Starring Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward and based on the 2 novels by Evan Connell: "Mr. Bridge" & "Mrs. Bridge." Mr. Bridge (Newman) grew up in a modest family in a small, rural Kansas town and rose to become a prominent lawyer in Kansas City, MO, in the 1930s - early '40s, a member of the country club set and affluent society. He's reached his apex BUT, having grown up in a family in a much lower social position & totally unfamiliar with higher society, he's inwardly fearful of a gaffe that would destroy his new found prominence--so he relies mainly on his sense of what his and his family's 'proper' role & appearance should be (and becomes very rigid about it & somewhat snobbish). His extreme reliance on maintaining these roles stifles him--and his wife (Woodward) even more--and results in their children distancing themselves from their parents and seeking less restrictive patterns.
The narrative is in the "slice of life" style: no plot, no conflict resolved, no definite ending: as if the viewer looks in on these lives at various points--sometimes briefly, sometimes longer--and stitches those views together to form a collage, the whole, rather than creating a more seamless narrative in the more usual style.
Set & filmed in Kansas City, MO (& with bits of KC jazz!!) it captures quite well some gender & social role aspects of affluent KC society in the 1930s-early '40s era: male dominated in which women were to raise kids, help their husbands, and be agreeable to them. The 3 Bridge children rebel, of course, against the patterns of their parents, each in their own way. IMO, while the film's quite interesting it's not that enjoyable: it shows the effect of strictly living out one's life in a role (Mr. B's) rather than being more flexibly human. (Also interesting was the view of that social class at that time: Although set in the mid to late Great Depression era, among this affluent class there was no mention of it except to be anti-Roosevelt and demand that all peoples earn their livings despite the severe nation-wide unemployment then existing).
One easily anticipates how much WW-II & the USA's 1941 entry into it will change forever the expected and accepted gender and social roles current at that time in the USA. It's a fascinating look back at a former era.
This role for Newman is definitely not typical of his usual but he conveys Mr. Bridge's very constricted life quite well as does Woodward as the suffering but compliant Mrs. Bridge.
The narrative is in the "slice of life" style: no plot, no conflict resolved, no definite ending: as if the viewer looks in on these lives at various points--sometimes briefly, sometimes longer--and stitches those views together to form a collage, the whole, rather than creating a more seamless narrative in the more usual style.
Set & filmed in Kansas City, MO (& with bits of KC jazz!!) it captures quite well some gender & social role aspects of affluent KC society in the 1930s-early '40s era: male dominated in which women were to raise kids, help their husbands, and be agreeable to them. The 3 Bridge children rebel, of course, against the patterns of their parents, each in their own way. IMO, while the film's quite interesting it's not that enjoyable: it shows the effect of strictly living out one's life in a role (Mr. B's) rather than being more flexibly human. (Also interesting was the view of that social class at that time: Although set in the mid to late Great Depression era, among this affluent class there was no mention of it except to be anti-Roosevelt and demand that all peoples earn their livings despite the severe nation-wide unemployment then existing).
One easily anticipates how much WW-II & the USA's 1941 entry into it will change forever the expected and accepted gender and social roles current at that time in the USA. It's a fascinating look back at a former era.
This role for Newman is definitely not typical of his usual but he conveys Mr. Bridge's very constricted life quite well as does Woodward as the suffering but compliant Mrs. Bridge.