Yours, Mine and Ours (1968)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Melville Shavelson

Writers:

Bob Carroll Jr. (story)
Madelyn Davis (story)

Release Date:

24 April 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family

Tagline:

Their wedding night set new attendence records

Plot:

When a widower with 10 children marries a widow with 8, can the 20 of them ever come together as one big happy family...

Plot Keywords:

Children | Widow | Sibling | Parent | Widower

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Lucille Ball	...	Helen North Beardsley
Henry Fonda	...	Frank Beardsley
Van Johnson	...	Warrant Officer Darrel Harrison
Louise Troy	...	Madeleine Love
Sidney Miller	...	Dr. Ashford
Tom Bosley	...	Family Doctor
Nancy Howard	...	Nancy Beardsley
Walter Brooke	...	Howard Beardsley
Tim Matheson	...	Mike Beardsley (as Tim Matthieson)
Gil Rogers	...	Rusty Beardsley
Nancy Roth	...	Rosemary Beardsley
Gary Goetzman	...	Greg Beardsley
Morgan Brittany	...	Louise Beardsley (as Suzanne Cupito)
Holly O'Brien	...	Susan Beardsley
Michele Tobin	...	Veronica Beardsley

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | Germany:6 | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Alameda, California, USA

Company:

Desilu Productions

Trivia:

Lucille Ball co-produced the film under her company, Desilu Productions. When the film became a surprise smash hit grossing over $17 million on a $2.5 million investment, she became furious about it. She hadn't anticipated the film's huge box-office success and failed to provide a tax shelter for her personal profits, resulting in most of her share going in taxes.

Goofs:

Plot holes: Frank decides to call Helen, so he looks her number up in the white pages. But Helen had just moved to the city recently, so her number shouldn't be in the phone book yet.

Quotes:

HelenNorth: Frank, there's something I have to tell you before we go any further. I have eight children.
[sudden panic]
HelenNorth: Frank! We're on a cable car!
Frank Beardsley: Of course.
HelenNorth: I get sick on cable cars!
Frank Beardsley: Well wait'll you hear what I have to tell you. I have TEN children.
HelenNorth: Ten. TEN? Frank! Eight and ten is...
Frank Beardsley: Ridiculous.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Will & Grace: Yours, Mine or Ours (#1.16)" (1999)

Best Family Movie of the 60's

I have to admit that I had trouble with Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball in the leads largely because they both were really too old to play their respective characters (Ball was about 57 at the time and Fonda about 63). In the end the film is so well done that I forgot about that. Aside from the film "Please Don't Eat the Daisies", this is probably the best family movie of the 60's. The best thing about the film is the realistic way in which the family blends together. The usual problems are all there and the way in which Fonda and Ball deal with it is about what one would expect, a certain amount of good intentions, a bit of mistake making, sacrifice, and providing a good deal of love and support. The writing may not be politically correct in this day and age (the scene where Fonda's kids get Ball drunk, Ball spanks one of the boys, and there is also a certain amount of gender stereotyping), but it is this that gives the film its appeal and relatability. As Leonard Maltin points out, look for a some well known faces in the supporting cast. Tom Bosley as the doctor, Tim Matheson as Mike, a four or five year old Tracey Nelson, Morgan Brittany of Dallas fame, 70's TV staple Ben Murphy as the oldest daughter's boyfriend, and well known child actor Eric Shea who gives an endearing performance as young Philip, the kid that seems the most lost in the big family. All in all Dad Fonda sums the whole thing up when he describes for the oldest daughter (who's being pressured by the boyfriend to have sex) what love is really about and how this family is staying together, "It isn't going to bed with a man that proves that you love him it's getting up in the morning and facing the drab, miserable, wonderful everyday world that counts. I suppose having 19 kids is carrying it a bit too far, but if we had it to do all over again who would we skip, you?" And that is exactly what Helen and Frank are doing together, and the kids admire and respect them all the more for it.