Picnic (film)
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| Picnic | |
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 original film poster |
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| Directed by | Joshua Logan |
| Written by | Daniel Taradash |
| Starring | William Holden Kim Novak Betty Field Rosalind Russell |
| Release date(s) | November, 1955 |
| Running time | 115 min |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
- This article is about the 1955 movie. For other uses, see Picnic (disambiguation).
Picnic is a 1955 Cinemascope film in Technicolor which tells the story of an ex-college football star turned drifter who arrives in a small Kansas town on Labor Day and is drawn to a girl who's already spoken for. The plot covers a twenty-four hour period, and was considered daring for its day. It stars William Holden, Kim Novak, Susan Strasberg, Cliff Robertson, Arthur O'Connell, Nick Adams, Betty Field and Rosalind Russell and is sometimes cited as a richly detailed snapshot of midwestern American culture during the 1950s.
The screenplay was adapted by Daniel Taradash from William Inge's Pulitzer Prize winning play. Directed by Joshua Logan, Picnic was widely popular and made Kim Novak a star. Rosalind Russell received critical praise for her role as a middle-aged, frustrated schoolteacher. Audiences reacted to it as a realistic, "slice of life" story.
The movie's hit song, "Theme From Picnic," reached Number One on the Billboard charts in 1956 and was Number 14 overall that year. Composed by George Duning and comedian Steve Allen -- though Allen's lyrics are never used during the film -- the song was used in the dance scene between Holden and Novak, where Columbia's musical director Morris Stoloff blended "Theme From Picnic" with the 1930s standard "Moonglow", The two songs are often paired in later recordings by other artists. The soundtrack album also sold well, reaching 23 on the Billboard charts.
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[edit] Production and cast
William Holden, who shaved his chest for his shirtless scenes in the movie, was reportedly nervous about his dancing for the "Moonglow" scene and Logan took him to Kansas roadhouses to practice steps in front of jukeboxes with choreographer Miriam Nelson. Heavy thunderstorms with tornado warnings repeatedly interrupted shooting of the scene on location and it was completed on a backlot in Burbank, where Holden (according to some sources) was "dead drunk" to calm his nerves. "Bomber" the paperboy, a humorous character, was played by Nick Adams who dated Natalie Wood and was a friend of both James Dean and Elvis Presley. Millie, the tomboyish girl who memorizes Shakespeare sonnets and rebels against her older sister by getting drunk, was an early role for Susan Strasberg, the daughter of well-known "Method" drama teacher Lee Strasberg. Elizabeth Wilson had a bit part as one of the local, smirking schoolteachers (twelve years later she played a major supporting role in Mike Nichols' The Graduate as Benjamin Braddock's attractive, slightly high-strung mom). Kim Novak had previously announced she preferred going braless and the Hollywood publicity mill reported she spent her time off during production of the film away from other cast members, in church.
[edit] Location filming
Picnic was filmed on location in five central Kansas towns:
- Halstead's Riverside Park is where all the Labor Day picnic scenes (some of which are semi-documentary) were filmed. The park and many landmarks still existed at the time of the movie's fiftieth anniversary.
- Hutchinson, with its huge grain elevators.
- Nickerson is the location of the two adjacent houses where Madge (Kim Novak) and her family live (with "old Mrs. Potts" next door), also where Hal (William Holden) "jumps a freight" to go to Tulsa and where Madge boards a bus in the last scene.
- Salina, where Hal jumps off a train in the opening scene and meets Allen (Cliff Robertson) at Allen's father's large house, also where Madge kisses Hal by the Salina River and where he escapes from the police by running under a waterfall.
- Sterling, where the pre-picnic swim in the lake was filmed.
[edit] Cinemascope format
James Wong Howe's widescreen photography for the film was considered trend setting. The Cinemascope format was highlighted in the film's final aerial shot when it pulls back to frame a sprawling horizon showing both a freight train and an overland bus separately bearing the two leading characters.
[edit] Subliminal marketing hoax
In 1957, marketing researcher James Vicary said he had included subliminal messages such as eat popcorn and drink Coca-Cola in public screenings of the movie for six weeks, claiming sales of Coca-Cola and popcorn increased 18.1% and 57.8% respectively. However, Vicary later admitted there had never been any such messages and his announcement was itself a marketing trick.[1]
[edit] Academy Awards
Picnic won Academy Awards for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color and Best Film Editing and was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (O'Connell, who reprised his stage role), Best Director, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture (George Duning) and Best Picture.
[edit] Criticism
The film was later dismissed in retrospective reviews written during the 1970s and 1980s, although by the end of the 20th century, spurred by releases in its original aspect ratio on Laserdisc and DVD, critics were praising Picnic's resonant portrayal of small-town life in the US during the Eisenhower era. It has a melodic soundtrack and strong performances by the supporting cast, notably those of a young Susan Strasberg (who is said to carry the many scenes she appears in) and Arthur O'Connell reprising the role he played during Picnic's successful stage run on Broadway.
However, the performances of Holden and Novak are not considered among the best of their careers. Holden was 37 when filming began. Wary about attempting to play someone wooing a girl who was in truth half his age, he had to be convinced to take the role. Audiences didn't seem to mind this at the time but by the 21st century the pairing seemed odd to some viewers and Novak was criticized as being too passive in the role. Much of Picnic's lasting appeal seems to derive from its well drawn supporting characters and subplots, the authentic location settings in central Kansas and the "time capsule" documentary sense of life in 1955 small town America.
[edit] Remakes
Picnic was remade for television in 1986, starring Gregory Harrison, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael Learned, Rue McClanahan and Dick Van Patten. It was directed by Marshall W. Mason. It was again remade for television in 2000, starring Bonnie Bedelia, Josh Brolin, Gretchen Mol, Jay O. Sanders and Mary Steenburgen. The screenplay was adapted by Shelley Evans, and the movie was directed by Ivan Passer.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Picnic at the Internet Movie Database
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