Picnic (film)

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''This article is about the 1955 movie. For other uses, see Picnic (disambiguation).

Picnic is a 1955 Cinemascope color film which tells the story of an ex-college football star turned drifter who arrives in a small Kansas town on Labor Day and is drawn to a girl who's already spoken for. The plot covers a twenty-four hour period, and was considered daring at the time it was produced. It stars William Holden, Kim Novak, Susan Strasberg, Cliff Robertson, Arthur O'Connell, Nick Adams, Betty Field and Rosalind Russell and is sometimes cited as a richly detailed snapshot of midwestern American culture during the 1950s.

The movie was adapted from William Inge's Pulitzer Prize winning play. For film, the play was adapted by Daniel Taradash, directed by Joshua Logan, was widely popular and made Kim Novak a star. Rosalind Russell received critical praise for her role as a middle-aged, frustrated schoolteacher. Audiences reacted to it as a realistic, "slice of life" story. The theme song from the movie was a hit. In one scene, the theme song "Picnic" gradually blends with the standard "Moonglow" (which was later covered by Steve Allen). The soundtrack album sold well, an unusual feat for a non-musical film released in the 1950s.

Contents

1 Location
2 Academy Awards
3 Criticism
4 Trivia
5 Remakes
6 External links

Location

Picnic was filmed on location in five central Kansas towns:

Halstead's Riverside Park is where all the Labor Day picnic scenes (some of which are semi-documentary) were filmed. The park and many landmarks still existed at the time of the movie's fiftieth anniversary.

Hutchinson, with its huge grain elevators.

Nickerson is the location of the two adjacent houses where Madge (Kim Novak) and her family live (with "old Mrs. Potts" next door), also where Hal (William Holden) "jumps a freight" to go to Tulsa and where Madge boards a bus in the last scene.

Salina, where Hal jumps off a train in the opening scene and meets Allen (Cliff Robertson) at Allen's father's large house, also where Madge kisses Hal by the Salina River and where he escapes from the police by running under a waterfall.

Sterling, where the pre-picnic swim in the lake was filmed.

Academy Awards

Picnic won Academy Awards for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color and Best Film Editing and was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (O'Connell, who reprised his stage role), Best Director, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture (George Duning) and Best Picture.

Criticism

The film was later dismissed in retrospective reviews written during the 1970s and 80s, although by the end of the 20th century, spurred by releases in its original aspect ratio on Laserdisc and DVD, critics were praising Picnic's resonant portrayal of small-town life in the US during the Eisenhower era. With its melodic soundtrack and strong performances by the supporting cast, notably those of a young Susan Strasberg (who is said to carry the many scenes she appears in) and Arthur O'Connell reprising the role he played during Picnic's successful stage run on Broadway.

However, the performances of Holden and Novak are not considered among the best of their careers. Holden was 37 when filming began. Wary about attempting to play someone wooing a girl who was in truth half his age, he had to be convinced to take the role. Audiences didn't seem to mind this at the time but by the 21st century the pairing seemed odd to some viewers and Novak was criticized as being too passive in the role. Much of Picnic's lasting appeal seems to derive from its well drawn supporting characters and subplots, the authentic location settings in central Kansas and the "time capsule" documentary sense of life in 1955 small town America.

Trivia

In 1957, a marketing specialist announced that for six weeks he had included subliminal messages reading "Eat Popcorn, drink Coca-Cola" in public screenings of the movie and claimed that sales of his products had increased from 18 to 57%. He later admitted there had never been any such messages and his announcement was a marketing trick.

William Holden was reportedly so nervous about his dancing for the "Moonglow" scene that Logan took him to Kansas roadhouses to practice steps in front of jukeboxes with choreographer Miriam Nelson. A rainstorm reportedly interrupted shooting of the scene on location (at the moment when Novak arrives) and it was completed on a backlot in Burbank with Holden "dead drunk" to calm his nerves.

Nick Adams, who plays "Bomber" (a paperboy who also has interest in the Novak character), dated Natalie Wood and was a friend of both James Dean and Elvis Presley.

Millie, the tomboyish girl who memorizes Shakespeare sonnets and rebels against her older sister by getting drunk, was an early role for Susan Strasberg, the daughter of well-known "method" drama teacher Lee Strasberg.

Elizabeth Wilson has a bit part as one of the local, smirking schoolteachers. Twelve years later she played a major supporting role in Mike Nichols' The Graduate as Benjamin Braddock's attractive, slightly high-strung mom.

Kim Novak had previously announced she preferred going braless and was reported to have spent her time off during production of the film away from other cast members... in church.

Remakes

Picnic was remade for television in 1986, starring Gregory Harrison, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael Learned, Rue McClanahan and Dick Van Patten. It was directed by Marshall W. Mason. It was again remade for television in 2000, starring Bonnie Bedelia, Josh Brolin, Gretchen Mol, Jay O. Sanders and Mary Steenburgen. The screenplay was adapted by Shelley Evans, and the movie was directed by Ivan Passer.

External links

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