I Want You

1951
Approved
1h 42m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Dana Andrews, Peggy Dow, Farley Granger, and Dorothy McGuire in I Want You (1951)

In 1950, small-town Americans try to deal with military conscription.In 1950, small-town Americans try to deal with military conscription.In 1950, small-town Americans try to deal with military conscription.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

627

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 1 nomination total

Trivia
Final film of Peggy Dow.

Goofs
Jack should have had a regulation haircut.

Quotes
[Arriving home with her husband after sending the youngest of their three sons off to the Korean War, Sarah begins trashing the husband's WWI shrine.]
Sarah Greer: Liar! Crazy, crazy liar! You never were in any one of those places and you know it. You never heard a shot fired. You were in Paris all through the war, shining up a general's boots, bringing him bicarbonate of soda when he'd drunk too much the night before. I went along with you; I thought it was childish, foolish, but I didn't think it did any harm. I thought if it made you feel any better to pretend you'd won the war alone, who did it hurt? But then I saw something: when your son Riley was killed
[in WWII]
Sarah Greer: , you were proud. And Martin was missing for four days in France; it made you feel important. You were a big man in Iverson's bar for an evening. Well, that's all over. You can take all this junk right back where you captured it with your own two hands, back to the pawn shop on Sixth Avenue in New York. As of this evening, there are no more professional heroes in this house.

User reviews17

Review

Featured review

10/10

Outstanding look at "the forgotten war's" home front.

This first-rate film about the effects of the Korean War on an Anytown U.S.A. deserves to be thought of in the same league as movies like 'The Best Years of Our Lives.' But just as history has done with the real wars, this movie seems to have gotten lost in the shadows of the much larger number of World War II dramas.

The Korean War came just five short years after WWII ended, just as many families whose lives were so disrupted by the bigger war were finally able to enjoy some peace and stability in their lives after struggles of readjustment. Lacking the impetus of a Pearl Harbor or the spectre of an Adolph Hitler, the draft was the prime mechanism for getting young men to the front lines in Korea. Older vets were now being asked to leave their homes and families again as well. This film shows surprising depth in its depiction of the problems and feelings of not only the eligible men, but their wives, mothers, fathers and girlfriends. The excellent script was written by Irwin Shaw based on magazine stories by Edward Newhouse and they provide us with an insightful look at this period in American history which doesn't get as much attention as the preceding or following decades.

Clay Blair called his book on the Korean conflict 'The Forgotten War' and this movie might be given a similar appellation, even though it deserves better. Simply as a piece of nostalgia it's enjoyable, but the movie is much more than that. It has a fine cast with many actors that even some of us baby boomers will recognize.