My interpretation of the movie is that it strives more to make a social comment at the cost of being realistic. The characters are a little bit over-the-top. And some are horribly stereotyped and lacking dimension: the upper middle class couple who are obviously refined and look down their noses at the blue collar class (this is stated with Bill and Joan's visit to Joe's home); the super archetypal "Archie Bunker" who drinks Bud (naturally!), bald (of course no one refined would be bald!), unworldly and borderline illiterate (he never heard the word "culture?" He is not familiar with the cliché "When in Rome..."? That's not just uneducated but isolated from humanity.), and crass (without exception blue collar people eat like pigs!). I realize that the Joe character must be an idiot with few redeeming features in order to construct the plot and not evoke any sympathy for his particular plight in life, but it is so in-your-face that it detracts. (You don't need to beat us over the head with what kind of guy he is. Just the movie title is a big hint.) You would think they could have forgone one stereotypical feature to at least make some attempt at believability.
Some of the acting is reminiscent of the stiff Dragnet exchanges. For example, I cannot remember the exact quote so I will paraphrase, "Get this. The old man says, 'I got all the grass I need, sonny boy.' Is he putting me on?" I mean, really. This is so stilted you can almost see the actor's eyes moving across the lines.
Also, some of the development is too quick to be effective. For instance in the final sequence when Bill Compton is furious with Joe, all Joe has to say to finalize his personality conversion is, "Hey! Don't kill me, kill them!" In an instance we witness a complete personality flip in Bill. True, the whole event started with Bill accidentally killing someone and *uncharacteristically* feeling some pleasure about it, so he does have it in him. But he was never presented as someone with the potential of a cold blooded killer. I think it would have been much more effective to draw his inner rage out more gradually; some horrific event involving his daughter needed to occur to complete his transmogrification, not just her running away. To be fair, there was some gradual change in Bill over the course of the movie, but for the most part he seemed to be going along with Joe in order to hush him and use him rather than be him. He never convincingly converted to a Joe even though the movie attempts to tidy this up with their political agreements about society.
That said, I do think the final scene has good emotional impact. The message of the movie is clear: the generation gap is so wide that it's dangerous. Also, I do like the fact that not everyone is so one dimensional. Some do have at least a hint of good and bad. For example, it would have been too easy to make the victims ridiculously Pollyannaish, but thankfully the hippies, too, have their flaws. They come off more like self-indulgent children rather than self-proclaiming purveyors of social change, which how I personally view them. (Not to deter, but to that point, if the anti-war movement was so sincere about fixing the ailments of society, why instead of partying in San Francisco in 1967 didn't they march out to the poor nations of the world and build homes and feed the poor? Because it was more about self-indulgence than truly helping fellow man.) I think that element gave it some depth--not much, mind you, but it could have been worse.
I recommend the movie to anyone interested in that period and who can ignore the Dragnet like features. It may have its laughable delivery from time to time, but its point is very visceral and relevant to the times.
Some of the acting is reminiscent of the stiff Dragnet exchanges. For example, I cannot remember the exact quote so I will paraphrase, "Get this. The old man says, 'I got all the grass I need, sonny boy.' Is he putting me on?" I mean, really. This is so stilted you can almost see the actor's eyes moving across the lines.
Also, some of the development is too quick to be effective. For instance in the final sequence when Bill Compton is furious with Joe, all Joe has to say to finalize his personality conversion is, "Hey! Don't kill me, kill them!" In an instance we witness a complete personality flip in Bill. True, the whole event started with Bill accidentally killing someone and *uncharacteristically* feeling some pleasure about it, so he does have it in him. But he was never presented as someone with the potential of a cold blooded killer. I think it would have been much more effective to draw his inner rage out more gradually; some horrific event involving his daughter needed to occur to complete his transmogrification, not just her running away. To be fair, there was some gradual change in Bill over the course of the movie, but for the most part he seemed to be going along with Joe in order to hush him and use him rather than be him. He never convincingly converted to a Joe even though the movie attempts to tidy this up with their political agreements about society.
That said, I do think the final scene has good emotional impact. The message of the movie is clear: the generation gap is so wide that it's dangerous. Also, I do like the fact that not everyone is so one dimensional. Some do have at least a hint of good and bad. For example, it would have been too easy to make the victims ridiculously Pollyannaish, but thankfully the hippies, too, have their flaws. They come off more like self-indulgent children rather than self-proclaiming purveyors of social change, which how I personally view them. (Not to deter, but to that point, if the anti-war movement was so sincere about fixing the ailments of society, why instead of partying in San Francisco in 1967 didn't they march out to the poor nations of the world and build homes and feed the poor? Because it was more about self-indulgence than truly helping fellow man.) I think that element gave it some depth--not much, mind you, but it could have been worse.
I recommend the movie to anyone interested in that period and who can ignore the Dragnet like features. It may have its laughable delivery from time to time, but its point is very visceral and relevant to the times.