God’s Little Acre
Directed by Anthony Mann
Written by Ben Maddow (uncredited)/Philip Yordan (front) from a novel by Erskine Caldwell
1958/USA
Security Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Ty Ty Walden: Lord, give me the strength to spread out my arms to the ends of my fields. Let me fill up the holes, make the land smooth. You spared my sons, and I’ll never dig another hole again. Except to… to plant seeds for things to grow.[/box]

1958 seems to be Hollywood’s year for Southern Disfunction.  Unfortunately, despite my beloved Robert Ryan and director Mann, this does not rise to the top of its genre.

Ty Ty Walden (Ryan) is a backwoodsy type ex-cotton farmer with a large family of lusty adult children.  His dying grandfather told him there was gold buried on the place and for the last 15 years he and his boys have spent their time in non-stop digging on the property. The only place free of enormous holes is “God’s Little Acre”, a small plot he has dedicated to the church.  Since he conducts no economic activity besides digging, he is little danger of having to make a donation.

The plot is full of all kinds of incidents but mostly concerns the romantic and sexual shenanigans of the kids.  Primarily of these is a love triangle concerning the continuing lust between daughter-in-law Griselda (Tina Louise) and son-in-law Will (Aldo Ray) and the consternation of both their spouses.  With Buddy Hackett as the suitor of TyTy’s youngest daughter, Rex Ingram as a loyal retainer, and Michael Landon as an albino (seriously!).

When the picture started and I saw that Ryan was going to play a drawling rube I began to cringe.  However, Ryan actually manages to deliver a complete and credible performance. Everyone else is also fine.  It is the material that is all over the place.  The tone careens violently between broad farce and melodrama.  Kind of like Lil’ Abner meets Peyton Place.

Trailer