Review of Gentleman's Agreement (1947) by David H — 14 Apr 2009

I'm pleased that the Best Picture winner was an important movie. And I'm sure it was a baseball bat to the heads of the public who watched it in 1947. And I have to admit I didn't attach to the story right away. It's too far removed for the specific topic it covers.

Gregory Peck redeems himself from last years awful "Yearling" to play a reporter who goes undercover as a Jew to get the full anti-semitic experience. There's some contrivances right away-- Hollywood gives him a kid, so that he can spell out the most obvious trivial points as a learning experience. He's made a widower, so that he can have the kid and still get a new love interest. And even some of the most profane combats in the Jew-part of the plot are done by the drunken brute and the dastardly hotel manager.

But it's the subtler points that really stand out in this script. The love-interest Kathy and all those like her. Who detest "this thing" (which is a phrase used a lot) but who stay silent about it. Because what can one person do? Why rock the boat? Why make it harder? It was those people, the nice kind-at-heart people who were really taken to task in this film. And when the sick mother (who has no other reason to be in this movie) comes out at the end and reads an excerpt of her son's story (remember-he's a reporter) - that's when I understood a little more about the human condition.

This scenario could be applied today to all of the middle-American red staters who have stood by and the politics of devisiveness affect Americas immigrants and homosexuals. And don't get me started on those poor immigrant homosexuals- they get the worst of it!

Great script, great direction, great performances.