Rating: - Should Philanthropy Pay Dividends?
I once heard that common courtesy is the greatest investment; it costs nothing, but it pays great dividends. In this movie, Cooper's unbiased, unconditional sympathy for any and all supplicants takes that concept to the next level.
What has been reviled by some reviewers as the good Samaritan taken to extremes, is in fact a paean for benevolence in its purest form. The man who brought his wife, children, and even his church pastor to disbelief proved that when it comes to philanthropy, it pays to be nice every time. The burden -- of occasional parasites who can't resist taking ... Read More
Rating: - Good Sam Is so True to LIfe
I absolutley loved this movie. It is so true even today. There are many people married to a Good Sam. I have known a few. They will take food out of their family's mouth and give it away. I had a friend that loaned her car out to a no-good cousin and she wrecked it and my friend got sued by the people that the cousin hit AND on top of it all, the cousin's family refused to pay for the damage because they said that it was broken to start with!!!!!! This movie needs to be watched by everyone who has a Good Sam in their family.
Rating: - Lost Christmas classic.
Good Sam is a charming Capra-esque Christmas classic directed by Leo McCarey (The Bells of St. Mary's, Going My Way). It's about a family man whose generosity to friends, relatives, neighbors, and strangers exceeds all normal expectations, apparently at the expense of his own immediate family, reaching a crisis at Christmas. See the movie to find out if what goes around comes around and it all works out. Gary Cooper is always fun to watch in this type of comedy drama, as he was in Capra's Mr. Deeds Goes To Town and Meet John Doe, and Howard Hawke's Ball of Fire.
Rating: - Disappointing Rip-Off
This blatant rip-off of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE lacks the heart and substance of its predecessor. Cooper is woefully miscast as the Jimmy-Stewart-aw-shucks-nice-guy who would give the shirt off his back (AND the backs of his wife and 2 small children) to help out anyone with a sob story. The humor is NOT, and the cliches are tedious. Sheridan is wasted as the wisecracking wife who laughs too much and too loudly. Her long-suffering character unfairly ends up being depicted as the "bad guy" in order to color Cooper's selfish irresponsibility "charity." All in all, a poor movie.
Rating: - Christmas movie Better than It's A Wonderful Life
The humor in this movie still holds up today. There was a very loose remake of this movie as Good Neighbor Sam with Jack Lemon, but it wasn't even in the same ballpark as the original. I saw it one Christmas on TV but never saw it again so I had to order it. Gary Cooper is wonderful as the good guy, great neighbor etc.,who everyone takes advantage of. But Ann Sheridan steals the show as his long-suffering wife. From the half-blind neighbor who borrows his car, the brother-in-law that moves in and causes Gary and Ann to have to sleep in separate rooms, the impatient boss who just can't understand ... Read More
- 
- 