"Life Begins for Andy Hardy" (1941) - A Dark and Depressing Entry in the Andy Hardy Series
Wanting to escape the sad Trumpian news cycle last week, I decided to tune into TCM and watch the Andy Hardy series of movies. All the films were sweet, innocent, and frivolous...until "Life Begins for Andy Hardy," in which Andy, having just graduated from high school, decides to spend a summer in New York to figure out what he wants to do with his life.
But instead of a movie about Andy's silly hijinks, it's a sad and dour experience. Andy can't find a job, moves into a rooming house, discovers the dead body of his chronically depressed roommate, then gets involved with a married slut who fucks men for fur coats and cash. All the while, Andy continues to string along poor lovesick Judy Garland and treat her like shit.
It was more like noir film than a fun comedy. What were they thinking?
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | January 1, 2025 4:40 PM
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I used to think Mickey Rooney had Down Syndrome
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | January 1, 2025 2:33 PM
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I was surprised the Hays Code didn't crack down harder on this one, especially with the character played by Patricia Lane, who was clearly depicted as a conniving Manhattan semen receptacle.
In the movie, after Andy Hardy finds his roommate dead, he says the roommate killed himself. Later, the cops tell Andy that the roommate actually died of a rare heart condition. They said on TCM that they had to add that information to the film, because producers thought it would be too much to have a suicide in an Andy Hardy movie.
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | January 1, 2025 2:42 PM
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[quote]It was more like noir film than a fun comedy. What were they thinking?
It was 1941. Not a fucking lot to be happy about.
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | January 1, 2025 2:45 PM
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Definitely jarring and a very daring film for its time, not to mention for an Andy Hardy film, but I liked it.
The movie even has a somber ending, with a disillusioned Andy returning to his small town of Carver and telling Judy, "I don't ever want to talk about what happened in New York again."
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | January 1, 2025 2:56 PM
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I never got Andy Rooney's appeal.
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | January 1, 2025 3:13 PM
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R5 Mickey Rooney was actually kind of a hot little twunk in the Andy Hardy movies, but he definitely didn't age well.
That's what a life of booze and pills will do to you. I'm surprised he made it to 93 and Judy only made it to 47.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | January 1, 2025 3:18 PM
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R5 Andy Rooney wasn't very appealing, no.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | January 1, 2025 3:40 PM
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Rooney wasn't attractive even younger. He looked mean.
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | January 1, 2025 3:42 PM
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I'd have tapped that ass.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | January 1, 2025 3:48 PM
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Well at least you made it a Trump thread right from the start.
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | January 1, 2025 3:51 PM
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R10 has poor reading comprehension skills.
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | January 1, 2025 3:52 PM
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Did Judy love Mickey in real life?
| by Anonymous | reply 14 | January 1, 2025 4:00 PM
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Young Mickey Rooney was a very good actor.
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | January 1, 2025 4:40 PM
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