Andy Hardy Comes Home

Andy Hardy comes home is one of my favorite Andy Hardy films. I also really love the music in it. The story is great as well. It just gives me a warm feeling to see all of the Hardy family together again. Of course, Judge Hardy is gone and that leaves a sad feeling inside. When Andy keeps going to the place where he had his mad to mad talks with his father, I get teary eyed. There was not a better series than the Andy Hardy series. This serious made Mickey Rooney a major star and has remained a major star since. For a sweet, enjoyable evening, check out Andy Hardy Comes Home. It's not quite like the original but still very pleasant. Also, Mickey Rooney's real life son plays Andy Jr.

As a way to tie up the loose ends of the series this average entry is a passable movie but the old spark is gone. Easy to see why this was the final film of the run.

The clips hearkening back to previous Hardy adventures (really just an excuse to remind the viewer that Judy Garland, Lana Turner and Esther Williams had appeared in the films) only emphasizes how modest this one is. Nothing against the actress who plays Andy's wife but it is too bad that they couldn't convince Ann Rutherford to return as Polly Benedict as Mrs. Hardy which any fan of the series expected.

For series fans a nice piece of nostalgia but that's about it.

This could've been the perfect Hardy reunion film, but there are several things wrong or missing here. Andy Hardy is coming home to Carvel from out west 12 years after the last Hardy film. Hardy's dad Judge Hardy (Lewis Stone) is absent but Lewis Stone passed away in 1953, 5 years before this film. But nothing is mentioned in the film about what happened to Andy's dad. Polly (Ann Rutherford) is not in this film, and she was a major character in the series as Andy's on again off again girlfriend. Betsy Booth (Judy Garland) is not in this film either, but that's most likely due to Judy having been fired from MGM in 1951 and the Hardy films are all MGM. I still wished Judy would've come back for "Andy Hardy comes home" considering all the years she and Mickey did films together. Then the flashback of Andy and Betsy(Judy) that Andy had on the plane was actually a clip from "Babes in arms", which was a Judy/Mickey film but not a Hardy film. There are a number of good clips with Judy they could've used from " Love finds Andy Hardy" or "Life begins for Andy Hardy". Patricia Breslin (Andy's mom) and Fay Holden really looked older here, but so did Mickey. 12+ years is enough time for noticeable aging. The juvenile, energized, rambunctious Mickey from the late 30s and 40s was gone. So was his slick womanizing ways, Andy always was a real girl magnet in all his earlier pictures. When Andy returns to Carvel, we see him in a soda shop trying to dance with the late 1950s teens and tire out a lot more easy than he would've 12-20 years earlier. I've realized here how Mickey, Judy Garland, Ann Rutherford, etc. are a level earlier to the late 50s jukebox generation and have passed by their heyday now. They were the late 30s and 40s "swing" generation. It's almost kind of sad to see Mickey here compared to how he was. There's a plot about plans for an aircraft plant being built in town and a lot of the townspeople objecting to it. That part was sorta OK. But a lot of the spirit from the earlier films seemed to have passed by now.

In his autobiography, Mickey Rooney indicated he had high hopes for this movie but really hated what it turned out to be. He didn't say why, but I have to agree with his sentiments. It's a downer.

The Andy Hardy films of the '30s and '40s had an abundance of humor, or at least good humor. And a lot of the magic was the town of Carvel itself. It was an earlier version of TV's Mayberry -- a gentle, peaceful place that anyone would love to call home. In this movie, however, Carvel is a gloomy little backwater, left behind by postwar prosperity. You can't blame Andy for wanting to rescue it, even if his plan for accomplishing that is dubious.

If you're an Andy Hardy fan, you'll want to see this film out of a certain kind of loyalty. But don't expect it to be fun.

ANDY HARDY COMES HOME (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1958), a Fryman Enterprise Production directed by Howard Koch, returns Mickey Rooney to his iconic role of Andy Hardy and home studio of MGM. In a title role he originated in A FAMILY AFFAIR (MGM, 1937) starring Lionel Barrymore and Spring Byington, followed by fifteen subsequent comedy-dramas through 1946 featuring the recast Lewis Stone and Fay Holden, this latest installment not only resumes the outlook of the Hardy family for the first time since LOVE LAUGHS AT ANDY HARDY (1946), but an attempt to revive the movie series which actually put an end to it.

After receiving a telegram from her son, Andy, that he is coming home for a visit, his mother, Emily (Fay Holden), Aunt Milly Forrest (Sara Haden), sister Marian, Marion (Cecilia Parker) and his nephew, Jimmy (Johnny Weissmulelr Jr.) arrive at Carval Municipal Airport for a family greeting. Andy (Mickey Rooney), a popular teenager in his day, now married with two children living in Santa Monica, California, is a top executive in legal department for the Gordon Aircraft Corporation. As a favor to Mr. Gordon (Sydney Smith), the company president, Andy returns to Carvel seeking for undeveloped property for a proposed missile factory site, something that could have Carvel grow and prosper with plenty of employment. With the assistance of courthouse clerk Betty Wilson (Pat Crawley), he proposes buying land belonging to Thomas Chandler (Vaughn Taylor), offering him a set price. However, Chandler goes back on his promise with a higher selling price. With the help of his best friend, "Beezy" Anderson (Joey Foreman), he offers to sell him his Puddle Creek property at a lower cost. When news gets out, a petition is used to stop the deal by rezoning the property. Complications develop when Betty's jealous boyfriend, Jack Bailey (William Leslie) misinterprets her spending too much business time with Andy. With the arrival of his wife, Jane (Patricia Breslin) and his children, Andy Jr. (Teddy Rooney) and Marian, better known as "Cricket" (Gina Gillespie), for moral support, Andy feels betrayed by his friends, let alone the possibility of still being employed. For this production, four songs, written by Mickey Rooney and Harold Spina, are credited, including the opening theme song of "Lady Summer Night," "Ugotia Soda," "Unk WInk" and "The Octavian Song." Also in the cast are Jerry Colonna ("Doc"); Frank Ferguson (Mayor Benson); and Tommy Duggan (Councilman Warren).

With movie and later television reunions seldom doing well, ANDY HARDY COMES HOME is no exception. Yet for those who have become accustomed to the series at its prime (1937-1946), would view this reunion for nostalgic reasons, especially through film clips of MGM starlets who later prospered as major leading ladies as Judy Garland as Betsy Booth (who appeared in three entries in the series), Esther Williams's underwater kissing sequence with Andy from ANDY HARDY'S DOUBLE LIFE (1942), and Lana Turner from LOVE FINDS ANDY HARDY (1938), all featuring upscale 1950s style underscoring not used in the movie originals.

While Fay Holden, Sara Haden and Cecilia Parker retained their original roles, only the Beezy Anderson character earlier portrayed by Georgie Breakstone, was recast and enacted by Joey Forman. The now deceased Lewis Stone, as Andy's father, Judge James K. Hardy, is presented through a still photograph placed in the family study. It is through his photograph that Andy seeks guidance and strength to do what he thinks is right. Interestingly, for Andy's sister, Marian, her character is rather undeveloped. Now a mother to a giant-size teenage son (played by son of Tarzan screen legend, Johnny Weissmuller) there is no mention about her husband to whether she is a widow or divorced. Naturally there hasn't been any mention about Andy's older sister, Jane (Julie Hayden), since the series introduction of A FAMILY AFFAIR. It would be natural having Mickey's own son, Teddy, as Andy Hardy Jr., and wanting to have a man-to-man talk with him in the similar manner between Judge Hardy and son. Sadly, Teddy's performance, along with Jeanne Baird as Beezy's wife, Sally, somewhat weakens the proceedings through their lackluster acting. Gina Gillespie as Andy's daughter is very cute, however. Patricia Breslin was satisfactory as Andy's wife, Jane, but many familiar with the series would have preferred Ann Rutherford's Polly Benedict, Andy's girlfriend, to have returned and assumed her role of Mrs. Hardy instead.

While ANDY HARDY COMES HOME at 83 minutes is done in the style and tradition of television family shows (minus laugh track) as "Father Knows Best," it appears much of this dramedy with updates showing the Hardys watching television, for instance, along with new teenagers/characters just didn't jell in 1958 as it might have in 1948. Though this installment isn't really all that bad, it was probably best watching the older Hardy Family movies on late night television instead, indicating the sixteenth and final installment that nothing really stays the same. Never distributed on video cassette, ANDY HARDY COMES HOME has become available on DVD and occasional broadcasts on Turner Classic Movies cable channel. (**1/2)