Half-remembered 1950s coming-of-age film
August 14, 2009 10:43 PM Subscribe
Moviefilter. A half-remembered movie tickling at the edge of my memory - my Google-fu is falling short. Black & white "coming of age" film, the story follows a group of American guys during the Korean War (?).
Vague recollections: the main character races speedboats; the group have a clubhouse in a basement with a balky Coca Cola machine. They bully a nerdy guy with glasses. The lead character falls in love in with a girl and tries to impress her by taking her to a bar but is found to be underage and is humiliated by being forced to order soda (served in green bottles) instead of beer. To raise money to date the girl, he sells his boat to the nerdy guy who becomes one of the group. His older and much more suave brother returns from the war (maybe the Korean war) and sweeps the girl off her feet (he drives a convertible which has been in storage). Devastated by losing the girl, the lead character crashes his car and joins the army. Movie ends when lead character returns in uniform having "come of age". Help appreciated!
Vague recollections: the main character races speedboats; the group have a clubhouse in a basement with a balky Coca Cola machine. They bully a nerdy guy with glasses. The lead character falls in love in with a girl and tries to impress her by taking her to a bar but is found to be underage and is humiliated by being forced to order soda (served in green bottles) instead of beer. To raise money to date the girl, he sells his boat to the nerdy guy who becomes one of the group. His older and much more suave brother returns from the war (maybe the Korean war) and sweeps the girl off her feet (he drives a convertible which has been in storage). Devastated by losing the girl, the lead character crashes his car and joins the army. Movie ends when lead character returns in uniform having "come of age". Help appreciated!
Response by poster: Heh - good point. I think the soda is referred to as being in green bottles...it may also be a perjorative used to describe the guy as an underage drinker.
posted by tandemrepeat at 10:51 PM on August 14, 2009
posted by tandemrepeat at 10:51 PM on August 14, 2009
Are you sure it was from the Fifties? There weren't a lot of black and white films being made then.
posted by cerebus19 at 11:12 PM on August 14, 2009
posted by cerebus19 at 11:12 PM on August 14, 2009
Was the movie both made in the 50s and set in the 50s? If it just takes place during the 50s, when did you see it, and where?
posted by iconomy at 11:13 PM on August 14, 2009
posted by iconomy at 11:13 PM on August 14, 2009
...There were a fair number of black and white movies still being made in the 1950s, especially the early 1950s. Certainly colour was growing in prominent, but black and white movies were still winning and being nominated for best picture Oscars throughout the decade, so it certainly could be from the period.
posted by SoftRain at 11:43 PM on August 14, 2009
posted by SoftRain at 11:43 PM on August 14, 2009
Response by poster: Might not be B&W - my memory is seeing it in B&W :)
I am feeling less confident about the era but feel sure it was filmed and set post WW2 (not saying much i know)...I would have seen it in the late 70s/ early 80s on TV.
posted by tandemrepeat at 12:35 AM on August 15, 2009
I am feeling less confident about the era but feel sure it was filmed and set post WW2 (not saying much i know)...I would have seen it in the late 70s/ early 80s on TV.
posted by tandemrepeat at 12:35 AM on August 15, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by cerebus19 at 10:47 PM on August 14, 2009