The Age of Commercialism

One of my all time favorites.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Excellent comedy that brings on some serious dramatic overtones in this 1960 film. There is a wonderful description of ethical business standards and practices in the film.The cast is just wonderful and is led by James Garner as the cool business man who does learn some business humility in the end. Natalie Wood is wonderful as a former summer flame who becomes involved when Garner attempts to buy out Dean Jagger, her father in the film.Nina Foch shows her mettle as a managing assistant, bitter from her ex-husband's escapades, only to misinterpret Garner's lines to her.Business ethics has never been better.

James Garner has always had a knack for making every character he's played his own. From his early T.V. days as western star Brent Maverick to the last series, The Rockford files. His ease to become the center attraction is a natural pose for such a talented individual. In this story directed by Joseph Pevney, he plays Millionaire tycoon, Cash McCall who's amiable gift for buying and quickly selling industrial real estate is surprisingly lucrative. That is until he meets with eye-candy Natalie Wood who plays Lory Austen, the beautiful daughter of Grant Austin (Dean Jagger) a retiring designer. With a top successful group of businessmen led by Winston Conway (E.G. Marshall), Gilmore Clark (Henry Jones) and Harrison Glenn (Edward Platt), he plans to reap a rich bonus with the biggest deal of his life. However, small incidents like his personal housekeeper Maude Kennard (Nina Foch) wrongly believing McCall is seeking her as a wife and his number one business competitor, General Danvers (Roland Winters) believes McCall is trying to cheat him, are becoming more than annoying. All in all, this Garner vehicle is fun in a number of ways, but all end up creating the correct imagines originally written by author Cameron Hawley. ****

When you first hear of this flick, you think it is like most of Garner's "Light Comedy" from the 60's - Not so. This film shows the a steamy underside of the Big Business "Scene" and the kind of trickery that goes on... And how even an honest down to earth deal could be made to look like a swindle, with a little jealousy and backstabbing added when least expected- And for that you have to give proper credit to Nina Koch for playing a kind of reverse "Erica Martin" from Executive Suite.Garner is surrounded with some of the great character actors of the time: Dean Jagger, E. G. Marshall (From "12 Angry Men"), Otto Kruger (From Hitchcock's "Saboteur" and "Magnificent Obsession"), Edward Platt ("Chief" from "Get Smart").And of course Natalie Wood, and in this film she gives one of her best... She is an absolute firecracker. I like the fact that the interaction between Garner and Wood is a little subdued.One thing that is amazing, is that this was directed by Joe Pevney, who directed some of the best episodes of Star Trek Original Series.

When Natalie Wood was in her prime, she was at the top of the biz, stunningly beautiful, sharp, but accessible. And no one played the all-american stud better than Jim Garner.Call it a bedroom farce if you like but Cash McCall combines a lot of wheeling and dealing with a good old fashioned boy-meets-girl to make a very pleasing movie.At first glance, McCall (Garner) is part playboy, part ruthless businessman, but we know better; that his heart of gold belongs only to Lory Austen (Wood), a woman he met last Summer, and he's thought of nothing but her since.Standard fare, well done with attractive stars, that alone puts it in the upper 20% as far as I'm concerned. Enjoy it.