SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

The time period is Irish Brooklyn after the first waves of immigrants built the city's infrastructure. The time period is set before young widows raising children without current income were not yet offered social services. The symbolic tree could be the one removed from the view of the tenement occupants perhaps the widowed mother who is the tree supporting the family perhaps the ambitious daughter willing to give up her dreams to see her mom and little brother better looked after perhaps the widowed Irish cop whose hopes and dreams are this little family could after their bereavement period now becomes his. Brilliant performances by some actors not known today and by others major figures of their time among them Joan Blondell, Dorothy Maguire and Lloyd Nolan. A fond recollection for the recently deceased who were children in this era as well as for those of us raised by them too young to have experienced it. For those who wonder what it might have been like this is perhaps the best portrait of this era one will ever see on film.

This was director Elia Kazan's first attempt in the director's chair and you certainly would not have known it. Thank goodness it was the beginning of a very prestigious career for Mr. Kazan, winning twice for Best Director at the Academy Awards in 1948 for Gentleman's Agreement and again in 1955 for On The Waterfront.This black and white film pulls no punches in the telling of the hardships faced by Katie (Dorothy McGuire) and Johnny Nolan (James Dunn won for best supporting actor) and their two children daughter Francie (Peggy Ann Garner) and son Neeley (Ted Donaldson). The father of the household Johnny, makes a sporadic living as a part time waiter and singer and a full time heavy drinker. To try and make ends meet, the children's mother Katie works washing floors and she makes every penny count in their household. Francie loves her parents and she has a very special bond with her drunkard father as they both dream big. Mother Katie does not have time for the dreams of her husband as someone in their household needs to face the reality of paying the rent and the life insurance payments for a family of four which come due each month, and that responsibility falls directly on the shoulders of mom Katie.Katie Nolan has a sister who the children call Aunt Sissy (Joan Blondell) who is pretty and her looks allow for her to have a steady stream of both suitors and husbands which is in direct contrast with sister Katie's hard working and strict rules for her children.There are fantastic supporting roles such as that of police constable McShane (Lloyd Nolan) who always seems to be around when the Nolan's are having troubles, and troubles they do have. Although the early 1900's were a much simpler time, life's struggles were much more difficult and this film will make us all appreciate how easy we have had it compared to the many families who barely got by each day with the most simplest of requirements like shelter, food and clothing.I loved this film and the message it extends to us the audience. Appreciate what you do have and more importantly appreciate each other because you can pick your friends, but you cannot pick your family.I give the film a 9 out of 10 rating

In the early 1900s, the Nolans, a poor Brooklyn tenement family, fight not only to survive, but also to improve their lives. The studious Francie worships her father, waiter and aspiring singer Johnny, despite him being an alcoholic and a pipe dreamer. With a strong temper, mother Katie holds the family together, including a flirtatious and impetuous aunt. Dorothy McGuire is a perfect mother who keeps her family together, but loses and regains some humanity in the process. She was an underrated actress in her time, always gave great performances. Peggy Ann Garner in one of the best child performances I have seen as an intelligent and caring daughter. What an incredible and moving film; made me cry many times while watching girl Francie reverencing her father and helping out her mother. A film worth seeing more than once.

Encouraged by her idealistic if luckless father, a bright and imaginative young woman comes of age in a Brooklyn tenement during the early 1900s.I didn't read the novel, so I guess I can't speak to how well they turned it into a movie. But I did see the movie and it is quite good, and deserved all the praise it got at the time it came out. (If IMDb is to be believed, it would be in the Top 250 right now if it just had more votes.) Is this what Brooklyn was like? If anything, Brooklyn was probably worse, as it was breeding all kinds of Irish, Jewish and Italian gangsters. None of that occurs in this film, which is unfortunate. (But not everyone grew up with the gangsters, I suppose.)