Parrish

Quite some time back I DVRed Parrish, and put off watching it because I wasn't ready to sit down for another 135-minute potboiler. I finally got around to watching it, however, and since it's available on DVD from the Warner Archive, it's time for a review on it.

Parrish is a young man, last name McLean, played by Troy Donahue. He's the son of widowed Ellen (Claudette Colbert in her final film). They're moving to Connecticut, where Ellen has gotten a job on the tobacco farm run by Sala Post (Dean Jagger). Actually, she's not working on the farm; she's going to be a sort of governess to Sala's wanton daughter Alison (Diane McBain), who is about to return from boarding school and whose mother died when Alison was young.

Putting Parrish in the same house as Alison is a no-go for Sala, so Parrish has to live with one of Sala's managers, Teet Howie (Dub Taylor), who himself has a daughter Parrish's age in the form of Lucy (Connie Stevens). They quickly fall in love, but she's got a secret boyfriend in one of the sons of rival tobacco grower Judd Raike (Karl Malden), who wouldn't be one bit happy with his son seeing a lower-class woman.

Anyhow, Parrish learns about the tobacco business from Sala and Teet, and finds that he's got a bit of a knack for it, even though he knew nothing about growing tobacco when he started. Mom, meanwhile, starts seeing Raike, trying to do it secretly despite the fact that everybody in the valley knows what's going on. Parrish has dalliances with both Alison and Paige (Sharon Hugueny), who is the daughter of Raike.

Eventually, Mom marries Judd Raike, who offers Parrish a job in his tobacco empire, which is ruthless. Judd won't stop at anything to ensure he gets his hands on the tobacco he needs, and by anything I also mean that he's perfectly willing to do illegal things. Parrish still has a lot to learn about the business, and anytime there's something he hasn't learned, his new stepfather gets really pissed, over-the-top jerk that he is. Raike's sons hate Parrish, but their daughter likes him. To make matters worse for Parrish, one of the Raike sons marries Alison!

Parrish decides to join the navy, and after his hitch (and not looking a day older, of course), he decides that he's going to take on Raike by going into business with Sala, who is now retired what with his daughter married off but likes Parrish enough and wants somebody to take on Raike enough that he's willing to let Parrish get what is essentially a zero-interest loan on the use of the land. However, Raike has bought up all the labor. Alison, now realizing she's in a loveless marriage, might be able to help.

It goes on like this, as I said at the beginning, for a good 138 minutes. Or a not-so-good, depending on your opinion. I called it a potboiler, and boy does it boil. Troy Donahue is as good as ever here, which of course means not particularly good but nice for the ladies to look at. Karl Malden is hissably nasty, although it's hard to believe anybody could be that much the stereotype of the evil businessman. Jagger is unsurprisingly quite good, and Colbert does the best she can with the material. None of the young ladies does much to distinguish herself, however. One plus is the nice cinematography and color; much of the filming was done on location in Connecticut.

Parrish is definitely a product of its time, and is I think the sort of movie you really need to be in the right mood to watch.