Reception
Picnic was successful both financially and critically when first released. In the wake of changing tastes and cinematic trends during the 1960s, the film was dismissed in retrospective reviews written during the next two decades. Restoration was performed on the film in the mid-1990s, which brought many art-house bookings. By the end of the 20th century, critics were praising its resonant portrayal of small-town life in America during the Eisenhower era, along with its melodic soundtrack and strong performances by a supporting cast, including Arthur O'Connell (reprising the role he played during Picnic's successful run on Broadway) and a young Susan Strasberg. A half-century later, both of these performances still drew wide praise.
Holden's charisma as Hal has been acknowledged in later reviews, but the role is not cited as among the best of his career. Although Novak's character was quietly rebelling against being thought of as "only pretty", she has nonetheless been criticized as being too passive in the role. Rosalind Russell's performance as an emotionally distraught, often overbearing middle-aged schoolteacher has drawn both admiring and highly dismissive commentary in DVD reviews. Much of Picnic's lasting appeal seems to derive from its well-drawn supporting characters and subplots, the authentic location settings in central Kansas and the time-capsule depiction of life in 1955 small-town America.
Read more about this topic: Picnic (1955 film)
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“I gave a speech in Omaha. After the speech I went to a reception elsewhere in town. A sweet old lady came up to me, put her gloved hand in mine, and said, “I hear you spoke here tonight.” “Oh, it was nothing,” I replied modestly. “Yes,” the little old lady nodded, “that’s what I heard.””
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)
“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)
“To the United States the Third World often takes the form of a black woman who has been made pregnant in a moment of passion and who shows up one day in the reception room on the forty-ninth floor threatening to make a scene. The lawyers pay the woman off; sometimes uniformed guards accompany her to the elevators.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)