Yours, Mine, And Ours

Yours, Mine and Ours
Lucille Ball, Henry Fonda
MGM, United Artists 1968
111 minutes

Yours, Mine and Ours is one of the great classic funny comedy movies of the late sixties. You would think they don’t make movies like that anymore but they do make funny movies like that now because Yours, Mine and Ours is very much like the remake of Cheaper by the Dozen with Steve Martin. It would not be surprising to see a studio, probably MGM or United Artists do a remake of this funny movie. Perhaps Tracy Nelson, who plays one of the very young kids could now play the mother.

Lucille Ball stars in this movie but plays it pretty straight (aside from one scene where she plays intoxicated) as the mother of eight children who meets Henry Fonda, the widowed father of ten children. It is love a first sight and they get married. The movie is really about the funny moments brought on by putting these two separate families together. Henry Fonda makes a pretty decent if sometimes uncomfortable straight man. It is not too much of a stretch for him to play a navy man so that is what he does and this way can keep up with the funny bits he has to be in.

The real star of Yours, Mine and Ours is Eric Shea who plays Philip North. That kid steals pretty much every funny scene he is in and the director knows that and maximizes his presence. Eric Shea plays the put upon little brother in one family who is most eager to adapt to his new family. There is a very funny moment in this scene having to do with the nun who teaches his class.

Yours, Mine and Ours is a fun movie for the whole family. Something adults will enjoy for how the adults cope and the kids will enjoy for how the adults do not cope. Anyone in a reconstituted family should watch Yours, Mine and Ours, they are bound to recognize themselves in this funny movie.

 

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