Watching "The Thrill of It All" is one of those childhood memories that has some actual societal impact in retrospect. My sister and I knew this one as the "I Am a Pig" movie, and loved it. We left suburban Long Island, NY and our parents started a new life in rural New Hampshire in the mid-1960s. We laughed at the ranch houses and tiny yards that we saw in the movie, because we were reminded of what we left on Long Island, and enjoying the rural spaces of New Hampshire.
While Doris Day and James Garner seem happy and carefree, there is a frightening subtext. Doris Day will be punished for her ambitions to be something more than a housewife, and her accidental quest fame as a TV spokesperson will punish James Garner, her husband as well. This for film marks the beginning of the end for suburban bliss and the candy-coated haus frau. The film does a great job of showing the hypocrisy of suburban life and the nosy neighbors and all that comes with 1963's idea of "having it all." The film is a great artifact of a bygone era: One that died with live television, the milk man's home delivery, and the one-income family.
While Doris Day and James Garner seem happy and carefree, there is a frightening subtext. Doris Day will be punished for her ambitions to be something more than a housewife, and her accidental quest fame as a TV spokesperson will punish James Garner, her husband as well. This for film marks the beginning of the end for suburban bliss and the candy-coated haus frau. The film does a great job of showing the hypocrisy of suburban life and the nosy neighbors and all that comes with 1963's idea of "having it all." The film is a great artifact of a bygone era: One that died with live television, the milk man's home delivery, and the one-income family.