Yours, Mine and Ours (1968)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Melville Shavelson

Writers:

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

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:

Widower | Widow | Children | Marriage | Sibling

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
Maralee Foster	...	Mary Beardsley
Tracy Nelson	...	Germaine Beardsley
Stephanie Oliver	...	Joan Beardsley
Jennifer Leak	...	Colleen North
Kevin Burchett	...	Nicky North
Kimberly Beck	...	Janette North
Mitch Vogel	...	Tommy North
Margot Jane	...	Jean North
Eric Shea	...	Phillip North
Greg Atkins	...	Gerald North
Lynnell Atkins	...	Teresa North
Ben Murphy	...	Larry
Ysabel MacCloskey	...	Housekeeper #1
Pauline Hague	...	Housekeeper #2
Marjorie Eaton	...	Housekeeper #3
Richard Angarola	...	French Actor on TV Screen
Lilyan Chauvin	...	French Actress on TV Screen
Robert P. Lieb	...	Happy San Franciscan
Jennifer Gan	...	1st Young Lady (as Ginny Gan)
Eve Bruce	...	2nd Young Lady
Susan Carr	...	3rd Young Lady
Paul Potash	...	Hippie
Stuart Nisbet	...	Man of the Cloth
Patty Elder	...	Waitress
George Jue	...	Chinese Store Proprietor
Arthur Peterson	...	Priest
Mary Gregory	...	Sister Mary Alice
Larry Hankin	...	Supermarket Clerk / Harry
Lawrence Heller	...	Medical Assistant
Marti Litis	...	Hospital Nurse
Harry Holcombe	...	Judge
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kevin Tighe	...	Extra (uncredited)

Directed by
Melville Shavelson

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Helen Eileen Beardsley		book "Who Gets the Drumsticks?" (uncredited)
Bob Carroll Jr.		story
Madelyn Davis		story
Mort Lachman		writer
Melville Shavelson		writer

Produced by
Robert F. Blumofe	....	producer

Original Music by
Fred Karlin

Cinematography by
Charles F. Wheeler		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Stuart Gilmore

Casting by
Lynn Stalmaster

Art Direction by
Arthur Lonergan

Set Decoration by
James W. Payne		(as James Payne)

Makeup Department
Hal King	....	makeup artist
Irma Kusely	....	hair stylist
Bill Phillips	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Roy Hollis	....	assistant production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Richard Bremerkamp	....	assistant director (as J. Richard Bremerkamp)
Jim Benjamin	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Louis Nicoletti	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Kenneth L. Westcott	....	property master (as Kenneth Wetcott)
Gene Lauritzen	....	construction coordinator (uncredited)

Sound Department
Paul Laune	....	sound effects editor
Clarence Peterson	....	sound mixer
Jim Bullock	....	sound editor (uncredited)
Pete Peterson	....	sound (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Frank Cardinale	....	wardrobe
Renita Reachi	....	wardrobe

Editorial Department
William K. Chulack	....	assistant film editor (as William Chulack)

Music Department
Richard Carruth	....	music editor

Other crew
Robert F. Blumofe	....	presenter
Larry Hampton	....	production coordinator (as Lawrence Hampton)
J. Paul Popkin	....	assistant to producer
Erica Wernher	....	script supervisor (as Erika Wernher)

Production Companies

• Desilu Productions

Distributors

• United Artists (1968) (USA) (theatrical)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1973) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)

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:

The wedding invitation used in the movie is the actual wedding invitation designed by Frank Beardsley, husband of the real Helen Eileen Beardsley. The children's names are listed in their real-life birth order.

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:

Colleen North: Larry says he'll never speak to me again unless I grow up. He says that I'm being ridiculous and I don't love him, but I do love him. Am I being ridiculous?
Frank Beardsley: You're not being ridiculous.
Colleen North: Well, do all the other girls, like Larry says? And am I just being old-fashioned?
Frank Beardsley: The same idiots were passing the same rumors when I was your age, but if all the girls did, how come I always ended up with the ones who didn't?
Colleen North: But it's all different now!
Frank Beardsley: I don't know, they wrote Fanny Hill in 1742 and they haven't found anything new since.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Full House: Yours, Mine and Ours (#5.21)" (1992)

They don't make 'em like this no more...

If I were asked what my favorite film of all time was, I would probably say either "The Last Picture Show" or "Ordinary People," two films that I feel are legitimate masterpieces. But if I were asked what my favorite film of all time REALLY was, I'd have to say "Yours, Mine and Ours," which was one of the first movies my parents ever took me to (along with a re-release of "Swiss Family Robinson" and Steve McQueen's "Bullitt") as a five-year-old. I've loved it my entire life, and I have to admit my affection for it hasn't dimmed with age. Although I realize it's not one of the great masterpieces of all time, and I would never rate it as high as say, "Show" or "People" or "Casablanca" or "Schindler's List" for that matter, I still love this film all the same.

I must admit that I am also a lifelong fan of "I Love Lucy," so the fact that "Yours, Mine and Ours" stars Lucille Ball certainly has something to do with my fondness for this film. And growing up in the '70's when co-star Henry Fonda was relegated to cameo roles in awful films like "The Swarm" and "Rollercoaster," if it hadn't have been for his charismatic and likeable performance here, I would never have known he was the great actor that he was. Add the pleasure of Lucille's longtime friend Van Johnson in the prime supporting role of Darryl, Fonda's best friend, and an extremely young Tim Matheson as Fonda's oldest son, and you have the foundation of an excellent cast in a lovely romantic comedy about the ultimate blended family (think "The Brady Bunch" with brains, and much, much larger to boot).

Very loosely based on a true story, Ball is Helen North, a recent widow with eight unruly children who moves to San Francisco for a fresh start. While working at the infirmary at an (unnamed) Naval base, she meets Naval Officer Frank Beardsley (Fonda, of course), who is a recent widower himself (with 10 children !) and has brought one of his daughters (Suzanne Cupito, aka '70's starlet Morgan Brittany) in for treatment. Helen and Frank are immediately smitten with each other and go out on a date, but immediately break it off when they realize how many children their combined family would contain. Darryl realizes that eighteen children aside, these two were made for each other and proceeds to plot to get them together. They do eventually marry and this sets up many amusing scenes of this huge family trying to blend in together.

The nice thing about this film is that for once Lucille Ball is allowed to play a character completely different from Lucy Ricardo or Lucy Carmichael (from "The Lucy Show"). She is intelligent, touching, funny and very, very human here. In only one scene does she do any kind of "Lucy" shtick, and that is during a wonderfully played drunk scene. Even then she doesn't resemble her daffy TV persona as much as, well a woman who's had too much to drink. And the chemistry between Ball and Fonda is so believable, as a child I found it hard to believe they were not really married in real life! Honest! Johnson gives wonderful support and Tom Bosley has a few amusing scenes as the family's exasperated doctor. I also loved the character of Madeline Love, who Darryl sets Frank up with on a disastrous date that ends with her riding home between Frank and Helen (who's been dumped by her Darryl-arranged date). Their discussion of their respective families ends with the hilarious exchange: Frank: "I'm glad I have ten children!" Helen: "I'm glad I have my eight!" Madeline: "And I'm glad I'm careful!"

All in all, this is an extremely enjoyable romantic comedy that grandkids can watch with their grandparents where everyone will be entertained and nobody will be embarassed. An added treat: laughing at the '60's styles and hairdoes, which look worse and worse with each passing decade. They just don't make them like this anymore. ***1/2 (out of *****)