Come Back, Little Sheba
|
List Price: Our Price: $12.99 You Save: $1.99 (13%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $10.50 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Come Back, Little Sheba
Movie Review: Powerful drama.
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a powerful drama. Lancaster plays a sort of Jeckyll and Hyde character named "Doc": calm and refined when sober, angry and dangerous when drunk. The scene in which, drunk, he attacks his wife, Lola, is harrowing. I've seen few scenes to beat it in terms of intensity and believability. Doc buries his disappointments in drink and harbors a deep suspicion of women's sexuality. Indeed, he is obsessed with female purity; thus the fact that Lola was pregnant before their marriage weighs heavily on him, and Doc, like Lola's father, never forgives her for this sexual "mistake." Booth, as Lola, is heartbreakingly poignant. The dominant symbol in the film, Lola's lost dog, Sheba, represents Lola's lost self: her youth and her dreams. Because she has no where to go when Doc becomes "sick" again, she is forced to resign herself to being a housewife who whitewashes her problems just like she gives her wooden ice box a fresh coat of paint.
"You're all I have," Lola says to Doc at the end of the film. "You're all I ever had." Booth's genius in that scene is most evident. I once read that Inge, the author of the play on which this film is based, was an alcoholic himself and believed that each woman should always stand by her man. But one look at Booth's performance makes it clear that Booth didn't think so. Booth's Lola is desolate at the end of this film. Her mother and father won't take her in and her neighbor's only advice is "keep busy." This, Lola will do, as she must, as she has no choice, but at a high cost.
The first time I saw this film I was 12 or 13 years old. I'm 50 now. I just watched it again tonight. I cried.
Movie Review: EMOTIONAL POWERHOUSE DRAMA....
Summary: 5 Stars
Shirley Booth and Burt Lancaster are bound together by a mutual tragedy in a sad, childless marriage made worse by Lancaster's alcoholism. When they rent a room to a sexy college student (Terry Moore), everything begins to really unravel. Based on the William Inge play (which also starred Booth and won her a Tony), the film is downbeat but hypnotic thanks to the stars. Booth also won Best Actress for the film with her heartbreaking performance as the dowdy housewife struggling to cope with her husband's problems. The film depicts a somber intervention by AA for Lancaster's character and Booth calling for Sheba (their pet dog that was Booth's child substitute that has run away) as well as some other harrowing scenes that mark this film as serious drama. Booth later became part of TV history in the 60's as "Hazel" but it's her few ventures in films like this that need to be remembered too. She was no beauty but an exceptionally gifted actress who could tear your heart out with performances like the one in "Come Back Little Sheba". Lancaster is excellent as the husband who tries to love his unkempt wife but can't face the real issues. So glad to see this searing drama coming to DVD and will be happy to add it to my library.Movie Review: "Gimme Three Fingers of Love"
Summary: 5 Stars
This is what Doc and Lola each need massive hits of, but are unable to give effectively to each other. There is no doubt they love each other deeply, but each yearns for the kind of love the other can't give them. Shirley Booth got her best actress Oscar for this role and my favorite scene is when she is reclined on the sofa jiving to "Fifteen Minutes of Taboo," on the radio. Lola loves music, rhythm and dancing. Let us not downplay Burt's acting however. He is dead-on as the quiet, refined, gentleman that turns into a raving maniac when on a bender. When Doc and Lola are patching up the shambles of his latest episode, there seems to be an epithany for Lola when she realizes her little dog Sheba is never coming back. It seems that she may be able to let go of the past into which she escapes daily from her real life. As a recovering alcoholic myself (See my review of Lost Weekend)I appreciate the parts of the movie that deal with AA and the spirit of recovery. We hope that Doc and Lola can go forward and have a meaningful relationship, after being forced to their knees in self-examination by the presence of a young female border who is in and out in a flash. This is such a great movie.Movie Review: Shirley, We Hardly Knew Ye
Summary: 5 Stars
I grew up with Shirley Booth as the sweet but annoying Hazel (who would have this busybody as their maid? And who in 2008 can afford a maid?) I saw this movie on an television station late night movie. Her performance as the needy, loving, but pitiful woman tore me up & down. I remembering sobbing at the sadness of their lives. Burt Lancaster is also compelling as the younger, drunken Doc. In fact, I thought his youth, relative to hers, was an intentional part of the plot. The "older" woman seducing this studly young med student, who did the "right thing." It may seem old fashioned now - I laughed out loud at the woman who wrote she should get a life. To wit I would say, read a book about life before the Women's Movement in the 1970's. Not the movie who's myopic here. Don't know if you would want to buy the film unless you've already seen it and know what a tour de force Shirley Booth's performanc is. But if you have seen it, and love well written, well acted drama about imperfect people in an imperfect world, this film is for you. PS - I am going to see S. Epatha Merkerson attempt this role on Broadway. Love S. Epatha but she's got some big shoes to fill!Movie Review: A fantastic Old Fashion Drama
Summary: 5 Stars
Shirley Booth, Burt Lancasters and the other actors do a great job in their performances in "Come Back, little Sheba." Since I was born in the late 50's I knew characters similar to the role Shirley played. This movie brings back memories of yesteryear relative to family styles and how one related to each other. Though times have changed, the need to be loved and to be needed are still present in each of us. The end of the movie I think is the best part because Lola (Shirley Booth) and her husband (Burt Lancaster) appear to come to terms (acceptance) with the issues of the past which had been haunting them both and hindering their love for each other. We all need a fresh start and the end of this movie seems to portray that this is where this couple is headed after Burt Lancaster is released from the hospital (he had been recovering from alcoholism).
One can appreciate the old fashion classics such as this one as the acting is superb. I give it a four star as I appreciate the talent of yesterday's actors and actresses, particularly both Shirley Booth and Burt Lancaster.