Ask the Movie Mom

Thanks for the great questions!

I’m trying to find out the name of a movie i saw back in the sixties, i’m not sure what year it was made. It was about a girl that just wants a simple married life but everytime she gets married her husbands end up getting rich and at the end she ends up back with her first boyfriend that was already rich but when they meet in the end he has lost his fortune.

Answer: One of my favorites! Shirley MacLaine in “What a Way to Go!” starring Paul Newman, Dick Van Dyke, Robert Mitchum, Dean Martin, and Gene Kelly.

I watched this movie many years ago just can’t remember the name or even the name of the actors is about an abusive alcoholic father and a dying mother of cancer they have 7 or 8 children but before she dies she want to find homes for all her children.

Answer: Sounds like “Who Will Love My Children?” With Ann-Margret. Hope that’s the one!

A woman hires a male escort to be her boyfriend when she goes home to visit her family because they are harassing her to get a boyfriend. She ends up falling for him and they fall in love.

Answer: That’s “The Wedding Date” with Debra Messing, Dermot Mulroney, and Amy Adams.

I am trying to find a movie for my wife, my mother used to watch it. It was about a man who was engaged and had triplet daughters (teens). He inherited (or brought) a rundown hotel. Not sure where but i think it was in hawaii. He also wanted to buy a music box that was brought before he could get to it by a blond lady who was a twin and he ended up getting tricked by his daughters to fall in love with her.

Answer: That movie is “The Parent Trap III,” the second sequel to Disney’s “The Parent Trap.”  It stars Hayley Mills and Barry Bostwick.  Enjoy!

Years ago I watched an old comedy movie about a family that vacationed at a beach house. I remember a teenage daughter possibly a younger brother and their mother. I don’t remember the father much. He may have stayed home to work. Their were scenes of the daughter and friends, dating etc. It included some characters that we’re bird watchers visiting in the area. They we’re so funny because they would walk like the birds as they walked around making bird sounds looking for a rare bird. I cannot remember the actors although I know some of them were popular at the time the film was made. It may have been made in black and white.

Answer: Great movie! “Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation,” with James Stewart. John McGiver plays the bird watcher. Enjoy bird and movie watching!

I’m desperately hoping you can help me learn the title of a movie and it’s availability to the public. It’s an old 1930’s-40’s movie with two girl (friends, sisters?) getting ready and going on a cruise to Europe. They buy cheep fur coats and the fur keeps falling out everywhere. One gets sick right before getting off the ship in England? And she pretends with the help of friend/sister to be well. I think she was sick with chicken pox or measles. They meet two handsome men and even go to a maze garden together. That’s all I got. It’s a light happy movie that I found delightful…..but it’s now driving me insane trying to find what it’s called! Help! Please?

Answer: I love that movie! It’s “Our Hearts Were Young and Gay,” based on the true story of the adventures of Cornelia Otis Skinner and Emily Kimborough.

I am looking for the title of an older movie, I was about 5 when I first saw it and I am not 20. It has to be at least 25 years old. Some of the parts are its about a boy named Ivan and he goes out to capture the firebirds. He captures them and takes them to the king. Somehow he gets this talking magic pony and by the end of the movie, he has to do these tasks, where he jumps into hot oil and other stuff and comes out this total stud and marries the princess. There is also an evil character that tries to thwart him. I understand this is quite vague, but I am desperate!! Thanks so much.

Answer: That’s “Ivan and His Magic Pony,” also known as “The Humpbacked Horse.”

I’m looking for the title of a movie (40’s- 50’s?) about a rich man who decides to hike around the country alone. He loses his memory and is jailed/sent to a work farm. When he hears about a news article about a missing rich man presumed dead he confesses to killing that man. When the news of his confession is reported one of his staff reads it and goes to the work farm to rescue him.

Answer: One of my very favorites! That’s “Sullivan’s Travels,” written and directed by the great Preston Sturges, starring Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake.

The only part of the movie I can remember is that this guy had a magic bow that always hit the enemy in the heart.

Answer: That’s “The Archer: Fugitive from the Empire”

I saw a movie when I was a kid. These two children went to visit this strange man and ended up playing this weird game with the man where they tried to kill each other.I remember that it was not violent but more subtle.I think it had a scene where the kids tried to poison the strange man with mushrooms.

Answer: That is “Let’s Kill Uncle” (sometimes known as “Let’s Kill Uncle Before Uncle Kills Us.” And you’re right about the mushrooms.

I saw a film when I was young and I can only remember certain bits from it and I can’t remember the title. It’s really annoying me! I just wondered if you could help? Basically all I can remember is a woman choosing between two men, one man that had everything and one that had nothing. She was obviously in love with the guy who had nothing because when she kissed him she went into this pink cloud, whereas she felt nothing for the other. That’s all I can remember! I would be so grateful for your help!

Answer: That’s “The Girl Most Likely” with Jane Powell and Cliff Robertson.

The leading male role plays an owner of a flower shop who also attends to deliveries. He is walking past an apartment building one night and looks up to see a beautiful woman crying though her window. The woman is the leading lady and I can’t remember the reason for her tears. However she is a young woman who has no family, either orphaned or given up to state care, again sorry can’t remember clearly. They meet up, he falls madly in love with her, but she is afraid of love and can’t commit.
I remember a couple of other scenes, one where he surprises her with a room full of beautiful purple roses and another where he shows her his apartment rooftop which he has transformed into an amazing gardeners’ delight. I also remember a scene where he is talking to her about his job being the best job because it puts a smile on people’s faces when he delivers them a bouquet of flowers. I think that the way they meet is that he sends her flowers after he sees her crying through the window and she goes to the flower shop to try to find out who the mystery man is.

Answer: That’s “Bed of Roses” with Christian Slater and Mary Stuart Masterson.

It was a war drama that a man loves a married woman, and when a bomb hit their secret love place the lady swore to God that if he lived she would not see him again. What was the name of this movie?

Answer: That is “The End of the Affair,” with Ralph Feinnes and Julianne Moore, based on a book by Graham Greene by the same name. There is also an earlier version made in 1955 starring Deborah Kerr.

I saw a movie when I was younger, and I can’t recall the title.
– early 90’s
– the protagonist is waiting for and then riding a bus. He has his father’s ashes, and pretty much most of the movie is him remembering back to when he was a young kid, during summer break.
– things get hazy for me here, but I think he goes on a journey with an older girl, his babysitter, and she let’s him smoke, and they go swimming in the ocean, etc. I particularly remember one scene they are driving in a convertible.
– the movie ends when it flashes back and he arrives at the same place where they went swimming when they were younger; he then scatters his dad’s ashes into the ocean. I might be wrong in the details, but I hope that gives you some kind of idea of which movie this is.

Answer: Not quite what you describe, but it sounds like “Stealing Home” with Jodie Foster as the babysitter. It is her ashes he is carrying on the bus. Thanks for writing!

I watched a miniseries on TV that starred Genie Francis & Bruce Boxlightner, about a family starting a business developing rare & one of a kind perfumes that would add to their vast fortune. As a test of his worth, the grandfather put his grandson in charge of the whole project. There were relatives who were very jealous of him and wanted nothing more than for him to fail. They did everything in their power to ruin & disgrace him. He tackled every obstacle they put in his way and prevailed in the end.

Answer: That was “Bare Essence!” Thanks for asking!

I am not sure what the name of this movie is. It came out within the last five years and the topic is a community somewhere in the US where religious images keep appearing on the side of someone’s house. Through this experience, several people come to know Christ?

Answer: Lovely movie. “Henry Poole is Here,” with Luke Wilson. Enjoy!

The main character is a woman with big curly red hair. She’s divorced with one daughter and she is rich and glamorous. She’s sad and wants to help her daughter so then becomes her girl scouts leader. They have a girl scout competitor who is really aggressive. at the end they have a girl scout competition and during this the woman (main character) gets stuck on a tree trunk trying to get across a hole, she gets over and they end up winning because the mean lady gets stuck in a hole and hurts her ankle and they help her and carry her back. Hope u can get this! Driving me crazy!

Answer: That sounds like “Troop Beverly Hills” with Shelly Long.

I remember a children’s movie from probably the early to mid 80’s about children who invent a flying ‘bubble’ with their computer in the basement of their house. They then make it large enough to ride in and have some fantastic adventures. Do you have any idea what this movie is?

Answer: I believe you are thinking of “Explorers.”

A father and son winde up toy mouses that are connected together. I believe the story takes place during Christmas holidays. Their adventures are on city streets and in a sewer with rats. A crow trying to catch them. I remember the movie from HBO as a kid. It was late 70’s or early 80’s. The movie starts with a scene of a snow falling and looking thru a toy store window from outside. The toy father and son mouse were on display. Vague memory of movie but I always think of it. Please help if you can. Thank you.

Answer: That’s “The Mouse and His Child” — great movie!