- Based on a novel by Sloan Wilson and directed by Nunnally Johnson, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit relates the story of a businessman named Tom Rath (Gregory Peck), who struggles to balance his career and his family. His wife Betsy (Jennifer Jones) wishes he were more attentive and ambitious, but Tom often finds himself quietly reflecting on his time in the war. Back then, he was captain of a unit that fought in Italy, where he met a beautiful woman named Maria (Marisa Pavan) who became pregnant just before Tom shipped off to the Pacific. Back then, Tom's life was certainly exciting, even if some of that excitement arrived in the form of the explosive traumas of war. These days, he's just a bland man in an equally bland world.
- Tom's new boss, Ralph Hopkins (Fredric March), appreciates Tom's candor in a way that Tom's immediate superior (Henry Daniell) does not. Hopkins is also envious of Tom's family, which provides a stark contrast with Hopkins's own estranged wife (Ann Harding) and libertine daughter (Gig Perraeu). But perhaps Ralph would be less jealous if he saw Tom coping with his oddly death-obsessed children who are always watching westerns on TV and Betsy's unrelenting volleys of criticism. It was at Betsy's suggestion that they sell their nice-looking home in order to move into a palatial family estate that they may or may not legally own. When Tom's old army buddy (Kennan Wynn) informs him of his illegitimate child, the Raths suddenly find themselves in constant need of legal advice from the sympathetic local judge (Lee J. Cobb).
- While my summary may make it sound like The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit has a lot going on, in fact the movie is painfully slow in everything but its flashbacks. I debated whether or not this was intentional -- after all, Tom's past was intended to be more exciting -- but I honestly can't imagine any filmmakers torpedoing more than half of their film's pacing just to reinforce a theme. Moreover, the film's overall lethargy is only enhanced by Peck's speaking voice, which always sounded like it was playing about 10 rpm too slow. Bernard Herrmann's music tries it best to make things seem interesting, but accidentally calls into mind about a dozen other more exciting films that he scored. In any case, this is very much the opposite of a suspense picture, and my favorite thing about it is sadly its expansive CinemaScope aspect ratio.
- With a cameo by DeForest Kelley as a doctor who pronounces a man dead!
