Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

flackjacket There are a lot of annoying clichés from 50's TV shows. There was Beaver and Wally who always started every sentence with the word "Gee" followed by the name of the person they were talking to. "Gee Wally", "Gee Beav", "Gee Dad", "Gee Mom". Then there was Dennis The Menace's over use of the exclamatory "Jeepers!" and Mister Wilson's over use of the phrase "Great Scott!".Then there's Patty Duke's horribly fake British accent and the fact a hot dog would make her lose control. I don't know, I get the picture of her have spasms in the middle of the road twitching uncontrollably while flailing her hands around as shown in the opening. Thank God nobody ever gave her a hot dog.And worse yet, are the ungrateful self-absorbed kids on Father Knows Best. The oldest daughter Princess, mean and narcissistic, the son Bud ever stupid lacking confidence, and finally the youngest Kitten, forever whining, complaining, and crying.Sure there were some great shows back then, like The Honeymooners and I Love Lucy. Both had live audiences, so they had to be funny. But the shows with the canned laugh track always contained one or more annoying clichés.And then there's The Adventures of Ozzy and Harriet. Granted it was free of any annoying clichés, but even worse, it was annoying from beginning to end. A father who never goes to work and who smirks and silently chuckles after every line knowing that's where the laugh track would be inserted. Two sons who act as if they overdosed on sleeping pills. And a supporting cast including Harriet, that apparently were "phoning in their lines" opposite a cue card.This show is the epitome of bad sitcom via fake laugh track. It set the precedent for all bad sitcoms to follow. Finally, who are these people and how on Earth did they get their own show? I don't know, but there's one redeeming factor. If you ever need to induce vomiting and don't have any mustard and milk, just play Rick Nelson's "Garden Party", you know, the one where he looks like he's about to pass out, and you'll puke instantly.

earlytalkie The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet stands as the longest-running live action sitcom in history. Many people over the years have put down this program as being corny and too "white-bread" for modern consumption. Just like The Donna Reed Show and other "family" shows of that era. O & H is really a charming time-capsule of what we wanted to be back in those days, just like Donna Reed. What sets O & H a tad above the other shows is the fact that the family portrayed here was, in fact, a real family. Ozzie Nelson himself oversaw practically every aspect of production, and let's not forget that, starting in 1957, Ricky was singing genuine "rock and roll" on the show. The plots may be as simple as a late-night search for Tutti-Frutti ice cream, but there is an easy-going flow to the lightweight stories that make them charming. Don De Fore is featured in the early shows as "Thorny" the next-door neighbor, and Lyle Talbot and Mary Jane Croft are in the later ones as the Randolphs. Ozzie and Harriet featured background music taken from the Capitol HiQ music library. This music was used in many shows, cartoons and industrial films of the period. Just hearing this music takes me back to the "old days" and gives me a warm feeling. The performances by the family are all polished and good, especially Harriet with her wise-cracks which always crack me up. The show is in the process of being fully restored, all 435 episodes (!), by Sam Nelson, son of Rick. There has been much said about the quality of the Shout! Factory "best of" set. I own this and I enjoy having 24 episodes which cover the series from the earliest shows to the last. Yes, these are the edited-for-syndication prints, but as I don't remember what was cut from the shows, I don't miss these scenes. In addition, the prints used here are in pretty good shape, better than the ones featured on the public domain DVDs which have been around for many years now. For someone like me, who grew up in the O & H era, it is fine to see this program and relive "the good old days" when situation comedy didn't rely soley on sex jokes and off-color humor. Call me old-fashioned, but I like these classics of early television.

John T. Ryan Silent Film Producer Henry "Pathe" Lehrman, when hearing some less than friendly words said about his L-KO Company's Comedy Shorts Series, he reportedly angrily shouted, "MY COMEDIES ARE NOT TO BE LAUGHED AT!"(Just one o' them stranger than fiction stories!) And so too, the status of this longevity-rich TV series is always not so flattering. The origin of this series as a Radio Program with the object of being a Family Show about a Show Biz Family's private/home life, seems to have been blunted and dulled just by the shear length of time that it lasted. Remember, real life Band Leader(and Law Degree Bearer,who never practiced Law)Ozzie Nelson married his Band's Female Singer Harriet Hilliard. This was somewhere around 1935 and the hereto-for Musical quickly became a "real" family with the birth of David(1936) and Rick(1940).Well, all that traveling' an' one night stands are kinda hard on family life, but since they were now also in the moving' pitcher business, sticking' with the Movies,Radio Show and whatever musical 'Gigs' they got locally, was much better for them as a family.Like other Show Biz folks, their show morphed from the musical to the family sitcom. Eventually Ozzie would be portrayed as 'going to the office' everyday. But, what was his business? It was insurance, I think! At first some juvenile actors portrayed the boys, but eventually the got to be themselves, so to speak.So much of the series was preoccupied with family stuff, growing pains, "discovering" girls, music, the malt shop, high school, college, sports, the old "gang", the Fraternity(was it "I-Felta-Thie"?),the Holidays, Golf, Neighbors, etc., etc.,....Well, that made the years pass and the 'Boys' were getting' on in years themselves. The Chronology sometimes got a little fouled up and sometimes an unusual occurrence would happen. For example: Dave's school buddy, Wally Plumpsted(Skip Young)evolved into Rick's school buddy, Wally Plumpsted. It happened gradually and incrementally so it was barely noticed.Always in a state of flux, as is any series with such longevity(just check the cast changes that have occurred in LAW & ORDER or E.R.)the Nelsons were always willing to put the Family to work at "the Office". So, when the 'Boys' each took unto themselves a Woman to be his Wife, old Oz put them on. Both David's Wife,June Blair(Woo,woo,woo,woo!) and Rick's Mrs.Krisyin Harmon(again, Woo,woo,woo,woo!)came on as semi-regulars.And some of the regulars in the Cast over the years were:Mary Jane Croft & Lyle Talbot(Clara & Joe Randolph), Don DeFore('Thorny'), Parley Baer(Darby)Frank Caddy(Doc)and others.And as for Mr.Oswald George Nelson, what can we say? He had show business in his family background, including Circus Performers! And all he did was Create the Series, Write and contribute to Scripts,Produce,Play the Lead and play a little Saxophone on occasions. He is a most interesting fellow! Much like Disneyland, we tend to view OZZIE & HARRIET as being unrealistic, too 'Apple Pie',too 'Middle American' and just a tad corny.But, when viewed again after a hiatus of some years, you were to take a viewing of some of the episodes, your attitude would surely change for the better. How well these episodes stand-up as individual comedies!Oh, excuse me I have to go to the Office, after a stop at the Malt Shoppe!

craig_ku I think that The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, not unlike its counterparts (i.e. Leave it to Beaver), were what they were because that's what people wanted at the time. Many accounts of the 1950's are not the most interesting, but that's the way things were-culturally. With out these programs, however mundane you may find them, there would have been no examples for the family sit-com following the cultural revolution of the 1960's. I think that in today's society it is nice to look back, and see a family living together, enjoying life, and running into the occasional plot conflict. To hate Ozzie and Harriet is to hate Americana- after all that's what they were at the time of their program.You'll notice that the show ended in the late 1960's, when due to the cultural unrest in the United States, their brand of entertainment became, sadly enough, obsolete. Conclusion: take it for what it is (or was), it's a glimpse into a bygone era: a time of homemakers, fresh-baked cookies, pipe smoking dads, the milkman, and no use for the modern vulgarities of the medium.