Last year for my birthday, I posted my (for the moment) top 45 favorite movies to match my age. Will I be doing that again this year for my 46th? Of course not. I’d probably just be adding one movie. That’s rather unnecessary.

Instead, here’s a review for the original version of Father of the Bride.

Things are going fine for lawyer Stanley Banks (Spencer Tracy) when the unthinkable happens: his only daughter Kay (Elizabeth Taylor) announces she is engaged to be married. Stanley’s wife Ellie (Joan Bennett) begins to make plans immediately, but Stanley is filled with dread. Kay is his little girl, the only daughter in a family with three kids, and she’s been the apple of her father’s eye for her entire life. Can she seriously be an adult so soon? Is the groom-to-be a good man that can support her? And, since this is a traditional, 1950-style occasion, can Stanley afford to pay for it?

Such is the comedy of Father of the Bride, where all of the trials and tribulations basically mean Stanley can’t relax for a minute and maybe enjoy himself. True, his future son-in-law Buckley (Don Taylor) is a pretty successful fellow in his own right, and Kay is an adult even if Stanley doesn’t want to admit it. With the size and scope of the wedding growing beyond his control or his ability to pay for it, can Stanley finally see if he did a good job with Ellie raising Kay right, or will he forever have doubts as he slumps his way into bankruptcy?

Spencer Tracy is essentially perfect in this role. He’s good with the comedy, he could project fatherly warmth when he needed to, and he could be cranky and cantankerous as needed as well. Granted, the role was written with him in mind, and he did have good chemistry with Bennett to suggest a couple that had been married themselves for a very long time. Each new twist or change in the narrative, whether expected or not, worries him just a little bit more until finally, when all is said and done, Kay is gone off to live her own life on her own with Buckley. It makes for a sweet movie about how far a father will go for his daughter even as he knows he may not be able to afford it, moving the large gathering to his own average-sized house and even missing an engagement party because he’s too busy mixing drinks for everyone in the family’s kitchen.

But then there’s Elizabeth Taylor, a woman in life known to marry many times over but here, attempting to break out of the child star roles she had been getting many times over, and her first adult role (arguably one where her character is finally recognized as an adult) has her playing a bride. It’s not a bad role, and it must have helped her out in the future. I’ve seen Taylor in a few older movies, and I’ve always found her to be a very charismatic screen presence, but this movie is basically Tracy’s. She does find filling a needed role, but the attention isn’t on her, and it does show a bit. She’s fine, but for Father of the Bride, it’s a little amazing how much the bride actually has to do here. I’m fine with that, but I did think it was worth mentioning.

Grade: B+


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