MovieChat Forums > Meet Me in St. Louis Discussion > Selfish Family

Selfish Family

posted 17 years ago by HarlowMGM
52 replies | jump to latest

SPOILER ALERT concerning the ending -

For such a sentimental, old-fashioned movie I was kind of surprised by the ending. The family basically pitches a fit and doesn't want to move when father Leon Ames gets a promotion that will require moving to another state. I mean two of the girls are almost grown and will be leaving the nest before long anyway!! And who would turn down a good promotion because their elementary school age child carries on and doesn't want to move. Tootie really is a spoiled brat and ultimately revealed to be selfish although the movie sugarcoats it.

Who would really give up a great job because their six-year-old doesn't want to leave her snowmen!!

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] bradford-1 11 years ago

I'm quite sure a REAL father in St. Louis, circa 1904, may have just applied the belt to his whining offspring. "Dry those tears, get some boxes and start packing!"
"May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?"

[–] lmchildress 11 years ago

In the book Meet Me In St. Louis, Benson has the same thing come up, moving to NYC, in the same way as the movie, a bombshell at the dinner table. The family all start protesting and yelling pretty much like in the movie, but the scene with Tootie and the snow people didn't happen. The father just gave up after a while.

The thing people don't realize is that the original stories in MMISL were pretty dark; remember that they were published in The New Yorker, not known for pretty fluff. Most of Benson's stories show a dark undercurrent to what is usually seen as a seamless suburban life. The movie does sugar coat things to some extent, but the darkness is still there underneath. I think people responded to that darkness in 1944, even if subconsciously, and that made it a hit. Benson was a satirist.

[–] prolia705 10 years ago

they acted like spoiled brats. Lon should have left them there like another poster suggested.

Tootie was a little psycho.

[–] HarlowMGM 9 years ago

She was an unusually weird kid for a 1940's "family film" in which kids usually smiled sweetly, and never got their clothes dirty but I guess her "cuteness" overruled her "brattiness"; Margaret O'Brien certainly was very popular because of this film and actually became a top ten box office star!

[–] crlnrgbrght5 11 years ago

Of course in reality the Family moved to New York. Hollywood has never dealt with pragmatism, just melodrama.