I Want You

"I Want You" is a 1951 film starring Dana Andrews, Dorothy McGuire, Farley Granger, Peggy Dow, Mildred Dunnock, and Martin Milner. The character that Dana Andrews plays, Martin Greer, is perhaps an extension of his character in "The Best Years of Our Lives" four years later. It's post-World War II, the men have returned, purchased homes, started families, and built businesses. Then troops begin to be sent to Korea and the draft letters start coming. The movie deals with the effect on a small-town family and the emotional exhaustion and recent memories of World War II. How difficult it must have been to go to war again, yet many did.

Martin refuses to write a letter asking that one of his employees, whose father also works for him, be exempt due to being necessary to his business; he begins an exemption letter for his brother at his mother's request, but he can't do it. In love with the daughter of a member of the draft board, Martin's brother Jack (Granger) believes that he is being drafted to put a distance between himself and his girlfriend (Dow). "We both know the reason why my knee was exempt three months ago and isn't now," he says to her father (Ray Collins). When he suggests at dinner that rather than have people go into battle, the Army should just drop bombs, his sister-in-law (McGuire) throws him out of the house, causing bad blood between her and her in-laws. And it begins a domino effect: Jack and Martin's mother (Dunnock) goes home and trashes her living room, filled with war memorabilia supposedly brought back from battle by her husband (Robert Keith) but in truth purchased in pawn shops; he spent the war as a general's orderly in a Paris hotel.

What is fascinating is that some of the conversation sounds either like what one heard during the Vietnam days or hears today - one push of a button and we'll all be blown to bits and the desperation to get a deferment. Other parts are strictly Dark Ages: Jack's upper class girlfriend Carrie doesn't want to get married until she's 25. She wants to travel, learn Japanese, and "maybe even get a job," all of these things apparently not doable once she's married, the ultimate career goal.

Most of the performances are excellent. McGuire gives a striking performance as a woman who lived as an army wife, and for whom the thought of her husband perhaps being asked to serve again brings up a lot of anger. "We've lived in this house two years," she says. "Two years. Is that all the happiness people are allowed today?...I don't want to be left alone anymore." Dunnock's character is more restrained by equally effective in her disappointment in having to constantly say goodbye to her sons as they go to war. Matinée idol Granger, at the time under contract to the producer of the film, Sam Goldwyn, always had a youthful and likable screen personality, though he was never much of an actor. Dow is fairly one-note as his girlfriend; she doesn't bring enough warmth to the role.

Dana Andrews brings heart to the part of Martin, a man who tries to live by his own conscience and with honesty. He's really the anchor of the film. Though Andrews had a limited range, what he could do was always very good and with a solid presence. The end of the film is extremely touching, in large part due to him.

I was not bored by this movie. I found it very interesting. We've changed in this country and yet we have some of the same concerns. A good deal of the rhetoric sounded quite familiar. Recommended.

While this was not intended as a sequel to the wonderful film THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, it did make a nice follow-up film and is very similar in style and tone--perfect to be seen together as a double feature. A lot of the reason it seems almost like a follow-up is because both films were produced by Samuel Goldwyn and both starred Dana Andrews. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES concerns the adjustment of three men to civilian life following WWII. This film is set just a few years later and has to do with the coming Korean War and its impact on some families in an unnamed American town.

I read one review for this film that said it was "dull" and while I don't agree, I could understand how some might feel that way. The film is sentimental but never comes close to making the impact of THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES and it also doesn't give clear answers in some cases, so it might actually make you think. It's about a scary era in history and how it effects "the little people"--not exactly a topic that generates millions at the box office. Still, from a historical point of view it's a super-important curio as it's about the only film I know of that addresses the topic of the draft and Korea, and someone who would like to learn not just about history but the impact of events on peoples' lives will doubt enjoy this little curio. If you want explosions and action, then this certainly isn't a film for you. If you want to see a film with excellent acting that rings true about real folks facing real problems, then this film is highly recommended.

It's the summer of 1950 in a small American town. The Greers are a happy, middle-America family with normal middle-America lives. With the approaching Korean War, they worry about their young son Jack who is at the top of the draft list.

I like the family drama pre-War and their struggle to keep Jack off the draft list. It could have gone anti-war. The second half is not as compelling. The happy ending feels inevitable. It's a nuclear family drama. Many reviewers seem to be comparing this to Best Years of Our Lives. I would say that it's playing the same sport but this one is trying to get into the pros while Best Years is one of the best player around.

Starts out very happy go lucky; the Greer brothers (Dana Andrews and Farley Granger) are sitting down to dinner, not a care in the world. But they are throwing around the words "draft board", so we know pretty soon they will be dealing with the Korean War. Discussions about who is essential, and might get out of serving. Twenty year old marty milner, who will probably be best known for adam 12 tv series. And of course, the awesome Jim Backus (Mr. Howell !) movie filmed during the summer of 1951, but the U. S. had actually already begun to take action. It's quite good. Gets very serious about halfway through. Gone are the carefree, small town days. Directed by Mark Robson. Nominsated for two big, sprawling films, back to back... Inn of the Sixth Happiness and Peyton Place.

Of course, the first thing - and movie - which you think first after watching this one is THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, produced by the same Samuel Goldwyn company, the analysis, character study of a small town regarding the issues that the Korean war will bring among those people. It prepares us to THE DEER HUNTER and many more films of this kind - including WE WERE SOLDIERS, Vietnam, Irak, Afghanistan wars and so on. This movie, unlike those more recent ones, doesn't evoke too much post war traumatic stress disorders. But Mark Robson, the director of this very one, will give us LIMBO in 1973, telling a story very close to the above titles: Vietnam war wives and widows dealing with a hopeless life and personnal problems. Good film this one, as LIMBO.