Parrish (1961)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Delmer Daves

Writers:

Delmer Daves (writer)
Mildred Savage (novel)

Release Date:

4 May 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

More than a boy...not yet a man!

Plot:

Parrish McLean lives with his mother Ellen on Sala Post's tobacco plantation in the Connecticut River Valley...

Plot Keywords:

Tobacco | Plantation | Connecticut | Rival | Rich Farmer

Cast

Troy Donahue	...	Parrish McLean
Claudette Colbert	...	Ellen McLean
Karl Malden	...	Judd Raike
Dean Jagger	...	Sala Post
Connie Stevens	...	Lucy
Diane McBain	...	Alison Post
Sharon Hugueny	...	Paige Raike
Dub Taylor	...	Teet Howie
Hampton Fancher	...	Edgar Raike
David Knapp	...	Wiley Raike
Saundra Edwards	...	Evaline Raike
Sylvia Miles	...	Eileen
Bibi Osterwald	...	Rosie
Madeleine Sherwood	...	Addie
Hayden Rorke	...	Tom Weldon

Runtime:

138 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Windsor, Connecticut, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Delmer Daves replaced Joshua Logan as director.

Goofs:

Continuity: Long shot shows Parrish and Paige in a convertible with the top down, but when the closeups come, the top is up.

Quotes:

Teet Howie: [after Alison Post comes breezing through in a sport convertable] There goes Little Miss Wildcat, home from school.

Tobacco Farming with Troy

Last weekend I wanted to watch a film from my teen years... something that would take me back to those years of wonderment and yearning. I looked through my collection, spotted "Parrish" and knew I had found what I was looking forward. The story of a young man and his mother who move to Connecticut and involve themselves in tobacco farming, meeting a ruthless man and his family and a kind man and his spoiled daughter, it was a feast of young actors and respected mature stars. There wasn't a teen girl of those days and I dare say a few boys whose hearts didn't beat faster at the sight of Troy Donahue. His acting was pouty and wooden but there were those slim, handsome, blond looks, often wearing a red jacket that made teens break their clinches and sit up and pay attention. Whether he was romancing Connie Stevens (the first of their three films together) or Diane McBain (she hooked up with Donahue on the tube) or brunette Sharon Hugueny or whether he was emoting with Claudette Colbert (who came out of retirement for "Parrish" and then promptly retired again) or the esteemed Karl Malden and Dean Jagger, Donahue always came out second best in the acting department. This was Donahue's second of four straight films with director Delmer Daves and the older man certainly learned how to showcase the young blond hunk. The film has a bright and shiny look, plenty of melodrama and a gorgeous Max Steiner score. Get yourself some popcorn, put your feet up on the table and sit back and enjoy "Parrish."