It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

On a South Seas island during WWII, beach bum Cary Grant is paid (in alcohol) by the Allies to watch for Japanese planes and ships. He finds himself reluctant protector to French teacher Leslie Caron and her students. A delightful and charming comedy. It's Cary Grant's penultimate film and this gruff role is a great change of pace for him. Trevor Howard is good as the Australian Navy commander who forces Grant into service. The child actors are all enjoyable. Leslie Caron is fun and has a lovely chemistry with Cary. Love the blood talk. Grant never felt comfortable being leading man to women young enough to be his daughter (kudos to him for that), and yet that was what he was being offered at the time. He would do one more movie before retiring. This was his last really good one, though. It's a little bit romantic comedy and a little bit family comedy but not enough of either to be hackneyed. Nice theme song "Pass Me By."

Father Goose is a great film, with a great story, great characters, and great actors. Walter Eckland (Cary Grant) is a man who ran away from society on a boat. He is pretty much aimless and does almost nothing for anyone else's benefit. But during World War 2 Royal Australian Navy Commander Frank Houghton (Trevor Howard) pushes Walter to become a watchman on a desolate pacific island so he just searches for Japanese planes. One day he comes across Catherine Freneau (Leslie Caron) a snobby school teacher and all of her female pupils who inadvertently end up on Walter's island. The writing in this movie is great. All of the characters are fantastic, Walter, Catherine, Commander Houghton are all enjoyable. And all the acting is stellar from top to bottom. I can definitely recommend this movie. You will not be disappointed.

This movie comes dangerously close to being a stinker. The Cary Grant and Leslie Caron characters are both a bit exaggerated, Grant with his constantly sucking on a bottle but never appearing drunk, and Caron with her manipulative primness. We know Caron is going to do a Katherine Hepburn to Grant's Bogie in African Queen, and confiscate the liquor, and eventually get him to put on some clean clothes.And, of course, they're going to fall in love. But get married? There's not much of a transition here; at least Grant could have confessed how afraid he was she was going to die, or something. It's a real weak spot in the script, but then I guess this is sort of a children's movie, or at least one of those early Sixties family movies, a la Disney.I'm as shocked and mystified as anyone that this won an Oscar for best original screenplay. But then the good stuff, like Dr. Strangelove, Goldfinger, My Fair Lady and even Mary Poppins were based on books, and so didn't qualify. Speaking of My Fair Lady, can you believe Grant turned down Henry Higgins to be in this mediocrity? And he had hopes of Audrey Hepburn stooping to co-star, although I must admit, she would have been good in the role, as always. I wish Caron had played it more like Caron, with more class and finesse, and less anger.I saw this when I was a kid, and found it reasonably amusing. Viewing it from an older perspective, I can sympathize a lot more with Grant's character. The strongest section is the beginning, when he is being strong-armed into being an island watcher, the antithesis of South Pacific's Emile De Becque. The little girls certainly do a good job of being annoying, and providing a bachelor with good reason for retaining this status.Grant provides enough edginess to avoid turning this into a saccharine Disney number. He delivers a well-balanced comedic performance. But the roles are fairly generic, and other actors who could have played the lead, include Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon or Walter Matthau.What makes Father Goose most interesting, from a cinematic perspective, is that it came only a year after director Ralph Nelson's masterpiece, Lilies of the Field. This was a heart-warming story not unlike Father Goose, of a reluctant hero dragged into doing his duty by a bunch of women. But it was a gentle, slow movie grounded in realism. I wonder if Father Goose could have been made with a similar approach? Instead, we have slightly unrealistic acting matched with a somewhat improbable story. It might have been better had it been more believable. It might have been more dramatic, but then it might not have been as funny.As to one comment about it being "sexist," that's hilarious. What do you expect the little girls to do, grab a machine gun and mow down the Japanese sailors? Swim out and attach a mine to the Japanese patrol boat? Father Goose is very much a product of its time: an early Sixties mainstream comedy. And that's the way it was.Oh, as to the mystery of the screenplay Oscar, perhaps it had something to do with writer Frank Tarloff having been blacklisted during the Fifties for being an "unfriendly witness" before the HUAC committee, and having moved to England. He wrote under assumed names, but what, I do not know. Perhaps the award was a surrogate for some of his work under a pseudonym.Father Goose is not a masterpiece, even of its genre, but it is reasonably entertaining, and holds up fairly well. It could have been better, from an adult perspective, but no one involved needs to apologize. Most of all, it is good, clean family fun, which might be why some reviewers are so ecstatic about it.

I've loved this movie since it was on "Saturday Night at the Movies" on NBC in about 1967 - I was 12 years old and I suddenly wanted to be Cary Grant - not the debonair Cary Grant of "To Catch a Thief" who hooks up with Grace Kelly (that desire would come about a year later) but the beach-bum Cary Grant with the cool boat from "Father Goose." I've re-watched the film a couple of times since then, including one viewing quite recently, and it strikes me as completely charming. Grant is outstanding (he felt this role was close to his real-life self). Caron is good. The kids are marvelous - very funny and alive. The boat is as cool as ever. Trevor Howard - that old grizzled Trevor Howard - is very fine. He doesn't have a whole lot to do - I get the feeling he shot his role in about a week in a Hollywood studio - but he makes the most of it. The script offers some interesting subtleties, such as the way Grant proves himself worthy of Caron's love - nothing REAL subtle, but kinda subtle. All in all, good family fare. And I still want to be a beach bum with a cool boat.