"The Time of Your Life" from 1948 is based on the Pulitzer-prize winning play (which Saroyan rejected) by William Saroyan.
This film will remind you of many other productions: Cheers, The Iceman Cometh, Duffy's Tavern. Actually, Iceman and The Time of Your Life were both produced in the same year. All the chaos and people doing their own thing at once reminded me of another play from that era, You Can't Take it With You.
There is no story really - it's a bar in San Francisco, run by Nick (William Bendix) where Joe (James Cagney) spends time observing people and often guiding their lives. Tom (Wayne Morris) runs errands for him, strange errands, like buying toys and chewing gum. This particular day, Tom sees a woman named Kitty (Jeanne Cagney) and he falls hard.
At the phone, a young man (Jimmy Lydon) dials the wrong number and instead of his girlfriend gets an eager older woman. He likes the sound of her voice so he invites her to the bar.
They all come to Nick's - a dancer who wants a job, a newspaper- delivering boy soprano, a pianist, a cowboy, a couple just slumming, and somehow, Joe manages to help some of them along. Nick doesn't know why he gets these characters and muses whether or not it's his personality or something else.
For someone seeing it today, a few things stick out. One is the monologue by the policeman (Broderick Crawford) who complains that while we live in a wonderful world, no one takes time to smell the roses and everyone is greedy. I wonder what he'd think of our society now!
The other is that it's hard to believe it won the Pulitzer Prize. But back then, this was probably seen as very fresh. Saroyan said no to the Pulitzer because he felt businessmen were not qualified to judge art. I can see someone refusing it today - NOT.
The cast is terrific; it's hard to single any one actor out. The pinball wizard (Richard Erdman) who spends the whole movie trying to beat the machine, is actually still alive; as is the ardent young lover, Jimmy Lydon. Then you have people like the boyish Wayne Morris, dead at 45.
This was a different role for James Cagney - he's not a tough guy, not a crook, not a dancer, and somehow, he holds the film together in a subtle performance.
For me the theme is to know who you are and not be ashamed of it, and not be afraid to go after what you want. I think it will be different for different people. Enjoy the delightful characters and some of the crazy, funny, and poignant moments.
This film will remind you of many other productions: Cheers, The Iceman Cometh, Duffy's Tavern. Actually, Iceman and The Time of Your Life were both produced in the same year. All the chaos and people doing their own thing at once reminded me of another play from that era, You Can't Take it With You.
There is no story really - it's a bar in San Francisco, run by Nick (William Bendix) where Joe (James Cagney) spends time observing people and often guiding their lives. Tom (Wayne Morris) runs errands for him, strange errands, like buying toys and chewing gum. This particular day, Tom sees a woman named Kitty (Jeanne Cagney) and he falls hard.
At the phone, a young man (Jimmy Lydon) dials the wrong number and instead of his girlfriend gets an eager older woman. He likes the sound of her voice so he invites her to the bar.
They all come to Nick's - a dancer who wants a job, a newspaper- delivering boy soprano, a pianist, a cowboy, a couple just slumming, and somehow, Joe manages to help some of them along. Nick doesn't know why he gets these characters and muses whether or not it's his personality or something else.
For someone seeing it today, a few things stick out. One is the monologue by the policeman (Broderick Crawford) who complains that while we live in a wonderful world, no one takes time to smell the roses and everyone is greedy. I wonder what he'd think of our society now!
The other is that it's hard to believe it won the Pulitzer Prize. But back then, this was probably seen as very fresh. Saroyan said no to the Pulitzer because he felt businessmen were not qualified to judge art. I can see someone refusing it today - NOT.
The cast is terrific; it's hard to single any one actor out. The pinball wizard (Richard Erdman) who spends the whole movie trying to beat the machine, is actually still alive; as is the ardent young lover, Jimmy Lydon. Then you have people like the boyish Wayne Morris, dead at 45.
This was a different role for James Cagney - he's not a tough guy, not a crook, not a dancer, and somehow, he holds the film together in a subtle performance.
For me the theme is to know who you are and not be ashamed of it, and not be afraid to go after what you want. I think it will be different for different people. Enjoy the delightful characters and some of the crazy, funny, and poignant moments.