Mixed Company (1974)
Kathy Morrison (Harris), mother of three, who helps run a "color-blind" adoption program, wants to have another biological child. Her husband, Pete (Bologna), the head coach of the Phoenix Suns, finds out he can't produce another child. Kathy thinks about adopting a boy, Frederic "Freddie" Wilcox, and Pete does not want to adopt a boy who happens to be black. When he relents, Freddie's arrival causes an upheaval in the Morrison's neighborhood, their school, and family. Kathy's answer is to adopt another child, in this case two, a war-traumatized half-Vietnamese girl, Quan Tran, and a Hopi boy, Joe. The new extended family must now learn to live together.
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The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film
A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.
This move was entertaining solely for its camp value and rampant political incorrectness. The writing is lazy, sloppy and predictable. As with many movies featuring large casts, the supporting players are reduced to a few quirks which pass for character development. My favorite part of the movie is the way that each and every character (including the kids) say "goddamnit" several times each. Having said all that, Joseph Baloney is always good at playing a blustery character, and Barbara Harris' character is so loony, I would have killed her within the first ten minutes of the movie. The script reads more like a terrible 1970's sitcom than a feature film, with its attempts at "relevance", including a prospective black suitor for the oldest daughter, played with gusto by veteran TV actress Lisa Gerritsen (Mary Tyler Moore Show, Phyllis, My World and Welcome to It). A colossal misunderstanding in the vein of "Three's Company" shows the movies true colors. If you are looking for some so-bad-it's-good 1970's crap, you can't go too far wrong in watching this. We saw it on the FLIX cable channel. Goddamnit!
This is a cute film about families and how members change. The short skirts on Mom really brought back memories. It looked so strange to see short shorts on the basketball players.One word of warning: the language is horrific. I guess that is to be expected since we saw it on a premium channel, but it seemed to be over the top, especially for a film made 30 years ago.We especially enjoyed the relationships between the coach and "star" basketball player; the "Indian" boy and the Vietnamese/American girl; the original family and the new family; and the husband and wife before and after the family size increased.It was also nice to see stars we had forgotten about; 1974 is the date given and it has given us the desire to see "where are they now."
I saw this movie twice, first time in the theater. The movie was well written and very interesting indeed. The character I liked best was the couples' youngest and biological daughter, Mary (played by Ariane Heller). She was so cute and mischeivous, and had very beautiful brown eyes! I loved the scene where she was in the bathroom showing her adopted Black Brother, Freddy, that she was all white by removing her bath robe standing there wearing only in her under pants. This scene was so cute!I wish this film had a sequel, and hope that it will be released on DVD soon!
A couple with three children, two girls and a boy, adopt or foster three other children; a Black teen (Haywood Nelson), a Viet Namese girl and a Native American boy. With Joe Bologna and Barbara Harris as those parents, you can guarantee that any conflicts will be met and dealt with. I caught about half of this movie when I saw it and was overwhelmed by the way the subject matter was handled so humorously.Stephen Honanie as Joe, the Native American child, who was one of the youngest children, was without a doubt the funniest, as on Halloween he wore a feather in a headband, mocassins and buckskin breeches and carried a tomahawk and exclaimed over and over "I'm an Indian, I'm an Indian, I'm an Indian!" It would be years before I would realize the joke here; as far as he could tell, it was the costume that made him the Indian, not his heritage. Ariane Heller as the white child of the couple, their youngest, would also show a child's innocence in what she perceived around her.Lisa Gerritsen, best known as Cloris Leachman's daughter on Mary Tyler Moore, was the oldest child and on that same holiday, her date removed his Frankenstein mask to reveal what her parents didn't know, nor did Haywood Nelson; that he too was Black.The final conflict came down between Bologna, a basketball coach, and Nelson, and how each of them would show they care, in the end by cheering on their team at the basketball game. I would love to see this movie again and get a better clue of how the racial lines were crossed. From what I can recall it did an excellent job. This came on the heels of the cancellation of The Brady Bunch and later on there would be Mulligan's Stew with Elinore Donahue. This one got lost in all the shows. It is truly an outstanding viewpoint of the extended family.