tigerized No, it's not a high budget, CG intensive, action packed blockbuster. It's half a century old, contains no vulgarities or explicit scenes, no gore, very little gunfire, and only two decent explosions at the very end. (Sorry.) I do believe, however, that Father Goose is everything it was intended to be, and more. It's become a staple of regular viewing over the years in our household, to the point where bits of dialog are quoted frequently as perfect rejoinders. Even our kids say "All of them, Frank" when asked a question where a quantity or amount is the logical answer. (In more adult settings, "my coconut is empty" is more frequently employed.) For a film to work its way into the subconscious like this means the viewer has found something to cherish and commit to memory, and pull out with some glee whenever the situation warrants. Of course, this effort is wasted on those who haven't viewed the film. Fortunately, this is easily corrected.Cary Grant is the perfect reclusive curmudgeon who only wants to be left alone to pursue his dual pastimes of cruising the South Pacific and drinking. Leslie Caron is his ideal opposite, a school mistress stranded with her young charges on a remote island facing Japanese invasion. In spite of the mutual hostility, the story of them finding common ground to keep the girls safe is hilarious and heart warming, especially when framed by the harsh realities of World War II in the South Pacific.Produced at a time before filmmakers were constrained by political correctness in scripting and casting, Father Goose contains no overt or even subtle societal or political messages. In this regard, it's very refreshing to watch and enjoy. It contains enough suspense and clever dialog to keep adults engaged, and yet remains safe enough for family viewing. It's a romantic comedy that even guys and kids can enjoy, very well written and acted, and still holds up well even decades later.

bob-790-196018 Let's see. Cary Grant plays a drunkard and ne'er-do-well. At the start of the film, we see him stealing military supplies from off the wharf. His country is fighting the Japanese in a war for survival following Pearl Harbor, but this character just wants to drink and fish--or drink like a fish.Then he meets the Leslie Caron character and the seven little girls in her charge. They all get marooned on a jungle island. Cary wants no part of the little girls and doesn't seem concerned that they have no place to sleep and no food, could wander off into the jungle and get lost, be bitten by snakes, etc. Not his problem...And by the way, he's the hero of our story.Then there's the Leslie Caron character. She takes over Cary's hut, confiscates all of his supplies, strips his boat of any usable goods....And she's the heroine.Of course, the whole point of this obnoxious behavior is that it's supposed to be funny. Certainly the Motion Picture Academy thought so. They gave the screenwriters an Oscar for best original screenplay.The 1960s were an abysmal time for the movies. Sex comedies that made wives look like broody hens. James Bond lookalikes with Playboy lifestyles that now seem like the fantasies of 12-year-old boys. On and on. Surprising how many movies of that decade are now unwatchable.

chrsbrss I have lost count of how many times I have seen this movie. The first time I saw it was when I was an early teenager nearly thirty years ago with my Grandmother. (As a side note, I put a copy of this DVD in her casket when she passed away six years ago.) The movie has good clean humor, you never hear a swear word in the movie, even though you know that Walter Eckland swears like a drunk sailor, they use creative ways to get around it by innuendo as well as others.Grant's interaction with the children is great, especially with a young girl who refuses to talk, how he gets her to open up and speak is heart warming, and hilarious the way the child reacts to him.The movie is filled with humor from beginning to end, and regardless of your mood, you will always find yourself laughing at some point in the movie.

Spikeopath Father Goose is Cary Grant's second to last film, with hindsight I personally would have liked this to have been his final film. Not that his last picture, Walk Don't Run, is a stinker, I just feel this particular film leaves a more fitting impression to the great man's comedic ability.Playing against his sophisticated image, Father Goose sees Grant playing a drunken beach bum who is stuck on a South Sea island with Leslie Caron and her seven young lady scholars. Bluffed into being there in the first place by crafty Trevor Howard {Commodore Frank Houghton}, Grant as Walter Eckland is more concerned with the fact that the Commodore has hidden all of his whiskey rather than focus on actual work! As the Japanese forces close in on the group, Eckland is forced to find his fatherly and straightened out inner self, thus providing comedy, drama, and of course a little romance into the bargain.I could have done with a far more stronger female lead than Caron, who does OK without really convincing as a viable comedy lead, whilst Trevor Howard merely looks to be reading from an autocue. But with an Oscar winning screenplay from Frank Tarloff and Peter Stone, and Cary delivering some cracking one line zingers, Father Goose gets in and does it's job with some delightfully cheery results. 7/10