Friday, April 29, 2022

My Reputation (1946)

IMDb plot summary: A recent widow meets an army major while skiing and despite pressures from friends and family becomes romantically involved with him.
Directed by Curtis Bernhardt. Starring Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, and Warner Anderson.

My Reputation stars Barbara Stanwyck as Jessica Drummond, a widow who finds that the life she wants to live after her husband's death clashes with the rigid social mores expected of her. The romance being told in this movie is... kind of an odd one, with the male lead being framed in such a way that I couldn't tell if I was actually supposed to root for them to get together or not. I think ultimately it doesn't matter as much whether I like *him* as it does whether I like *her* and want her to be able to pursue the life she wants. Stanwyck does a good job of showing us both the serious devoted mother and the unexpectedly single woman who wants to be able to pursue love again. That definitely gives us some good scenes, and I think the movie tackles some interesting questions being raised about how useful social traditions are in the face of individual lives, but despite those good moments, overall, it feels kind of long and plodding and isn't one I'd watch again.

How it entered my Flickchart:
My Reputation < Fahrenheit 451
My Reputation > My Friend Irma
My Reputation < Dirty Dancing
My Reputation > Labor Day
My Reputation > Footloose (2011)
My Reputation > The Hurt Locker
My Reputation > Wes Craven's New Nightmare
My Reputation > Frankie Go Boom
My Reputation > They Made Me a Fugitive
My Reputation > Flypaper
My Reputation < The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
Final spot: #2237 out of 3574, or 37%.

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