"Here's two dollars; go get me a map of the world and a good
vonXero | Tanelorn | 09/28/2005
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Nick's Bar is a place where you can "come in and be yourself."
The sign says so; and everyone does so.
For Joe, being himself is drinking champaign all day while teaching Tom all the skills he'll need in life, defending Kitty Duvall's honor from a bullying policeman (some things never change!) and humoring an old cowboy with more stories than he can remember having told.
"Did I ever tell you about the time I was married to a midget weighing thirty-nine pounds?"
I've noticed that at least three other reviewers drew comparisons to the teevee show Cheers, which I found vacuous and shallow. Nick's is the bar that the cast of Cheers WISHES they were in.
Remember the sign ["Come in and be yourself"]?
In the final scene, Nick himself takes the sign out of the window and tears it up, saying, "Enough is enough!" reminiscent of BobGod's great stage play "Ronald Smith's Closet" used as an improvisational training tool at Ned Mandarino's School of Transpersonal Acting in the seventies and eighties."
Heartwarming
Dorian Morian | United Kingdom | 09/08/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I love this film - eccentric people show up at a bar in San Francisco - Cagney's character just watches them come and go, listens, helps them along. That's it. If you're looking for action - go elsewhere. The scene never leaves the bar. Originally a play by William Saroyan.
My favourite quote from the play/movie is "Living is an art, it's not bookkeeping. It takes an awful lot of rehearsal for a man to get to be himself." -"
Front Row Entertainment's THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE
Annie Van Auken | Planet Earth | 09/08/2010
(3 out of 5 stars)
"This review is specific to quality issues related to FRONT ROW ENTERTAINMENT's DVD of THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE (1948). The snap box cover's colorized composite photo has Jimmy Cagney examining a wind-up toy at left while his sister Jeanne dances with Wayne Morris behind and to our right.
Toronto-based FRONT ROW didn't monitor this one too closely before its release. Back cover lists running time as 109 minutes. Incorrect. Exact time is 100 minutes, 35 seconds.
One scene missing here (and on most public domain copies apparently) is a conversation between Broderick Crawford's "bewildered cop" and Ward Bond as "McCarthy, a blatherskite." Just as they get comfy at the bar the scene fades out and resumes with Paul Draper's Harry (the natural-born tap dancing comedian).
Most high frequencies have been filtered out of this transfer. Picture quality is decent but not perfect. Good contrast, and not blurry, dubbed from unrestored film stock containing a few repaired breaks.
Most baffling about this FRONT ROW disc is the main menu, which includes bonus biographies of William Bendix and James....GAGNEY. That's right, with a capital G.
I bought this DVD because the Product info listed running time as 109 minutes (the same as imdb's data on it) and was disappointed that it's abridged by 9 minutes. This makes my third incomplete dub. Maybe an unabridged copy of THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE no longer exists?"