Good Sam (1948)

Such a frustrating disappointment

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

What a let-down this film was. I can see why it was such a big flop when it was released. Leo McCarey was a great director and his two films prior to this, Going My Way and Bells of St. Mary's, are bona fide classics. Not to mention his great comedies from the 1930s. So the movie is competently filmed as it should be, but it's still terrible. It has two amazing lead actors (only one of which delivers here). But the story is the pits.The plot is that Gary Cooper plays a family man who never says no to anyone. He will give the shirt off his back and let his family go hungry to help a complete stranger. Right off the bat we have a problem because there is no way possible I can see myself rooting for such a character with obviously skewed priorities. The writing is bad but the acting by Cooper isn't up to snuff either. We've all seen Cooper play down-to-earth good and decent guys before. His performances are usually grounded in a likable persona that makes him relatable. Here, he plays a character who cares more about helping strangers than his own family! His poor wife, wonderfully played by Ann Sheridan, put up with more than any reasonable person would. It was so infuriating watching Cooper's character be such a doormat. The only person he seemed able to say no to was his wife! The film tries to reconcile it all in the end with some of the people Cooper has helped out paying him back. This completely belies the entire fractured point of the film. It's clear the writers didn't even believe in their own premise. The problem with Sam is not that he helps people who don't pay him back. The problem is that he puts the welfare of others over his own loved ones. Whatever happened to "charity begins at home?" Ugh this is such a frustrating film to watch. I couldn't help but wonder at the end about Sheridan's character's future. She will have a life of perpetual debt and unhappiness because of this man and probably die of a stroke at 40. Sam, meanwhile, will become homeless and probably starve to death because every time he's got a crumb of food he'll give it away due to his obvious mental illness.When you get right down to it, this is a depressing movie. The romance is non-existent as there is no chemistry between the leads. This is partly due to Cooper's lackluster effort, I'm sure. Plus it's really hard to root for a couple when you are actually hoping the wife divorces the worthless husband. There is no comedy here, either. There wasn't one funny moment in the whole film. I'll give it a 4 because of the competent production values and because of the star power involved, which I'm sure will help some swallow this pill of a movie.

Good Sam is about a good samaritan, and how a couple has to deal with the troubles that the husband gets into doing all these good deeds. Kind of the testing of "Job" in the bible. The leads, Gary Cooper and Ann Sheridan, do a fine job, but I think the script and the direction are the weak links here. it's not the happy go lucky fluff story i was expecting. they belabor certain things, and drag them on too long, at least in the first hour: -- at breakfast, a scene about asthma goes on way too long; gets annoying, and they keep making fun of the one who has it.-- on the bus, a woman complains about the bus driver over and over and over and...-- at the store where Sam (Cooper) works, one worker thinks another co-worker is about to commit suicide.-- Lu laughs as she hears all of Sam's troubles. I think it's out of exhasperation with Sam's self-sacrificing, but she continues laughing even when the Butlers talk about a car accident, and the ensue-ing lawsuit, all of which which comes back on the Claytons. It was odd that she kept on laughing so hard and so long, as someone has already pointed out in the comment section. if it was supposed to be a hysterical laugh, it wasn't put across very well.This wasn't the best work for either Sheridan or Cooper. I loved Sheridan in "Man Who Came to Dinner", and ANY of Cooper's westerns beat this. It's entertaining, and there ARE some clever lines. Watch for Bill Frawley as the bartender, wearing a wig! There's also a weird edit about 90 minutes in. At one moment, Sam is walking down the street, and suddenly we see him nursing a bump on his head, being helped by someone. From the cast list on IMDb, we can see all the deleted scenes, so clearly things had been cut. Directed by Leo McCarey, who directed everything from the Marx Brothers to An Affair to Remember.

This film was a box office flop when it debuted in 1948 and part of the reason was that the chemistry between Ann Sheridan and Gary Cooper was just not there.This picture was the typical holiday feel good movie in the attempt of "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town," (1936) or "Miracle on 34th Street." (1947). The theme of the film is the basic good qualities of people and how you have to take a chance on them. Of course, the Gary Cooper character goes overboard as the do-good person; he sacrifices almost everything for good quality people at the expense of his own family.Ann Sheridan is impressive here going between her laughter at her do-good husband and anger when things don't go their way. The end of the film reminded me somewhat of the classic- "It's A Wonderful Life," (1946) where everyone rallies around our protagonist at a time when things couldn't appear to be bleaker. This film is basically the fulfillment of the American dream by doing good to your neighbor. It fails to reach its height because after a while you get tired of Cooper's constant good deeds and his drunken scene near the end gives us a necessary break from all this and shows the human frailty.

I love this movie, it has such a wonderful message! I first saw it while I was living in Kansas City; one of the local television stations broadcast it during the holidays. I taped it because I loved it so much. Unfortunately that tape didn't survive multiple moves, so I was glad to see that it was available on VHS. However, I think this version on VHS tape has a scene missing; I remember that in the version on television there was a scene half way through the movie where Chloe, Lu's maid plays football in the front yard with the rest of the family. It was hilarious and a lot of fun! The VHS version I bought didn't have that. I wonder if anyone knows what may have happened there. All in all, it is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I always have to see it around the holidays. I hope you all enjoy it.