Quarry employee Henry Fonda, living on a cows-and-chickens estate in Wyoming with his wife and nine children, works on building the couple's dream home in the hills while also trying to get his book-learnin' eldest son into college. Sudsy adaptation of Earl Hamner Jr.'s thinly-disguised memoir, which led in due course to TV's "The Waltons", is full of now-familiar elements: the whiskey-sippin' grandpa, the gaggle of young 'uns who bathe together in one tub, the fiery-tempered Mrs. (Maureen O'Hara, giving us nothing new) who asks her husband to work overtime so she can buy her son a graduation ring, the funeral which brings all the scattered relatives together. Given a pictorial sheen by writer-director Delmer Daves and his team of cinematographers, this location-rich drama is so well-intentioned that it becomes rather turgid. James MacArthur seems a tad mature to be just coming-of-age and noticing girls, though Daves feasts on his creamy skin and masculinity--the only instance where the director gets some sensuality going (it sure isn't there between the adults). "The Waltons" usually managed to add a dash of vinegar to its mix of homilies and cracker-barrel wisdom; here, when papa Fonda explains sex to son MacArthur by saying, "Just remember, you ain't no bull and she ain't no cow," the incredulous will not be won over. ** from ****
Review of Spencer's Mountain
