Happy Mothers Day, Love George

Plot

Teenager Johnny returns to his hometown in New England to try to find out who his father is. There has recently been a string of murders, so Johnny is immediately suspect. In the process of trying to find out who his father is, Johnny discovers that there was an entire story that he did not know.

Cast

Critical response

Roger Greenspun of The New York Times wrote in his review: "Anybody who has seen half a movie in his life will instantly recognize that a title like Happy Mothers' Day, Love George has to indicate gothic horror. In this case, coastal gothic horror, as young Johnny (Ron Howard) returns to the New England fishing village of his childhood, in search of a father he has never known. It is one of those towns where everyone seems to have a skeleton in the closet. Actually, a skeleton in the closet would be a blessing. This town has two skeletons on the beach (under the beach, to be precise), a corpse in the master bedroom, another corpse in the summer house's upstairs bathtub, two more in guest rooms, a third in the overgrown front yard, a fourth fresh-killed in the garage, and still another fouling up the nets in the nearby fishing grounds. There may have been more. I didn't notice. Johnny never finds his father — mainly because his father, what is left of his father, can be found only at low spring tides during a strong offshore wind. But he does find his mother (Cloris Leachman), and his aunt (Patricia Neal), the local down-at-the heels aristocrat, who is also his father's widow. Eventually he finds the identity of the murderer, an identity that should keep you guessing for at least the first six minutes of the movie. Happy Mothers' Day, Love George makes use of several distinguished performers. Cloris Leachman was seen to better advantage in Last Picture Show. Ron Howard is currently seen to better advantage in American Graffiti. And Patricia Neal may be seen to better advantage any time in Maxim Coffee television commercials. In this, his first directorial assignment, Darren McGavin has come up to just about the level of his material, which is very low. The locations, actually in Nova Scotia, are predictably lovely. There is some sense of place (the great gift of the provincial horror movie), but no sense of purpose, or of a reasonable inevitable doom. Happy Mothers' Day, Love George, opened yesterday at the Plaza and New Embassy theaters.

Production

Happy Mother's Day, Love George was produced and directed by Darren McGavin. The film was written| by Robert Clouse. Cinematography was done by Walter Lassally. Film editing was done by George Grenville. The score was composed by Don Vencent.

Release

Happy Mother's Day, Love George was released in theatres on August 17, 1973. The film was released on VHS on August 2, 1989.