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William Holden is the hunky drifter who rides the rails into a small Midwest town with dreams of landing a "respectable" job with his rich college buddy (Cliff Robertson). Kim Novak is the small-town beauty queen engaged to Robertson who falls for the cocky dreamer, as do repressed schoolmarm spinster Rosalind Russell and Novak's tomboyish kid sister Susan Strasberg. Their unleashed passions reach a crescendo at the Labor Day picnic. Joshua Logan directed William Inge's play on Broadway and carried it to Hollywood, earning Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Director in his screen-directing debut. Holden is years too old for the role but oozes sex appeal and makes a swoony stud when he takes his shirt off (or when, better yet, it's ripped from his back by a boozing Russell), and Novak is a lovely lost girl yearning for something she can't quite grasp. Arthur O'Connell earned an Oscar nomination as Russell's tippling boyfriend. The film was a huge popular and critical hit, but Logan's stiff and strident direction hasn't dated well. He makes his points in big capital letters--subtlety was never his strong point--and loses the natural beauty of the Kansas locations when he takes the climactic picnic scenes into an obviously artificial soundstage. Picnic remains a loved American classic, largely for Holden's tough-guy vulnerability and James Wong Howe's brilliant widescreen color photography. --Sean Axmaker
Synopsis
Set in a sleepy Kansas town one warm Labor Day weekend, PICNIC focuses on the impact made by a muscle flexing vagrant (William Holden) whose presence causes emotional havoc among the local women, including town beauty (Kim Novak) who must decide whether or not to run away with her handsome new beau.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This 1955 movie was seminal in its impact on all that was to follow in
the cinema. A virile drifter arrives in a small mid-west town on Labour
Day, stirring up sexual repression as he makes his brawn, handsomeness and virility known.
Although modest by todays standards, this film contained high-end sexual innuendo - just about permissible in the mid fifties, and the evocative music of the soundtrack possesses the same impact as the 'Bolero' music of '10' . It was quite a ground breaking film at the time.
A young Holden (although a bit too old for the role) earned his fee, did a good job and was at the top of his well oiled form . Novak perfectly co-starred.
The movie set new directions for Hollywood and well earned its academy award and academy nominations.
Its a pleasure to now find a region 2 DVD available.
the cinema. A virile drifter arrives in a small mid-west town on Labour
Day, stirring up sexual repression as he makes his brawn, handsomeness and virility known.
Although modest by todays standards, this film contained high-end sexual innuendo - just about permissible in the mid fifties, and the evocative music of the soundtrack possesses the same impact as the 'Bolero' music of '10' . It was quite a ground breaking film at the time.
A young Holden (although a bit too old for the role) earned his fee, did a good job and was at the top of his well oiled form . Novak perfectly co-starred.
The movie set new directions for Hollywood and well earned its academy award and academy nominations.
Its a pleasure to now find a region 2 DVD available.
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
Before the Labor Day a hansome stranger swings into a small town of Kansas...and he awakes passions that nobody could imagine that were there.
William Holden plays Hal Carter, an irresponsible guy,who falls for the girl of his best friend, Kim Novak as Madge Owens. Unwillingly he also awakes passions not only to her, but also to her little sister, and to a school teacher at her 40's played excellent by Rosalind Russell.
The love scene between Holden and Novak are sensational, and the dance sequence is one of poetry.
This film is based on the classic play of William Inge and is wonderfully directed by the theatre director Joshua Logan. Although sometimes you may find William Holden a little older than he should have been for this particular part, he is excellent portrait of the main character is one of the best that has ever been performed, and can easily be considered as classic, like his performance in movies like 'Sunset Boulevard', 'Born Yesterday', 'Sabrina' and 'Love is a many splendored thing'.
A MUST SEE!!!!
William Holden plays Hal Carter, an irresponsible guy,who falls for the girl of his best friend, Kim Novak as Madge Owens. Unwillingly he also awakes passions not only to her, but also to her little sister, and to a school teacher at her 40's played excellent by Rosalind Russell.
The love scene between Holden and Novak are sensational, and the dance sequence is one of poetry.
This film is based on the classic play of William Inge and is wonderfully directed by the theatre director Joshua Logan. Although sometimes you may find William Holden a little older than he should have been for this particular part, he is excellent portrait of the main character is one of the best that has ever been performed, and can easily be considered as classic, like his performance in movies like 'Sunset Boulevard', 'Born Yesterday', 'Sabrina' and 'Love is a many splendored thing'.
A MUST SEE!!!!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Picnic still has a lot of charm and great performances even though it is a bit dated. Things have changed considerably since 1955, especially the changes brought about by the sexual revolution in the 60's and 70's. That aside, you can almost feel the heat of the labour day weekend not to mention the heat generated by the leads. And there is that very famous scene where William Holden and Kim Novak dance by the river. The music really enhances this scene as it is haunting and very sensual. Yes, William Holden may have been a bit too old to pull this one off convincingly but he sill gives a good performance as do the rest of the cast. Rosalind Russell, never one to give a unstated performance, is still very effective as are the older members of the cast. Very much worth the visit.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good shirtless film...
Picnic is good and very enjoyable melodrama from 1950's. It has a good cast with 2 strong leads (Kim Novak and William Holden) and very good supporting cast. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Janis Livens
The Sexiest Dance in MoviesEver!!
The movie itself is a strong drama about the drifter(William Holden who was a very heavy drinker even then - it eventually killed him. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mr. Graham Ferrier
This is no picnic!
Despite the enthusiastic reviews on Amazon for this film, it has never been well rated by the critics, even on its initial release and this is totally understandable. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Adrian Drew
Trip down Memory Lane
For those of us who haunted cinemas in the 1950's this is a real memory jogger and still entertains. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Mr. Anthony Russe
This dance could melt butter!!!
This movie has become one of my favourites.It is very good especially as this a widescreen version as opposed to the us version which is only in pan&scan. Read more
Published on 17 Aug 2009 by Mr. Bernie Tinirau
Watchable, but dated
I can see that this film was more ground-breaking in the 1950s than now, in that it depicts fractured family relationships and is far-removed from the Doris Day-type movies of the... Read more
Published on 7 Nov 2008 by Bluebell
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