George Kelly Movies

"Stupid is as stupid does," says Forrest Gump (played by Tom Hanks in an Oscar-winning performance) as he discusses his relative level of intelligence with a stranger while waiting for a bus. Despite his sub-normal IQ, Gump leads a truly charmed life, with a ringside seat for many of the most memorable events of the second half of the 20th century. Entirely without trying, Forrest teaches Elvis Presley to dance, becomes a football star, meets John F. Kennedy, serves with honor in Vietnam, meets Lyndon Johnson, speaks at an anti-war rally at the Washington Monument, hangs out with the Yippies, defeats the Chinese national team in table tennis, meets Richard Nixon, discovers the break-in at the Watergate, opens a profitable shrimping business, becomes an original investor in Apple Computers, and decides to run back and forth across the country for several years. Meanwhile, as the remarkable parade of his life goes by, Forrest never forgets Jenny (Robin Wright Penn), the girl he loved as a boy, who makes her own journey through the turbulence of the 1960s and 1970s that is far more troubled than the path Forrest happens upon. Featured alongside Tom Hanks are Sally Field as Forrest's mother; Gary Sinise as his commanding officer in Vietnam; Mykelti Williamson as his ill-fated Army buddy who is familiar with every recipe that involves shrimp; and the special effects artists whose digital magic place Forrest amidst a remarkable array of historical events and people. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This made-for-cable Civil War tale chronicles the famous naval battle between the Confederate Army's Merrimac and the Union's Monitor. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

In this drama set in Guatemala, the leader of a revolution kills a general and hides out in the Mexican embassy and is protected by a highly principled ambassador who stands face in the face of police pressure. Later the diplomat arranges safe passage out of the country for the rebel, despite the fact that the fellow had an affair with his wife. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Previously filmed in 1926 and 1934, George Kelly's venerable stage comedy The Show-Off was dusted off as a Red Skelton vehicle in 1946. Skelton is well cast as Aubrey Piper, an inveterate braggart who sorely annoys the family of his wife Amy (Marilyn Maxwell). All talk but no action, Piper gets Amy's family involved in one foredoomed get-rich-quick scheme after another. Through a fluke, the show-off actually makes good towards the end, but though he realizes that he could never have done so without his wife's help he insists upon blowing his own horn well past the fadeout and "end" credits. Only Skelton's inherent likeability saves Aubrey Piper from being a thoroughly obnoxious blowhard. Featured in the cast of The Show-Off is Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, who is given surprisingly little to do. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Too Busy to Work is not a remake of the 1932 Will Rogers film of the same name-but it is a partial remake of Rogers' 1935 vehicle Doubting Thomas. This standard entry in the "Jones Family" series finds the Jones women trying to convince Pa Jones (Jed Prouty) that he's spending too much time at work and too little time at home. When Pa decides to run for mayor, the girls have had enough and vow to teach him a lesson. They involve themselves in a little-theater group, neglecting their household duties and forcing Pa and the other Jones menfolk to fend for themselves. "Guest star" Joan Davis provides a welcome jolt of fresh comic energy to the usual Jones Family shenanigans. Too Busy to Work was based on two stage plays, George Kelly's The Torch Bearers and Howard Lindsay and Bertrand Robinson's Your Uncle Dudley (previously filmed in 1935 with Edward Everett Horton). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this remake of the 1920 Will Rogers comedy Honest Hutch, Wallace Beery stars as the eponymous Hutch, the ne'er-do-well patriarch of a large and needy family, who unexpectedly becomes rich when he stumbles upon $100,000 worth of hidden swag. Ironically, because Hutch has become so notorious as the town layabout, he must now reform into a responsible, hard-working member of the community, in order to provide an excuse for the excessive funds suddenly available to him. The money just as abruptly becomes unavailable again when it's stolen by bank robbers, but the yarns Hutch spins to explain away the missing cash wind up leading to the arrest of the thieves. ~ Nicole Gagne, Rovi

Doubting Thomas is the 1935 film version of George Kelly's satirical comedy The Torch Bearers, tailored for the talents of Will Rogers. Billie Burke, Will's wife, becomes so involved in a local amateur theatre group that she has no time for her husband. In retaliation, Will pretends to "go Hollywood," proving that he is stage-struck by doing an extended imitation of Bing Crosby. The film's highlight is the "opening night" scene, a cornucopia of missed cues, inappropriate costumes and collapsing scenery. An earlier, silent version of The Torch Bearers has unfortunately been lost to the ages. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this comedy, based on a popular play by George Kelly, an office clerk masquerades as a railroad magnate to impress a young woman. Though the enamored girl believes his every word, her mother is not so easily fooled. Still she says nothing and the emboldened fellow begins making even more outlandish claims and wild promises he could never keep. As a result, the boorish loudmouth loses his job and gets booted out of his girl friend's house. The braggart is then reduced to earning a meager living as a sandwich board man. While wandering about one day, he meets an inventor who shares his latest idea. The young man then helps the inventor sell his new gadget to the railroad. His good work wins him renewed respect and love from his gal. Eventually they marry. The nuptials do nothing to quell the doubts of the bride's mother. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

George Kelly's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Craig's Wife was given three screen treatments by Hollywood. The first of these was filmed in 1928, with Cecil B. DeMille's talented brother William in the director's chair. Irene Rich stars as Harriet Craig, whose obsession with material possessions and immaculate neatness results in misery for all concerned. Harriet's husband (Warner Baxter) remains blind to his wife's selfishness-until his eyes are opened when he is implicated in a double murder. Discovering that Harriet cares more about her home than her husband, Mr. Craig declares his independence by walking out and leaving her utterly alone -- but not before flicking plenty of cigar ashes on her hitherto spotless living-room rug. Craig's Wife was remade under its original title in 1936, with Rosalind Russell in the lead; it was filmed for a third time in 1950, as the Joan Crawford vehicle Harriet Craig. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Produced in Northern California by Paul Gerson, this minor crook melodrama featured Richard Holt as a young man helping his girlfriend (Ruth Dwyer) nap a gang of fake clairvoyants preying on gullible San Francisco millionaires. According to surviving accounts, the film ends with the already then obligatory chase up and down the city's steep hills, this time in "Hudson Super-Six wire-wheeled, open sports cars." Leading man Richard Holt was actually veteran low-budget director-writer-actor Ashton Dearholt. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi