secondtake Picnic (1955) A big reputation for a stiff film with some terrific parts. If you start, do stick it out to the night party at the end of the picnic, and to the final emotional scenes. The filming, and even the slightly outrageous Midwest customs (the entire town of people raising their arms in praise at one point), are both great. James Wong Howe knocked himself out making this movie really gorgeous. If the women (and William Holden) are only as good as they are beautiful, you might say the same with the movie, which is mostly about appearances. Maybe that's part of its brilliance, intended or not. It also might reflect a superficial but partly true version of 1950s America. Or Kansas, for starters. The real intentions here are terrific, and there are elements that begin to draw you in. That is: innocence, striving for happiness, failure (and acceptance of that), and good old carnal lust. I find both Holden and Kim Novak relatively stiff actors, and so maybe they contribute to the feeling in the film. Or maybe they are perfectly cast in a film that doesn't try for honest depth. It also doesn't try for something truly steamy and emotionally sweeping like a Douglas Sirk film (see his "All that Heaven Allows" from the same year). Director Joshua Logan might actually be striving for something that stays restrained, like the people in the film. Except maybe Rosalind Russell, by the way, who is a genuine hoot. The famous dance scene on the dock under colored lights makes you nostalgic for some great old times, not quite innocent but certainly pure in their simplicity and beauty. Both leading actors were famously bad dancers, so the camera zooms in to their shoulders on up, letting the ambiance of the night take over, with fifty Chinese lanterns in different colors hovering. Novak plays the "beautiful" one, but her younger sister (Betty Field) has all the pure beauty here, and the conflict lets Holden get confused and torn in two, almost literally (once Russell gets involved). It's all a bit superficial-spotlights (probably some standard studio Kliegs) make it almost absurdly dramatic. But then, we sometimes say that about Sirk, too, and other widescreen dramas of the time. Maybe we'll gradually come not just to enjoy them but to revere them. For now, there is a bit too much artifice, and bit too little genuine rich depth and human exploration. The material is ripe, for sure. And I have to say I enjoyed it all, without ever quite being convinced or affected.

billartini Holden is just too old here. His romance with Novak is unbelievable. Russell and O'Connell's story is truer. Strasberg is terrific. Small town seems sex-obsessed with Holden and Novak, so not sure why people hold this movie so dear to their hearts.

brianB-8 I don't know why this film makes such an impression, remembered somehow fondly since first seen many decades ago. On any realistic reckoning it's hopeless. Kim Novak is the most wooden film star of all time, with only two facial expressions of which she infallibly chooses the wrong one for whichever scene she's doing. Both Novak and Holden are ludicrously old for their screen parts: Holden's scene with his 'father' towards the end is supposed to be touching but comes out as music-hall comedy. The direction is irredeemably stagy with no concessions to the cine camera -- you expect heavy velvet curtains to close on the stage at any moment. The melodramatic bits lack drama, the supposedly touching romantic bits are played as farce, and the farcical bits fall as flat as a village pantomime. Susan Strasberg and Rosalind Russell steal the whole thing, both natural movie actresses, as indeed one would expect of anyone called Strasberg. Apart from them, and a couple of other minor parts, it's a serious train crash. And yet...

Claudio Carvalho The drifter Hal Carter (William Holden) hitchhikes by train to a small town to visit the college friend Alan Benson (Cliff Robertson), who is the son of the industrialist Mr. Benson (Raymond Bailey) that is the wealthiest person in town.Hal asks for a small job to Ms. Helen Potts (Verna Felton) and the old lady feels affection for him and tells that nobody works in the Labor Day. She gives a breakfast to Hal and he meets her next door neighbor, the gorgeous Marjorie "Madge" Owens (Kim Novak) that is Alan's girlfriend. Then Hal is welcomed by Alan that invites him to go to the local picnic with Madge's younger sister Millie Owens (Susan Strasberg). Hal is a braggart, but attractive and gentle, and he becomes successful with the local girls. However, he falls in love with Madge and Alan feels betrayed by his best friend."Picnic" is a dated and not believable romance, but also delightful to see. I saw this film for the first day on VHS on 29 January 2003 and in that occasion I liked it more than now. I have just seen this film again on DVD and I found the thirty-seven year old William Holden absolutely miscast in the role of a youngster of twenty and something years old. When the spinster Rosemary (Rosalind Russell) has an argument with Hal and asks him to look himself in the mirror, William Holden is already an older man and the scene loses the impact. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Férias de Amor" ("Vacation of Love")