The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963)

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

After seeing Glenn Ford in "The Mating of Millie" I was looking forward to watching this movie. In the "MOM" Ford played a witty, confident man full of personality and humor. I thought I would see this type of character in "The Courtship of Eddie's Father." Unfortunately, however, I discovered, that instead of a fun romantic comedy I got a bland, forgettable drama. Ford plays Tom Corbett, a widower, and Ron Howard plays Eddie, his son. I was somewhat surprised at some of the "adult" lines they gave Ron Howard to say, which I thought were unnecessary and inappropriate. There were also some pretty dramatic scenes (e.g., Eddie screaming bloody murder after finding one of his goldfish had died, etc.) that I hadn't expected, which just didn't seem to fit too well in this movie. Ford's character was somewhat likable, but too detached and dull. He really didn't have much personality at all. I was expecting some humor, but there were hardly any funny parts and the whole story involving Norman Jones (Jerry Van Dyke-his employee at the radio station he and Corbett worked at) and Dolly Daily (a woman Corbett met in town who was working on her "self-esteem" so she could fulfill her aspiration of becoming a beauty queen) was boring and superfluous to the story. I found both Norman and Dolly to be wooden and vapid characters. If you want to see a clean, witty, funny romance I highly recommend "The Mating of Millie" over this disappointment.

Didn't even know there was a movie before the TV version of The Courtship of Eddie's Father. Hubby & I caught this a couple weekends ago on TV - loved it! Sometimes these old movies are the best things to watch on TV. Amazing how you pay over $100 a month for TV and then find a gem like this because there is nothing else on. Ron Howard is as cute as can be - looked up info later on this movie, can't believe he was 8 years old. Shirley Jones is wonderful in this - I miss these kind of movies. So much crap out there today, fun to find something like this on TV to view! Always love it when the nice girl gets the guy! Thank goodness for TCM and AMC - we are always discovering "new to us" movies out there!

Glenn Ford did two films with director Vincente Minnelli, the incredibly bad sound remake of The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse and this very good family film about a widower and his young son trying to get on with life after the wife and mother has passed away.The Courtship of Eddie's Father in addition to being made into a long running television series with Bill Bixby, Miyoshi Umeki, and Brandon Cruz, still holds up very well after 44 years.What makes the film is the very real chemistry between Glenn Ford and Ron Howard who was on hiatus from the Andy Griffith show to make this film. The Courtship of Eddie's Father is about two very real individuals trying to work through the hurt that's surrounding a very big hole in their lives. Ford plays the manager of a radio station and Jerry Van Dyke has a nice role as Ford's best friend and one of the disc jockeys. Roberta Sherwood has the part of the housekeeper who's trying to learn Spanish, the part that Miyoshi Umeki did for television. As you can imagine it was rewritten somewhat.There are three women interested in Ford at one time or another. Shirley Jones is the best friend of the deceased, living in the apartment across the way. Dina Merrill is the society lady that she is in real life. And Stella Stevens is the beauty queen from Montana who's got some hidden talents. One guess who Ford looks like he'll wind up with in the end. Give you a hint, it's the one Ron Howard wishes it is. After the disaster of The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse, Minnelli owed Glenn Ford a good picture and he certainly delivered.

Dina Merrill should have had a much more successful screen career. She is a beautiful, intelligent, warm, extremely credible actress. Perhaps her very strong resemblance to Grace Kelly worked against her. In this film, "The Courtship of Eddie's Father," someone had the dumb idea to make her a brunette, probably because the lead actress, Shirley Jones, was also a blonde. For Merrill, this is a nothing role which she brings a great deal more to than it deserves. The rest of the cast is good, especially Ron(nie) Howard, although Glenn Ford is, as usual, low-key to the point of monotony; and Jerry Van Dyke proves that the same genes don't necessarily produce comic geniuses in a family.