The acting and directing in this was just fine. Typical Kazan effort but the main issue with this is...the story. It's just to jumbled up and leaves too much undone at the end.
The simplest synopsis I could give of this film is a guy decides to try and kill himself by driving under a semi truck...he fails. After this we go through his past life and figure out why he's had enough of his life. We find out a year before a pretty serious affair ended and this was part of the reason for the failed suicide. The other is a few things. He seems to have turned out just like his father...whom deep down...he despises. Also, he's just had enough of the life he leads. He wants a change or to just getaway from it all. I guess a mid life crisis.
Throughout all this you'll get to meet his father, who is dying, and we learn that he was miserable to his wife and kids and everyone is still afraid of him. We get to see a little of his father in himself and what his family life is like. He tries desperately to get back with the girl who had a previous affair with. He loves her but I think he gets more out of her telling him like it is whereas his wife just lets things be and keeps silent...like his mother did with his father. He appreciates her for this. The girlfriend in this is not exactly a saint in this one to say the least.
By the end you'll have a mixed bag of feelings on this one. The end leaves too many things left undone. All in all a good effort but needed more filler for the story. Kazan's book on this one may have been a hit but I don't think it translated well to the screen. I know that films don't all have to have answers or to have happy endings but this needed a closure to the circumstances of the many people involved. All we get is a funeral scene and a lot of assumptions. Maybe that was the intention. Maybe a mid life crisis and all involved is supposed to be....incomplete.
The simplest synopsis I could give of this film is a guy decides to try and kill himself by driving under a semi truck...he fails. After this we go through his past life and figure out why he's had enough of his life. We find out a year before a pretty serious affair ended and this was part of the reason for the failed suicide. The other is a few things. He seems to have turned out just like his father...whom deep down...he despises. Also, he's just had enough of the life he leads. He wants a change or to just getaway from it all. I guess a mid life crisis.
Throughout all this you'll get to meet his father, who is dying, and we learn that he was miserable to his wife and kids and everyone is still afraid of him. We get to see a little of his father in himself and what his family life is like. He tries desperately to get back with the girl who had a previous affair with. He loves her but I think he gets more out of her telling him like it is whereas his wife just lets things be and keeps silent...like his mother did with his father. He appreciates her for this. The girlfriend in this is not exactly a saint in this one to say the least.
By the end you'll have a mixed bag of feelings on this one. The end leaves too many things left undone. All in all a good effort but needed more filler for the story. Kazan's book on this one may have been a hit but I don't think it translated well to the screen. I know that films don't all have to have answers or to have happy endings but this needed a closure to the circumstances of the many people involved. All we get is a funeral scene and a lot of assumptions. Maybe that was the intention. Maybe a mid life crisis and all involved is supposed to be....incomplete.