Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation

Well we had the “Huggetts” and the French “Monsieur Hulot” so I suppose it only fair that the Americans got “Mr. Hobbs” to have his own version of the family holiday from hell. All he (James Stewart) actually wants to do is head to the beach with wife “Peggy” (Maureen O’Hara) and spend some quality time doing nothing at all. She, on the other hand, sees this as an ideal opportunity to assemble their entire family, and that includes two grandchildren as well! “Roger” is frankly horrified at the prospect as he hasn’t much by the way of paternal instinct and his children range from 10-18 as well as his two married daughters. For the most part the kids are content with his fatherly indifference. “Danny” (Michael Burns) just wants to be left to watch reruns on the telly whilst “Katey” (Lauri Peters) has just had dental braces fitted so she doesn’t want to talk to anyone at all. Just to add to the poor man’s woes, the house they have rented is barely held together by rust, rot and goodwill; the plumbing is as temperamental as the weather and their housekeeper “Brenda” (Minerva Urecal) quickly abandons ship. After a few days of this, poor old “Roger” is climbing the walls but then he hears of a dance in town and so off they set. Initially “Katey” struggles to get a partner, but after some intervention (and $5) from her dad, the handsome young “Joe” (Fabian) gets her on her feet. What chance this could actually end up being more than simply a financial transaction? What chance “Roger” isn’t just going to walk into the sea and keep going? There is some fun to be had here, usually at the hands of a Stewart who always had his own unique form of comedy timing, and which works well with an O’Hara who also knew how to raise a smile. Fabian has a go at growing a goatee - before anyone even knew what that was, and there are some amiable swipes at parenting techniques that reflect more intellectual rather than spontaneous thinking. We’ve only got the one, brief, song and that’s cancelled out by one of the most unlikely examples of fisticuffs you’re ever likely to see through some steam. If proof were ever to be needed about the madness of organising a family holiday, then this could supply that in spades (and buckets) and it’s an easy - if perhaps a little too long - observation of how you need a holiday after your holiday.