YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW

US, 1967, 97 minutes, Colour.
Peter Kastner, Elizabeth Hartman, Geraldine Page, Rip Torn, Julie Harris, Karen Black, Tony Bill, Michael Dunn.
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

You're a Big Boy Now was Francis Ford Coppola's first major feature film, directed by him when he was in his mid-twenties. He later made Finian's Rainbow (1968), collaborated in the screenplay of Patton (1970), and then, of course, directed The Godfather (1972).

The film is a young man's film about a young man's growing up, played as part comedy, part satirical caricature. As the central character. Peter Kastner is quite effective. Coppola has a very experienced cast enjoying their roles, although Elizabeth Hartman is surprisingly cast (after A Patch of Blue and The Group) and not altogether convincing. The film is quite enjoyable and provides good material for discussion about youth and parent problems.

1. How much was made of the title during the film? What was the point of its irony?

2. Was the caricature style of the film adequately sustained throughout the whole film? How realistic was the film?

3. Were the chapters a good structure for the film - Bernard, Barbara, Bernard and Barbara?

4. What did the film have to say about growing up? How serious was the light touch of the film?

5. Did you like Bernard? Why? How well had he grown up? What had stopped him? How did the film show this?

6. Were the sequences with Mrs Chanticleer overdone or did they fit into the pattern? Was American "Momism” ridiculed? Why?

7. What criticisms did the film make of the American Dad in Mr Chanticleer?

8. Did you like Alma? Was she meant to represent the nice American girl? Why did Mrs Chanticleer so dislike her?

9. What type of person did Miss Thing represent? Was she caricatured?

10. What freedom did Bernard find in boarding away from home, in roaming New York? How important were these New York sequences?

11. Why was Bernard infatuated with Barbara Darling, and not with Alma? Why did he write to her and move in with her?

12. How did Delgrado contrast with Bernard - favourably?


13. What kind of girl was Barbara? Were her past and present adequately explained by the flashbacks? Was she a particular type or a caricature in the film? How important was she to the story of Bernard?

14. What was the point of the chase sequence? Was this well filmed? What did it show about the people involved?

15. What did Bernard learn from all these experiences? How liberated was he at the end? Did he now have bases to begin a good life?