Sorry I missed you last night. Grimsley came over and wanted to show me a lot of stuff he taped from recent episodes of the Seth Myers show, regarding the big Trump news of the past week. Myers tees off on Trump nightly, and he was having a field day with the recent revelations, and especially with koo-koo bird Rudy Giuliani's appearances on the cable news shows. We watched all of that material and had a few laughs, even though what is happening in our country isn't a bit funny.
But tonight I'm back, and I do have a movie : "The Explosive Generation" (1961), an obscure gem I discovered in a library database search using the terms "Metro Goldwyn Mayer Limited Edition Collection", which is MGM's version of Warner Archives, only using a lot more words, haha.
"The Explosive Generation" stars a young and dignified William Shatner as a high school teacher who finds himself at the center of a heated controversy after his students ask for a discussion of sex education in his classroom. Shatner explains to them that health class is the place for that, but then an outspoken student (Patty McCormack of "The Bad Seed" fame) stands up to say "we don't mean the birds and the bees. We already know about that! What we want is a discussion of sex as it relates to teenagers. How far should a girl go? What should she do if her boyfriend pressures her, if she loves him and doesn't want to lose him"?
Shatner is taken aback by the frankness of her questions, but her classmates stand behind her. McCormack's desire for such a talk, in class with a teacher that all the students trust and admire, has been brought about by a night at a party - that we viewers are shown - at which she and her boyfriend stay overnight along with another young couple. By the direction, dialogue and editing, we are led to assume they have "gone all the way", and that Patty McCormack is now, in the cold light of day, confused and uncomfortable with her decision to "do it" with her boyfriend. Because this has turned into a rumor around the school, she has proposed to teacher William Shatner that the class should discuss the issue of sex in general, as it applies to young people who have yet to reach adulthood.
As mentioned, Shatner does not want to do this, and his position is understandable, especially in 1961. He tells the students that, according to the Board of Education it is the parent's prerogative to inform their children about sex. Patty McCormack reply speaks for all the kids : "You try talking to my Mom about it"!, and of course in 1961, it is unlikely that many Moms and daughters were having explicit conversations about the matter. Shatner feels the students' plight, and he proposes a compromise. Instead of an open discussion, he suggests that each student write out their questions, opinions and concerns, and hand them in, unsigned and anonymous. The students look up to him as a leader, so they take to his idea, and they write out their papers and turn them in. Shatner has even included an option for those who are uncomfortable to not write anything at all.
After all the papers are turned in, Shatner returns to class the next day to offer his advice on what the students have written. But before he can do so, the school principal (Edward Platt, who played "The Chief" on "Get Smart") comes storming into the classroom, accompanied by Patty McCormack's uptight mother. The rumor of Patty's overnight stay with her boyfriend has now been inflated even more by the paper she wrote under Shatner's suggestion. All the kids in school are speculating about what it says. The rumor that she "went all the way" with her boyfriend is now magnified and even the students' parents are aware of it. All hell breaks loose upon this supposed news, and in short order all of the involved parents (two couples' worth) are pounding on the principal's door, demanding to know what filth William Shatner has been pushing on their youngsters.
While this story could seem quaint in our prurient age, it was in fact quite representative of the sexual mores of the time. I realise I was only a year old, lol, when the film came out, but history shows that things were still pretty square, culturally speaking, at the turn of the decade. It wasn't until later in the 1960s that attitudes loosened up, during the Free Love era that began around 1967. But you can see that as early as 1961, student movements were beginning, and that is what the movie is really about.
Young people, perhaps emboldened by the beginnings of the rock n' roll era five years earlier, were starting to speak their minds. In the film, the desire for a sex discussion is played straight and not for anyone's leering interest. The high-schoolers are portrayed as earnest and their questions genuine. They seem to be the level-headed ones and their parents the hysterics. Indeed, the pot has been stirred up in the first place by the parents' refusal to talk to their kids in depth about sex. Thus they have gone to their teacher for help and he is now caught in the middle.
"The Explosive Generation" is a surprisingly sober-minded film that examines it's subject matter in a very intelligent way. The young actors are uniformly good, especially Lee Kinsolving as the student leader. He had a short life (passed away at 36) but had he lived he would no doubt have gone on to a long career. His portrayal exemplifies the type of steadfast, confident youths who went on to organize on college campuses a few years later. Buy the 1963, students were helping to push for civil rights, and by 1968 were leading the way in protesting the Vietnam War.
Their generation went on to become the most politically and socially active in my lifetime.
I give "The Explosive Generation" Two Very Big Thumbs Up. As noted, it is a serious film about sex as it regards those who are just coming under it's influence : the hormonally charged youth.
It is photographed in crisp black and white, with outdoor settings in Santa Monica, and the dvd print is pristine. See it for a sign of the times, when the times they were a 'changin. :) /////
Well, it's me here, your reviewer. It's now Sunday afternoon, and the Rams are getting clobbered by Tampa Bay.......(but wait, now they're catching up). Still, not good to be getting whupped by TB, who generally suck. But...........sports.
It's only sports. Right?
Wrong! It's sports, doggonnitt! And it drives me nuts when my teams lose!
That's why I trick myself by saying "well, it's only sports". Darn it. :)
We had good singing in church this morn, and now I will head out for some afternoon shopping, maybe even go down to Big Five in search of some new shoes. Have a great afternoon and I'll see you tonight!
Tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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