moonspinner55 Review of The Subject Was Roses

The Subject Was Roses (1968)

Flowery with unnatural prose, but worth a look for the acting...

[5/10 · 6 August 2006]

Frank Gilroy adapted his Broadway triumph for the screen, apparently freezing every original line and action in its place until the results nearly resemble an assembly-line production. Jack Albertson won a Supporting Actor Oscar for recreating his stage role of sad, anxious father welcoming son Martin Sheen home from the war after three years. Talky, melodramatic, but superbly-acted family reunion featuring lovely Patricia Neal as Sheen's mother (her first role after recuperating from a series of strokes). Gilroy's dialogue doesn't always flow naturally, and some of the give-and-take is puzzling and/or awkward (something a looser direction might have helped to avoid), but the characters are interesting and the film is occasionally moving. ** from ****