the Vietnamese/American girl; the original family and the new family; and the husband and wife before and after the family size increased.

It was also nice to see stars we had forgotten about; 1974 is the date given and it has given us the desire to see "where are they now."