Mr. Hobbs Takes A Vacation (1962) is probably a movie I should have watched at the beginning of summer to catch the feeling of the season ahead of time, but, really, this movie is one that can be watched any time someone needs a laugh. I think we can all agree that we all need a good laugh these days.

The movie, a mix of comedy and a bit of drama, stars Jimmy Stewart (as Roger Hobbs) and Maureen O’Hara (as Peggy Hobbs). There were moments that I think the writers meant to be comedic but I didn’t find some of those monies super funny, but instead found them a bit sad or serious.

In this movie, like others I’ve watched from this era (the early 60s), I can see that life wasn’t that much different than today. While we seem to look back at the 50s and 60s as a more innocent time, this is one of those movies that shows there were some hard parts of life even then – arguing married couples, potentially cheating spouses, fathers struggling to be good fathers, children addicted to television, and young women struggling through the teenage years.

Those topics could bring a person down but there is a lot of humor and light-hearted moments thrown into the movie to make sure it doesn’t go too far down the hole of depression.

We start the movie with Mr. Hobbs looking quite drained as he drives through the city – which I believe is L.A. Once he gets past trucks kicking out exhaust at him and cars pinning him on every side on the highway, he arrives at the office asks his secretary to take down a letter where he plans to tell his wife that he doesn’t want to go on vacation ever again.

From there the movie is a flashback to the crazy beach vacation Mr. Hobbs didn’t want.

He planned to take the family to a ranch in Montana for a month, but his wife (Maureen) has had the wonderful opportunity to rent a beach house and she wants to bring the entire family there – her teenage daughter, young son (who is maybe 12?), and grown-up daughters who are both married with children.

Mr. Hobbs isn’t so sure about this idea but he finally agrees.

Danny, their young son isn’t too thrilled either if it means he won’t get to watch his TV, which he is completely addicted to (not much different than kids today). When the family arrives at the home, it looks like not only will Danny not get to watch TV but no one is going to have too much fun because the place looks like it is about to fall over.

Mr. and Mrs. Hobbs decide to make the best of it, though, even bringing their cook with them. She doesn’t stay around long, though, because the house is a disaster and when the two older daughters come with their spouses things get crazy.

One daughter and her husband argue about how to raise their children. The other daughter’s husband is a stuck up professor who we later learn also likes to flirt with attractive women.

Mr. Hobbs decides to take a break from it all one morning by going out on the beach to read.

An attractive, woman who is – shall we say – well-endowed in the upper body is sunbathing but he’s more interested in his book – War and Peace.

It turns out she is more interested in chatting with him and decides to interrupt his reading, all while leaning over in her bathing suit and pouting. She has a French or Norwegian or something accent, which, I think, is supposed to make her that much more appealing.

Mr. Hobbs eventually excuses himself, after stumbling over a few words with her, but she will show up again later in the movie – this time to flirt with Mr. Hobbs’ son-in-law.

This movie grew on me. I watched it twice in the span of a few days and during the first watch, I didn’t like it that much, but didn’t hate it. During the second time I watched it with The Husband I started to like it more. I began to like the characters and storyline more, even though there were times I was, once again, disturbed by how the father wanted his daughter to hurry up and grow up already and start dating boys.

What was about that era when every parent thought their kids should be dating constantly at the age of 14? Also, there is no way that girl was 14 in this movie. She had to be at least 20.

Fabian was in this movie and was her love interest and I’d say he was about 25. Hold on, though, I’ll look this up and come back….

The girl who played the daughter (Katey Hobbs) was Lauri Peters and she was 19 when the movie released, so probably about 17 or 18 when it filmed.

Fabian was the same age, so okay, they looked older but they weren’t that much older. For those who don’t know, Fabian was a famous singer back in the day and, yes, he does sing one song in this movie, but, no, the movie is not a musical.

There was one line in the movie that made me think that maybe Playboy wasn’t the same back then as it is today. Roger Hobbs says, in the beginning of the movie, that his children really don’t need him anymore.

“Danny only needs me to pick him up a copy of Playboy once a month.”

The kid was like 12. What are they doing getting him a Playboy anyhow? I’m guessing that Playboy wasn’t as dirty as it became and is now.

As I mentioned above, while this was marketed as a comedy there were a lot of heartwarming moments and a couple of serious issues brought up – not serious enough to bring the mood down, though.

There were a lot of silly or funny moments. The most hilarious scene in the movie involves Mr. Hobbs getting stuck in the shower with the wife of the man who his son-in-law hopes will be his boss. This is all after Roger says that he and his wife should let the kids figure out life on their own.

“We’re going to buzz off before we are told to buzz off.”

So they spend part of the movie doing their best not fixing their children’s mistakes and do fairly well…but you’ll have to watch to see what happens.

Jimmy Stewart was 54 in this movie. Maureen was 40. Their chemistry was amazing. They had so many passionate kiss scenes that made my toes curl. I think their respective spouses might have been a bit jealous.

Some interesting trivia I found online:

The portrait at the bottom of the staircase in the beach house is of Captain Daniel Gregg, played by Rex Harrison in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, which was filmed in 1947, and which I watched last year with Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.

This was one of three family comedies directed by Henry Koster from the early to mid-60s and each one featured Jimmy. The other two were Take Her, She’s Mine with Sandra Dee and Dear Brigitte.

The script was adapted from a novel by Edward Streeter.

Fabian was also in Dear Brigitte with Jimmy and said of him: “If anybody’s ever blessed, you have to be blessed to work with Jimmy Stewart. He was the most congenial, helpful person I ever worked with.”

I liked this review from imbd.com and think that I could have just shared this here and it would have summed it up well:

“Pleasant nostalgia, no modern sophomoric gags

This pleasant comedy may seem a bit on the dull side to modern audiences conditioned by R-rated gross-out fests (at least it’s in color, for those so spoiled they lack the ability to get into a black and white story), but a nice nostalgia trip for those longing for the “simpler, more innocent” times of the mid-twentieth century. (I’m not an old fuddy-duddy chronologically, just in spirit.) Stewart is your average Dad, taking an average Mom (Maureen O’Hara) and family to spend the summer in a rustic Victorian house at the beach.

They encounter the usual problems with antiquated plumbing and teenage romance, with a few interesting plot developments. If you know character actor Johm McGiver, he has one of his funniest roles as a bird-watching executive. Definitely recommended for Stewart fans or those interested in ’50 & ’60s nostalgia; but not for those who can only laugh at the stuff in Austin Powers or Team America (I like all these movies, incidentally).”

For further reading: https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/83706/mr-hobbs-takes-a-vacation#articles-reviews?articleId=535740

Next up for my summer movie marathon:

Summertime (August 22)

Having A Wonderful Time (August 27)

Clambake (August 29)

What I’ve already written about:

Gidget

Beach Blanket Bingo