Movies

While my mother claims this is a "guy movie," I'm not a guy and find it one of the funniest, most charming movies ever made. The narration, music and just plain spunky tone of this movie makes it a unique piece -- you really DO have to see it to understand what it's all about! I highly recommend this movie -- as well as the book, which was published in 1749 but is just as funny today and highly readable, not "quaint" at all!

So fun. I adore this thing. It's a marvelous costume comedy replete with hilar. It's beautiful to look at and delightful to know, a thing of beauty. In 18th century England a foundling baby is adopted by the landed gentleman who...hold on to your hat...finds him IN HIS BED! As the years go on he and the squire develop a real love for each other as if they were proper father and son, and that son is Tom Jones. As a brand new adult, through nefarious means, he is tossed out on his own. Thus begin his adventures. When he hits London he goes through love affairs, brawls and near misses. And all the girls fall for Tom Jones.

Finney is terrific as Fielding's fun-loving, irresponsible hero, and is ably supported by a game cast. Richardson's direction is wonderfully inventive, using all kinds of cinematic tricks to make the story come alive. The asides to the viewers are hilarious, as in the blithe shrug Mrs. Waters gives to the audience when she is told that the man she bedded may be her long-lost son. The first half hour or so is rather uninvolving but things really get going with the exciting deer hunting scene. The sensual and funny dinner scene between Tom and Mrs. Waters is justly famous. The score by John Addison perfectly complements the lunacy.