One Potato, Two Potato

I first saw this movie in film class, and was so moved by it that I taped it off the independent Film Channel when they showed it, and watched it twice since. And, it still makes me cry every time I watch it. First, I've never seen a movie so understated about its anger. In this regard Barbara Barrie and Bernie Hamilton are both so good that I don't know the right words to describe it. Second, the girl is not Hollywood "cute", she's not a smarty pants; she is 100% genuine. Third, the Judge is so slick and evil although he comes across so nice just like every Southern judge I have met in real life. My film teacher told me if she could pick one film to give someone the truth of what this country was all about in the early '60's, One Potato Two Potato would be that film. And the love story between Hamilton and Barrie is so real and beset with pain and passion that I can really relate to them.

"One Potato, Two Potato" is a very low budget production that made a bit of commotion back when it debuted in 1964. Despite its lowly pedigree (it was filmed in the Cleveland area and the actors were mostly unknowns at the time), the lead actress (Barbara Barrie) received the Best Actress award at Cannes and the film was nominated for an Oscar (Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen). Sadly today, it's a pretty obscure picture.

Julie (Barrie) is a divorced mother of a young girl. The father abandoned them years ago and Julie works at the company where Frank (Bernie Hamilton) works. The meet and through the course of spending time together, they find that there is an attraction. Eventually, they decide to get married--even though they realize it might cause a few heads to turn. After all, she is white and he is black. Despite a bumpy start, things work out and the young family prospers and grows. Things look pretty good, right? Well, they do until the child's biological father shows up unexpectedly. Now the man (?) wants his daughter--mostly because his ego cannot stand that his ex- is with a black man.

This is a well made film but I must warn you that it will rip your heart out. This is NOT a complaint. Heck, back in 'the good old days', it was STILL illegal for blacks and whites to marry in many southern states and in others it was quite possible to lose custody of a child simply because you married someone of another race. Crazy...and pretty stupid. So, it's great that the movie draws attention to it. My only complaint is that the film, while very interesting, is way underplayed--too underplayed. Some more emotion in the acting and relationship between Frank and Julie would have made the movie better overall.

I just finished watching One Potato Two Potato, which TCM aired. The film is terrific, and by today's standards, it still holds up as a film that resonates emotionally and socially. Without saying too much about what happens, I'll just say that I was simply stunned by the film overall. I'm so glad to have seen it. I'm still affected by what I just saw. Anyone who isn't moved by OPTP is surely in need of a heart transplant. This was a great vehicle for actress Barbara Barrie. And the little girl who plays her daughter is top drawer. Such a good movie!

Three years before "guess who's coming to dine?" , Larry Peerce broached a taboo subject in a more convincing way ,at least in my book : no big star ,no brilliant fiance with a Nobel Prize in sight, no wide screen and no color, a shoestring budget .

Both heroes,when the movie begins (it's a long flashback) , have begun a fight which is lost in advance;the husband's lawyer , a friend though , reluctantly accepts to defend him. Religion lends a helping hand,in a the shape of a wise minister ,but the others do not (look at the face of the woman who attends the ceremony ;even the husband 's father urges his son to stick to his own kind ;it takes the birth of a baby boy to win him over).

If the final scene does not make you cry,nothing will.

Maybe it was the racially charged era of the early Civil Rights struggle, or maybe it was because I was a young mother with a child the same age as the one in the movie, but this was one of the most powerful movies I have ever scene. Today, 40 years later, I am still moved whenever I see Barbara Barrie, even if it is in a situation comedy on TV. Certainly, she captured the role of the white mother married to a black man in a racist society. All the other actors performed admirably, the actor playing the second husband was appealing. It was believable that a co-worker would have found him attractive and would have fallen in love, even given the tenor of the times. While the writing may have presented the story a bit "over the top", this movie went beyond civil rights "propaganda", and presented real people dealing with a difficult situation. It certainly was real to me....I had to be led out of the cinema in tears when it ended. A high recommendation!!!