Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Vulgar but Charming, Tom Jones struts his way to infamy in his hometown for his antics. When the charming Sophie arrives, She and Tom falls in love much to the dismay of her parents who have other plans for her.Particularly known for one of the more forgotten and questioned Best Picture winners, Tom Jones is a rare breed of silliness and playfulness tossed with a flair of lavish flamboyance that had not been present in a lot of Best Picture Nominees of today. Though these same characteristics does not really make it into a great film. Today, it feels a bit too tame that its antics comes off a bit too corny. Overall, just not my taste.[3/5]

The writer of 18th Century England, especially the novelists, were a lot more free to express themselves as those a century later. I consider the Victorian era to be the greatest for literature, but Fielding, Smollett, Swift and his ilk had a whole host of possibilities. I think this is Fielding's greatest novel. Albert Finley plays the young and randy Tom in a picaresque novel, with adventures every step of the way. He encounters loose women, angry husbands, great possibilities and bitter disappointments. But he keeps his chin up along the way and bounces from experience to experience. He is always optimistic and charming. Wonderful performances in a time when the world created a challenge for all.

The editing and background music in this film are/were unique and something to behold. Although you may have seen some of the techniques copied (unfortunately, the only film which comes immediately to mind with regards to the editing is Start the Revolution Without Me (1970)), I feel fairly certain that freeze frames (with narrative voice- overs), characters playing (even talking) to the camera, and the lyrical wipes & fades ("zeroing" in on a specific object or face - like the singing mice in Babe (1995)) employed were first done in this Academy Award winning Best Picture.A very visually creative film which tells the bawdy tales of a bastard son raised by a wealthy squire. Another scene, the sensual eating of food, was also borrowed by several later films like Like Water for Chocolate (1992) (right? my memory escapes me).The score, which also won the Academy Award, is whimsical and upbeat with its tempo perfectly matching the kinetic pace of many of the more comical exploits of the title character, played by Albert Finney (Oscar nominated in only his third film).One of the few comedies (15%?) to win BP, it also took home Best Director (Tony Richardson) and Writing (the story was adapted from the Henry Fielding novel). Supporting Actor Hugh Griffith and three Supporting Actresses (Diane Cilento, Edith Evans, and Joyce Redman) also received Oscar nominations.

How do they do it? The casting was perfection. Albert Finney and Suzanna York were great. But, then, Hugh Griffith, Joan Greenwood, the guy who played Mr. Blifil, the wenches, the men who were out to get Tom Jones could not have been played any better by anyone else. Each scene, while keeping the plot going at a rapid pace, was complete and a delight to watch all by itself. What I really loved about the deer hunt besides the beauty of the English countryside and the aerial shots was the whooping and yelling of the riders, dogs barking and hooves pounding. It seemed much wilder and less elegant than the fancy fox hunts we've seen in more contemporary films. I was almost out of breath by the end.A movie like this I can watch over and over for the performances and the beauty of the direction even though I know the plot by heart. It's like listening to a favorite song by a great artist. I wish I could have been on the set to watch the fun in person. How do the people who make these wonderful types of movies walk away from them at the completion without feeling sad that they are over?