I've always liked "The Restless Years", but the film shouldn't be considered a great movie or some sort of serious social commentary. However, the movie is an intriguing look at small-town life during the late 1950s and it has a very attractive cast.
Sandra Dee is the star, of course. She plays a high school student and the daughter of neurotic Teresa Wright, who is desperate to conceal the fact that Dee is--gasp!--illegitimate. Dee becomes involved with sensitive outcast Saxon, causing tongues to wag all over the local high school. Meanwhile, Saxon's dad (Whitmore) is desperately (and unsuccessfully) trying to get ahead in the small town, and is dealing with his deteriorating marriage to Lindsay. I used to live in a small town, and this sounds pretty typical.
The ending has Saxon beating up his chief tormentor (McCrea) at the senior prom, and Whitmore deciding to leave town and start over. Dee waits faithfully by the mailbox for a letter from Saxon, and Wright seems to be almost normal, in a satisfying wrap-up.
Though pretty tame by today's standards, "The Restless Years" is a reminder of a much more simple and innocent time. I recommend it as a pleasing diversion and as a glimpse of small-town Americana that no longer really exists.
Sandra Dee is the star, of course. She plays a high school student and the daughter of neurotic Teresa Wright, who is desperate to conceal the fact that Dee is--gasp!--illegitimate. Dee becomes involved with sensitive outcast Saxon, causing tongues to wag all over the local high school. Meanwhile, Saxon's dad (Whitmore) is desperately (and unsuccessfully) trying to get ahead in the small town, and is dealing with his deteriorating marriage to Lindsay. I used to live in a small town, and this sounds pretty typical.
The ending has Saxon beating up his chief tormentor (McCrea) at the senior prom, and Whitmore deciding to leave town and start over. Dee waits faithfully by the mailbox for a letter from Saxon, and Wright seems to be almost normal, in a satisfying wrap-up.
Though pretty tame by today's standards, "The Restless Years" is a reminder of a much more simple and innocent time. I recommend it as a pleasing diversion and as a glimpse of small-town Americana that no longer really exists.