As Good As It Gets

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Barbara Bel Geddes is "Caught" by Robert Ryan in this 1949 film also starring Robert Ryan and James Mason.Bel Geddes is Leonora Eames, an attractive young woman who attends the Dorothy Dale Charm School, hoping to become a model and meet a rich man. She's encouraged in this goal by her sister, since they don't come from money. Leonora ultimately becomes a store model. When she's invited to a party on a yacht, she hesitates, but her sister encourages her to go. She dawdles for so long that she ends up sitting at the launch by herself, hoping someone comes along to take her.The man who shows up is Smith Ohlrig (Robert Ryan), a very wealthy man, and soon, he and Leonora are married. Ohlrig, however, is a very disturbed, controlling individual and only proposes because he's angry with his psychiatrist.Though Leonora has money, jewels, and a life of leisure, Ohlrig is rarely home and when he is, he is verbally abusive or neglectful. Leonora leaves him, turns her back on the money, and gets a job as a receptionist in a pediatric practice run by Dr. Quinada. The doctor is James Mason. Hmm...nasty Robert Ryan with money...gorgeous, smooth-talking James Mason to whom money means very little...what's a girl to do. I only know what I'd do - in a heartbeat. Anyway, complications ensue, as Ohlrig tries to get his wife back, and she and Dr. Quinada fall in love.Bel Geddes is appropriately sweet and vulnerable as Leonora, and of course, Robert Ryan made a career out of playing brutish, cruel men, and he's terrific. I understand that in real life, he was an absolute doll. Mason is gentle and sincere as Dr. Quinada Though the ending is a little contrived, this is still a good movie in the hands of this cast and director Max Ophuls, who makes the point that those who worship money as a god can easily find themselves -- well, caught.

This movie grabs one immediately because of its cinematography. As it progresses it becomes an effective, and affecting, critique of the exchange of sexual favors for wealth and the treatment of humans as possessions. Ryan's portrayal of Ohlrig, the psychopathic business wizard, is exceptional: he excelled in the portrayal of hysterical males, and this performance highlights the contrast between his stunning good looks and ruthless personality (albeit in a less subtle way than in his seductive role in Clash by Night.) James Mason is more than adequate as the idealistic doctor who "rescues" Bel Geddes from her oppressive marriage. He gives an honest performance which avoids his tendency to indulge in ironic removal from his characters. Bel Geddes is the somewhat clueless product of cultural oppression: her character vacillates between frustration and despair, unable to reconcile her desire for freedom and self-worth with her position as the neglected toy of a rich man. Although many have wished for a tougher actress, Bel Geddes' rebellious doormat is believable because of her softness combined with intelligence. The cast, look, and attitude of Caught transcend its simplistic plot and bizarre denouement, making it a movie worth watching more than once.

A fairly good plot becomes mired in an ending which is most callous. It is hard to fathom that any writer could state that death of a baby would virtually set a woman free from a horrible marriage.Barbara Bel Geddes was our Cinderella here and believe me, she wished she had never met her Prince Charming- Robert Ryan, wealthy, rotten and vicious to the core. When she flees Ryan's millionaire misery, she falls for the doctor she goes to work for as a receptionist.The movie would have been far better had it become a murder mystery. So many would have wanted to do away with the Ryan character. He is really despicable here, as well as totally off the wall. As is, at the end of the film we want to know why we didn't do away with the writing.

Two men vie for the love or, at a minimum, the obedience of a poor girl who has just managed to graduate from charm school. One man is rich,bitter, domineering, and has eyeballs of steel. His name is Smith Ohlrig. The other man is a handsome, hard-working but poor doctor dedicated to serving the disenfranchised. His name is Larry Quinada. Guess which one wins her.It's not as stupid as it may sound, for a couple of reasons. One is the performances, both as the roles are written and as the parts executed. Robert Ryan is Smith Ohlrig and there was no one better than Ryan at projecting a pungent hatred of humanity than Ryan. He was superb, for instance, in "On Dangerous Ground" and "Crossfire." Barbara Bel Geddes as Leonora, the blond in contention, is fine as the winsome young charm school graduate who is sufficiently attracted to the immensely wealthy Ryan to marry him, not knowing that he proposed on a dare from his psychiatrist. She's pretty too, though she sounds like she came from the kind of background that Ryan enjoys in this movie. Speaking of that, though, at the beginning the impoverished Bel Geddes is rooming with another girl who refers to their apartment as "this dump." That particular "dump" looks more spacious and well appointed than the dump my brother and I knew as children. Right, Bucky? If you're not careful, you could get the impression that production designers and set dressers in Hollywood don't have any real conception of poverty.James Mason is not the stereotype he might have been -- you know, quiet, patient, understanding, "caring" -- and thank God for that. It might have been sickening. Bel Geddes has left Ryan and taken a job as Mason's receptionist. And when we first meet him, and more or less throughout the movie, he's impatient, scolding, and only rarely concerned about Bel Geddes welfare. He shows no appreciation when she works overtime or even stays all night at the office. At one point, he drives her to quit.That's rather a nice touch, having the obvious winner of her love being a little nasty to her. Not TOO nasty. In that case, you might as well have called this movie "All Men Are Brutes." But just edgy enough so that he avoids the soap opera formula. He's strong enough to allow Bel Geddes the final decision, but he's not a sap either.I'm afraid the script could have used a little more polish. Mason's character may not be a stereotype (neither is Ryan's flunky, Franzi), but Ryan's certainly is and, to an extent, Bel Geddes' is as well.Some crises and some of the dialog are plain terrible. Bel Geddes is pregnant with Ryan's fetus, he apparently having reserved usufruct rights over her reproductive system, and he has her imprisoned in her room, torturing her by keeping her awake with constant calls and demands, while she lies sweating and helpless on the satin sheets. Here are some of her lines. "Don't take my BABY, Smith! Oh, Larry, please help me. I want you." I'm not making that up.The direction is by Max Ophuls and it's above average, overcoming the benthic depths in the script. Nice shots of Ryan and the exhausted Bel Geddes speaking through a bedroom door ajar. And there's another scene that is quietly impressive. Mason is pacing around in his office. His partner, Frank Ferguson, is using an electric razor on his chin across the room. They are quietly discussing Bel Geddes, whom Mason has just fired. Mason is turning the affair over in his mind. The perceptive Ferguson makes an occasional remark. Meanwhile, as the two speak, the camera drifts slowly from one man to the other, each time crossing Bel Geddes' vacant desk which sits between them. As the scene ends, the camera slows to a halt, with the deafeningly empty desk in the center of the frame.