Reunion at Fairborough

So many movies I have watched with Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr. They are wonderful together. So believeable. I have watched this movie twice this year. I am sorry I didn't know about it in 1985. The nicest romance that anyone can see. Thank you. Florence Forrester-Stockton, Reno, Nevada

A much better than average TV film. Cinematography and solid acting performances make it worthy of watching. A fine story of a WWII pilot who visits his old base in England during a veteran's reunion. Mitchum,the pilot, reunites with his old love,Deborah Kerr. Add a peace activist grandaughter and several old Army Air Force buddies and the story develops nicely. Mitchum rules and the film is good family fare.

This comment belongs in "Trivia" but there are no instructions for initiating that segment of the site.

In the film, the reunion involves WW II veterans of the 323rd Bomb Squadron, which actually existed. It was part of the 91st Bomb Group based at Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire (8th Air Force Station 121) from 1942 to 1945.

The group's emblem was a "Triangle A" on the tail, though the movie shows B-17s from several other groups. The 91st is best known as the organization that flew "The Memphis Belle", which belonged to the 324th Squadron.

Well, I was finally able to obtain a digital copy of this great movie (Google the title and you can as well), and I just watched it for the first time in probably 20+ years. I can tell you it is just as good today as it was the first time! Sure, it is set in the 80s and things have changed, and there are some goofy bits to it; but it is still an excellent movie! Mitchum cannot be any more natural in this role. As a matter of fact, I think I consider this to be his best work ever! Kerr is the same, it almost seems as those the two of them aren't really acting but as the characters they are playing. Buttons may have been a little over the top, as was the young lady who played Mitchum's granddaughter but I was stationed in the UK during the early 80s and she portrayed a typical CND'er of the time.

If you are a fan of this movie, make every effort to get a copy of it. As I said, it can be done and it is well worth the trouble. Why this hasn't been released on DVD is beyond me, it is simply a great movie!

In some ways, I enjoyed "Reunion at Fairborough"...and in other ways, it reminded me of the expression "you can never go back". In other words, it left me with very mixed feelings.

When the film begins, Carl (Robert Mitchum) is feeling blue. He's been forced to retire, his wife had left him and he didn't feel much of a sense of purpose in his life. But when he gets word that his old bomber group from WWII is having a reunion back in England where they were based, he seems to get a new lease on life. Before he goes, however, he wants to find an old buddy and take him along with him. This won't be easy as Jiggs (Red Buttons) is an alcoholic and doesn't seem interested in the trip. But Carl is insistent and he takes his old friend with him.

Once in England, Carl is in for a huge surprise when he looks up his old sweetheart. It seems that Sally (Deborah Kerr) had his baby long ago...and never bothered to tell him. That baby grew up and died...but she produced a daughter.... Carl's granddaughter. But this is not one big happy family reunion. Sally doesn't seem that eager to reignite old passions and the granddaughter is a very idealistic AND obnoxious teen...too obnoxious to make her character likable or relatable. She also is incredibly inconsistent and needlessly rude. What's to come of all this family bonding?

There were some very nice performances in the film...particularly by Mitchum and Barry Morse. But it also seemed to be a mistake including so much of the granddaughter and not enough of her grandmother, Sally. Considering this was the fourth pairing of Mitchum and Kerr, you are confused why this so often seems to take a backseat in the story. More Kerr and less granddaughter would have made for a more enjoyable story. Still, it IS Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr...so it is still a nice time-passer.

By the way, I didn't mind that the script had a granddaughter who was ideologically so dissimilar to her grandfather. It was more how obnoxious and one-dimensional the character was that annoyed me. Her character just wasn't written well and proved unnecessary to the story.