Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962)

A Disappointing Continuation

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

During the early part of his career, in the thirties and early forties, James Stewart appeared in some of the best-known American comedies of all time- "Mr Smith Goes to Washington", "Destry Rides Again", "The Shop around the Corner", "The Philadelphia Story", and so on. After his return from wartime service, however, his comic touch seemed to desert him; a number of his comedies from the late forties, such as "Magic Town", were flops. Even the now-revered "It's a Wonderful Life" was not a great success when first released. Stewart was to make one last great comedy, "Harvey", in 1950, but thereafter his career took a more serious turn, exemplified by his several collaborations with Hitchcock and the series of psychological Westerns he made with Anthony Mann. In the sixties, however, Stewart returned to comedy, and "Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation" from 1962 is an example. His character, Roger Hobbs, is a stressed, overworked banker from St Louis who takes his family on holiday to a quiet seaside cottage in California, only to find that he has brought most of his problems with him. The cottage turns out to be old-fashioned and dilapidated. His teenage son Danny is a sullen, moody youngster who only wants to watch television. His youngest daughter Katey refuses to leave the cottage and is obsessed with the idea that, because of a new set of dental braces, she will never find a boyfriend. His two elder daughters bring their husbands and children with them. One of Roger's sons-in-law, Stan, is unemployed and the other, Byron, is an eccentric academic with unorthodox ideas about how to discipline children. (Byron's preferred solution is that one should not discipline them at all). The film details how Roger tries to overcome all these problems (and, of course, this being a comedy, how he succeeds in doing so). The film it is based on "Mr. Hobbs' Vacation" by Edward Streeter, a book I have never read. Indeed, before I saw the film I had never heard of it or of its author. Yet when I watched the film recently, it seemed to me all too obvious that it was based upon a novel. The reason that I was able to make this prediction with such confidence is that the film-makers make one of the frequent mistakes committed by those who try to base films upon a literary source, namely that of trying to deal with more plot-lines and more thematic material than the traditional feature-film format can comfortably accommodate. (By coincidence, the next film I saw after this one, Delbert Mann's version of Dickens's "David Copperfield", is one which commits the same fault even more egregiously). The film features several plotlines- the Danny plotline, the Katey plotline, the Stan plotline and the Byron plotline- and none of these are dealt with as fully as they might have been. It is as if the scriptwriters were determined not to omit any developments from Streeter's story without worrying whether a running time of around two hours was long enough to do them all full justice. Some episodes struck me as implausible, especially the one in which Roger deals with Katey's lack of self-confidence by bribing a young man named Joe, played by the then-popular pop singer Fabian, to pay attention to her. (Like that would work in real life!) The scriptwriters seem to have overlooked the obvious obstacles to a romance between the handsome Joe and the rather homely Katey, namely firstly that she is from St Louis and he from California, more than a thousand miles away, and that he is likely to move onto another girl as soon as she has returned home. (A boy with the looks of Fabian will not want for female admirers). Stewart does enough to show that his gift for comedy had not entirely deserted him during his lengthy absence from the genre, and he receives good support from Maureen O'Hara as his attractive wife Peggy, even if she does look improbably youthful to be playing a grandmother to several children. There are also some amusing scenes, such as the one where Roger is forced to accompany Stan's pompous potential employer on a bird-watching expedition. Overall, however, ''Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation" does not come close to the standard of Stewart's great comedies from his earlier period. 5/10

* Thanks to this wonderful movie Elvis-wannabe pop singer Fabian will never be forgotten. He drew many kids to this great Saturday matinee movie in that pre-British invasion golden age of teen idol singers era.

This is the first of two films that James Stewart and Maureen O'Hara made together. The other was "The Rare Breed," a 1966 Western. Stewart was 54 when this film was made, and he plays Roger Hobbs, a man about that age. O'Hara was just 42 at the time, a few years below the likely age of Peggy Hobbs. But, she looks the middle-aged mother and young grandmother part quite well. The Hobbs's have four children, including two adult girls who are marred with families. The young teen girl at home, Katey (played by Lauri Peters), is of the generation that thought their parents were so immature. And a younger son, Danny (played by Michael Burns), who is glued to the TV and the daytime black and white Westerns of the day. "Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation" is based on a 1954 novel of the same name by Edward Streeter. His 1949 novel, "Father of the Bride," was one of the best of the best sellers of 1949. The next year, it was made into the smash comedy film that starred Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett and Elizabeth Taylor. "Mr. Hobbs" is a decent comedy about one aspect of family life in the mid-20th century – the family summer vacation. But, anyone who has seen "National Lampoon's Vacation" of 1983, shouldn't expect the same hilarious fare in "Mr. Hobbs." This is much more sedate, and centers around a father and husband who feels put upon by his family members. But, after the grumbling and his fatherly support for different characters, he comes away satisfied. There aren't a lot of laughs here, but it has some funny scenarios and warm humor. The rest of the cast are fine in their roles. Fabian was just 19 when this movie was made, but already he was a singing hit and teen idol. The Hobbs drove from St. Louis to a friend's beach house at Emerald Bay just south of San Francisco. There is a real Emerald Bay but it's south of Los Angeles. The filming was done along the southern California coast. I can't imagine where they found the ancient beach house. I've never seen anything like it anywhere along the California Coast, but it does resemble older beach homes one might see on the Outer Banks or elsewhere along the North Carolina coast. Stewart's Hobbs had planned on a month vacation alone with his wife in Europe or on the Mediterranean. But she had her heart set on a family reunion vacation. So, off they went to meet up with the two daughters out of the nest, and their families. Oh, yes, they also took their maid and cook, Brenda (played by Minerva Urecal), with them. Part of the humor of the film comes from Brenda's leaving the beach house because of the poor plumbing and water problems, and because Roger swore at her (she thought). That led to the funniest lines (repeated) in the film. Peggy, "Did you really swear at hear?" Roger, "I've never sworn at a cook in my life." Peggy, "Well, she said that you did when you came downstairs this morning." Roger, "This morning, when I came … I never even spoke to her. I asked the kids how they'd like a little sun on the beach, and then …."Peggy wanted Roger to get better acquainted with one of their sons-in- law. "I know you haven't got very much in common with him, but couldn't you at least ask him about his work?" she asked. Roger replied, "Well, honey, what can you possibly ask a biophysicist?"The movie opens with Roger dictating a letter to be given to his wife after his death. He recounts the vacation just completed. "There is no man alive who believes more devoutly than I do that the family is the rock upon which civilization is built." At the end of the film, his secretary asks him if she could tear up her dictation now that he has gotten it off his chest. He tells her she might as well because they have already committed to the beach house for a month the next year. Modern audiences may not enjoy this film as much. It may be too slow for some. But, for those who grew up, or were reaching their adult years around then, the film will satisfy any lingering nostalgia about the "good old days."

It's the weirdest thing--Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation is supposed to be a mild and funny satire of the harried company man who wants more than anything to preserve his family--as they grow up and grow distant--by bringing them all together for a summer vacation.Jimmy Stewart and Maureen O'Hara are the parents of, possibly, the dullest and most unappealing brood of "kids" I've seen. They make the acres of children in With Six You Get Eggroll and Cheaper By the Dozen look absolutely mesmerizing by comparison.And the parents are no better. O'Hara has very little to do, other than look as if she needs a gig with John Wayne (so that she will have something to do!) and Stewart looks as if he is chewing on bits of beach sand (when Jimmy wasn't funny, he really wasn't!).There's an ugly edge to his lines and his performance. It's almost as if you can see what might have been the real person under the actor. I don't know if Jimmy Stewart was a nice guy or a jerk, but there's a menace to Mr. Hobbs that makes the viewer squirm and sucks the vitality out of what few laughs the movie can deliver.I found the movie tedious and Jimmy's character almost sinister. MHTAV is a contrived and icky mess. But you know it made a gob of money 46 years ago.I taped the movie off AMC and showed it to my family a few weeks ago. Both wife and daughter laughed, a lot.What I took for sinister apparently still sells.