Old movie fans--I need help!

[hyphenate]

I'm searching for a title to an older movie.

It's probably a 40s or a 50s film. It's about this family that ends up going on a vacation near the ocean. The featured character is the husband, who though he thinks he's in charge really isn't--his wife and daughter really are.

The house by the ocean is rented, and the daughter (in her late teens) is attracted to the guy next door. Her father and her have numerous fights about it.

It's a comedy, not a drama. I remember the dad is someone in a financial career. I was, at first, thinking it was banking, but over time, I'm not so sure. He's not rich, though they are well off; however, he is the cheapest bastard in the world, constantly complaining about every penny they're spending.

For some reason, I want to say they are trying to pump water through an old pump, and it's frustrating the dad constantly--sometimes it's working, other times it isn't. It takes place somewhere in California, though I believe it's north of L.A.

I also want to say that the father is weak-chinned, though I can't recall why I would remember that kind of detail. :shrug:

The father is constantly being inundated by either real or imagined problems, and is really not having much of a vacation at all.

I wish I could remember more about it. It's so reminiscent of other films and TV shows that it's probably next to impossible to figure out. If it helps, the father is balding (or thin-haired) and has a moustache. And for some reason (I could be wrong again!) I believe he wears one of those roundish hats.

[havocmom]

1. Up until the description of the father, I was thinkin Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation

Jimmy Stewart, 1962. Perhaps that one was a re-make of an earlier film?

[hyphenate]

5. Thanks!

I looked it up over at IMDB and this one was the right one. An outside review mentions the "pump problem" and that the character was a banker.

It does mention that there was more than one kid, but it appears that the one major role was that of a teenaged daughter.

I appreciate the help. I guess the dad had less of a weak profile and more of a weak disposition! :)

[Bullwinkle925]

2. Are you asking for people who enjoy older films . . .

or OLD people who watch films?

Either way - I guess I fit into both categories!!

:evilgrin: :hippie:

[hyphenate]

6. Either works!

Hey, my strength is TV of the 60s and 70s--learned firsthand....I like to tell people I watched Star Trek when it was ORIGINALLY broadcast, and not when it became famous in syndication!

[fudge stripe cookays]

3. Possibly a Clifton Webb movie...

from your description of the fellow. It sounds vaguely familiar, but it's not coming to me. Maybe use his name to do an IMDB search.

[hyphenate]

7. What's really ironic

Is that was my first choice, too. There is a strong possibility that I was getting a Clifton Webb movie intertwined with the above named Jimmy Stewart movie. But I mentioned it to a friend who is into old movies, and he couldn't name a Clifton Webb movie that would have had that plot.

[fudge stripe cookays]

9. Was Christina Ferrare [Ferrari] a daughter in it?

Seems like she made one mid 60s or so where she was somebody's daughter...might have been at a beach house. It might have had Jimmy Stewart, but I can't remember. Could have been someone else....

[Joe Fields]

4. Do you remember if it had Jane Wyman and Jill St. John in it?

[hyphenate]

8. No, afraid not

But from its description, the Jimmy Stewart movie fits the criteria of what I was trying to remember. Thanks for trying to help, though! :)

[CBHagman]

10. There was a whole genre of put-upon parent films.

The film you described is definitely Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation.

The other parents-under-siege films I can think of include The Impossible Years; Yours, Mine, and Ours; and Take Her, She's Mine. There were no doubt many others!