GETTING MARRIED

US, 1981, 90 minutes, Colour.
Richard Thomas, Bess Armstrong, Mark Harmon, Van Johnson, Katherine Helmond.
Directed by Steven Hilliard Stern.

Getting Married is a slight but pleasant farce - more fantasy than realism. It was directed by the prolific director of films and telemovies, Steven Hilliard Stern.

The film is a star vehicle for Richard Thomas - who had emerged ten years earlier as a strong actor as well as a TV personality with The Waltons. Bess Armstrong was at the beginning of her career, as was Mark Harmon. The veterans include Van Johnson and Katherine Helmond, Audra Lindley and Vic Tayback.

The setting is a TV station, the newsroom. Kristy is about to get married to the rather stuffy Mark Harmon (with his dominating mother, Katherine Helmond). Richard Thomas is Michael, a technician who is infatuated with Kristy and determined to marry her - and does a whole lot of fantastic stunts in order to attract her attention, in order to declare his love. (Richard Thomas is, perhaps, a bit too serious for this role.) Needless to say, he marries the heroine at the end, leaving Mark Harmon at the altar (echoes of The Graduate).

1. Entertaining telemovie? Romance? Farce?

2. The TV studio, the city, homes, different classes, churches, restaurants, shops? The musical score? The young cast? The veterans?

3. The title, the focus on Kristy and her fiance, on Michael and his hopes?

4. Michael, at work, holding the cue cards? His love for Kristy? His best friend and confiding in her, the line to Kristy? The structure of the film - each day of the week before the wedding? His desperation, life at home, the pressure of his parents, calling them by their names and their reactions, composing songs - and playing with his friend (played by Fabian)? Work at the studio, the declarations, the billboards, the records, the serenading? The effect on Kristy, on him? The fiance and his punching him out? The discussions with Kristy's parents? The desperation of the week, the growing number of stunts? His trying to track Kristy down? Late for the wedding - and riding in on the charger? The happy ending?

5. Kristy, the successful newsreader, in the studio, the practical jokes, her best friend and confiding in her? Her relationship with her fiance, his dominant mother, the dress, the plans for the wedding? Her love for her own mother, her absent father, his visit, walking along the beach, the outing with him? Her reaction to Michael's attention? Avoiding it, concerned, his bleeding, the billboards, the serenading? Her wanting to get away, her best friend giving the information, missing Michael? The wedding, the preparations, the ceremony - and her going off with Michael?

6. The fiance, his stuffiness? His mother? Her dominance, social standing, expectations?

7. Michael's parents, their names, their work, loving their son, his compositions, wanting him engaged, the preparation for the wedding, the verbal sparring between the two? The relatives all turning up? The uncertainty of the wedding, the happy ending?

8. Kristy's parents, their separation, her reliance on her mother, the absent father, the ladies' man, his turning up, not being too busy, supporting his daughter?

9. The best friend, confidential to Kristy, confidential to Michael? Being caught in the middle, the phone calls, giving the information?

10. Life in the studio, the technicians, the bosses, the news?

11. The madcap style - adapted from the '30s to the telemovie style of the '70s? How well and credibly did it work?