Roughly Speaking (1945)

The greatest movie ever!

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

I thought I'd seen everything Curtiz had done. TCM snuck this one in late this afternoon. Maybe it should be an 8pm feature around a minor holiday. It's that good.With great chemistry two of my favorites, Russell and Carson, create a memorable depiction of married life thru the first half of the 20th century, while manoeuvring their ups and downs, rearing children and finally within view of the '39 NY World's Fair, as the Polish Pavilion shuts down, personally struggle with the onslaught of WWII; lots o' emotional swings supported by numerous others in the movie, all of whom deliver.It's too bad Russell and Carson didn't pair up for more films. They work together as well as any of their other pairings.

When Robert Osborne said, "This is a real gem," I decided to watch... he doesn't lie. Being a big Rosalind Russell fan since "Auntie Mame," I'm both surprised and delighted that I did! In these early days, there was no such thing as "women's lib" or women's rights, or anything of the kind. That's why I believe this film is a truly ground breaking work of classic film. Unlike the "Pollyannish" movies of this era that tried to make light of those Depression era times with things like big MGM musicals that tried to sugar coat the difficulties of those days, this film takes on a myriad of historical troubles in a way that is both heartbreaking and incredibly optimistic (kudos, incidentally, to a superb star turn by Jack Carson in another wonderful characterization). It never preaches or feels sorry for itself—much like the female protagonist—but continually moves forward without getting bogged down in self-pity, which the characters certainly had the right to. It doesn't pull any punches. I suppose the best way to describe it is: "A tale of towering highs and gut wrenching lows, with the indomitable spirit of man aways conquering adversity." But a far better way of learning the many important lesson this entertaining film has to offer is simply by watching it.

Having lived throughout the depression and the Presidency of F D R, I was pleasantly surprised when I happened upon Roughly Speaking on T C M last week. Somehow,in all these years of movie going and viewing,I never had a clue about this moving film.The author expertly weaves into the plot glimpses of those bygone days.. The early airplanes,the the struggle to ride out the lean times. The staid mother's daughter having fought the same crippling disease as had the President,the stock market crash the early war years. Her heart wrenching scene watching all three sons go off to war.Although the movie depicted the triumph over adversity women of the thirties/forties achieved, the young women of today are the daughters and grand daughters of the multi taskers of my mother's dayI wholeheartedly recommend this movie to all American women. Edouarto.

Rosalind Russell plays Louise Randall Pierson (someone I've never heard of, but this is based on her autobiography). Directed by Michael Curtiz, it showcases Russell and the often underrated Jack Carson as they face financial feast and famine and an ever-expanding family. Russell is tough, and unapologetic, and Carson is her equal. The film, coming from 1945, has a strange cliff hanging effect, as it ends with the beginning of World War II, and you wonder what will happen next. At the time it must have hit home for a lot of families with men (and women) fighting overseas. But I would strongly recommend it as a movie to watch before the films "Since You Went Away", with Claudette Colbert which chronicles life at home during the war, and "Best Years of Their Lives", which is probably the best coming-home-from-war film ever made. The three would make a great sequential view of life from the turn of the century to post WWII America. 8.5 out of 10.