My Six Loves (1963) User Reviews

There's no rest for our Debbie.....

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 19 August 2014]

After a decade of song and dance at MGM and front page scandal, Debbie Reynolds was ripe for a change in her career, and while some of her best work was still ahead of her, she took on a variety of projects which showed off her easy going personality to great affect. One of the most underrated is "My Six Loves", a family comedy where she is a Broadway star in great need of a rest who retires to the country and ends up taking in some abandoned children who change her life for good. The situation comedy set-up is obvious, and in the hands of a lesser actress could be silly and predictable. But Debbie makes it fun, and the kids are cute, too.

There are a ton of great character performances here, with the raspy Eileen Heckart as her cynical companion, Alice Ghostley as a lazy housekeeper, Alice Pearce as the grouchy school bus driver, John McGiver as a finger-wagging judge, Jim Backus as the local sheriff, Mary McCarthy and Max Showalter as the Ma and Pa Kettle like couple who abandoned their own kids, Cliff Robertson as the local priest, and David Jansen as Reynolds' love interest. Debbie's initial reluctance to have anything to do with these waifs quickly disappears, leading way to an adorable musical number ("It's a Darn Good Thing") that has its corny moments but is ultimately charming. So while critics might have found the idea of a single Broadway star taking in some dirty kids a bit cloying, less cynical audiences can enjoy it for the lovable fluff that it is.

A Cute Family Comedy...

[ijonesiii · 7/10 · 13 January 2006]

MY SIX LOVES was an entertaining family comedy from the 1960's that stars Debbie Reynolds as a musical comedy star who is sent to her country home after being told by doctors that she is exhausted and needs major time off. She and her assistant (Eileen Heckart)arrive at her country home and shortly after her arrival, Reynolds discovers six orphans secretly living on her property. The story is routine, the situations predictable and the story pretty much moves in the expected directions, but it's a relatively entertaining journey with Reynolds at the peek of her charm, receiving able assistance from Heckart, Cliff Robertson as a neighborhood minister, and a surprisingly funny David Janssen as her fast-talking agent. The kids are cute and work well with the star. It ain't Chekhov, but it will keep you awake for 90 minutes.

Broadway Debbie gets a family

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 10 October 2013]

Debbie Reynolds gets a pair of co-stars and a batch of kids to share the screen with in My Six Loves. She plays a prominent stage actress who out of fatigue and doctor's orders retreats to her house in Connecticut before embarking on any new projects.

Her co-stars are theatrical producer David Janssen who's produced a couple of her shows and the Reverend Cliff Robertson who ministers a church in her Connecticut neighborhood. But her real problem is a family of six kids who have squatted on her land, left there by their parents.

Of course she and girl Friday Eileen Heckart take the kids in and before long the idea of a family kind of grows on her and it conflicts with her career. Robertson helps out quite willingly and even Janssen as gruff as his character is also pitches in.

There are a couple of beautiful performances by Max Showalter and Mary McCarty who come back to claim the kids. As it turns out they were dumped on them by her sister and they keep them around for those six welfare checks that come in. Showalter and McCarty are a true pair of white trash bottom feeders who get quite a lesson in justice by Judge John McGiver.

This was a perfect film for Debbie Reynolds. I think only Doris Day could have handled it maybe as well had she been cast. It holds up well today and I highly recommend it for family audiences.

Wonderful Family Movie

[gpadillo · 29 May 2003]

I saw this movie at a drive-in theatre with my family when I was 4 years old. I remembered parts of it, most notably the six orphans living in the woods behind Debbie Reynolds' house. Those memories have stayed with me my entire life, but couldn't remember the name of it, or its stars.

While channel surfing the other night, it was just beginning, and I didn't recognize it (I'd completely forgotten the beginning of the film). Within minutes the hair was standing on the back of my neck as I recognized this as "that movie" I saw almost 40 years ago! I stayed up half the night watching it, and remembering my childhood.

Hopefully this will make it onto DVD. As a jaded 40 something year old, I was surprised how moved I was by this little movie, and I can't get the song "It's a Darn Good Thing" outta my head!

Wonderful family viewing.

Homespun Gloss

[richardchatten · 5/10 · 22 July 2020]

A romantic domestic comedy with songs, in glossy Technicolor (mainly set in Connecticut but which plainly never leaves the studio, even for the church fete or the bus ride), with surprisingly liberal lashings of God and rugged hunks David Janssen and Cliff Robertson both looking decidedly out of place amidst all this sweetness & light.

The rest of the adults include the voices of several cartoon characters, including Sterling Holloway (later Winnie the Pooh and and Kaa the snake) in an ironic unbilled cameo as a local who has lost his voice. It would all have worked much better with Doris Day, but fortunately there is also a quartet of cynical females, two of whom (Alices Ghostley and Pearce) later featured in 'Bewitched; which this rather resembles, minus the magic.

Have always loved this movie

[calgal84 · 9/10 · 7 October 2014]

I have always loved this movie. Is it sophisticated? No. Are there Oscar worthy performances, directing or writing? No. But what it does have is a charming and likable cast, an endearing story line and a happy ending. It is one of the most pleasant of the many feel good light comedies that came out in the early 60s.

If you are looking for deep meaning, this not the movie for you. If you spend your movie watching time picking apart flaws in movies, yes, you will find plenty in this movie. But if you just want to enjoy a movie and feel good when you are finished watching it, I can highly recommend this movie.

Gower Champion's Talent Doesn't Translate to Film

[OtherDaryl · 4/10 · 1 August 2005]

Caught this on late-night cable and stopped flipping when I caught Champion's director card in the opening credits. Now I understand why he wasn't given Birdie or Dolly to translate from brilliant Broadway stagings. Debbie Reynolds heads a cast of gold, including Eileen Hecket, Cliff Robertson, Alice Ghostly, Hans Conried and John McGiver. Unfortunately the plot is less than a standard Doris Day flic of the time - worse than wooden dialogue. Edith Head provided the dowdiest "star" wardrobe of her career (if they are her designs - she may just carry the credit as head of the costuming department). Gratuitous musical number mid-way through ingratiating Reynolds character to her new-found and distrusting orphans.

A curiosity at best.

Fantastic comedy about a New York star who finds the meaning of true happiness in rural Connecticut

[n_farnam · 8/10 · 15 April 2008]

I don't quite know why I loved this movie, but I did! It had some great one-liners and everyone was perfect in their respective roles. Eileen Heckart was hilarious as the personal assistant to Debbie Reynolds and Mary McCarty and Max Showalter were equally hilarious as the beer-guzzling, welfare collecting and neglectful "step parents" to the kids. When they showed up in their broken down trailer, burping from drinking too much, the Reverand asked them "Can we help you?" Heckart looked up at him and said "Are you serious?" Alice Ghostley was also fantastic as the goldbricking "housekeeper" who was taking care of Debbie Reynolds' Connecticut house while Raynolds lived and worked in New York.

Meh

[TumnusFalls · 3/10 · 29 May 2016]

I suppose this is a "family movie," but it moves along so slowly I would not expect families to stay around to watch it.

A New York stage star goes to her house in Connecticut to relax, discovers a troop of six kids on her property living in a garage, and with the help of a young pastor and a cynical New York producer, finds it in her heart to help them out in life, especially when their mean, drunk parents come around to "take them back." It has the elements of a good movie. Debbie Reynolds, Cliff Robertson, David Janssen, Eileen Heckart, even Hans Conreid. But it just falls flat. The funny parts are not all that funny. The slow dramatic parts are slow and dramatic, with the heartfelt revelation by Debbie Reynolds that she can just kinda adopt these six kids who will instantly bond with her.

Some good moments - the movie song she sings with the kids is fun.

And her outfits are quite nice. There is one scene where she is wearing a somewhat mint-green dress and an emerald necklace, which make the color of her eyes pop out, and the pink-champagne wig she wears also helps.

But while it's not a disaster, it is just a movie without really anything at stake.

Cute!

[Monika-5 · 4 January 2000]

This was a sweet little flick starring Debbie Reynolds as an exhausted Broadway star taking a rest in her country home. There she finds love, acceptance and contentment that fame, money and her career could never give her.

This movie is not available on video, so try to catch it when your local stations air the late night movie. Or try American Movie Classics. It's worth it.

Six brats

[MissClassicTV · 2/10 · 21 November 2015]

I love talented child actors. I love fun family movies. I love sassy romantic comedy. This movie features none of that.

Debbie Reynolds plays a Broadway actress who finds six kids and welcomes them into her home because they need a place to stay. The kids are obnoxious and out of control. Cliff Robertson as the local reverend who helps her with the kids is supposed to be charming but he comes off as didactic. I guess that's part of being a preacher. At one point, he says something like, "She's a woman; she should start acting like one." I was completely turned off by it. He wants her to give up her career in New York, stay in rural Connecticut and adopt six bratty kids. I guess the problem isn't really Cliff Robertson - it's the writing. As the entire premise of the movie is that she finds true love, then the objects of her love ought to be appealing. Nothing the reverend or the kids do are appealing to me.

There are some high points to the movie. Reynolds is really cute and likable. She evens gets to sing a nice little tune. Some of the supporting characters are rather good. Eileen Heckart has some very funny lines that she delivers well. David Janssen is funny and charming. He is underutilized in this film. Alice Ghostley in a small role as a housekeeper is very, very funny.

Perhaps it is just a product of its time. It does not hold up well.

Comedy, romance, family and satire in this fun film for all ages

[SimonJack · 8/10 · 20 July 2021]

"My Six Loves" is a comedy with just a little romance at the end, and some subtle and not-so-subtle satire. The satire is buried within the story and the general comedy and overall family plot. Debbie Reynolds and Cliff Robertson have the leads with a very good supporting cast. This is a feel-good film about family, kindness and love. Only, all of that stems from a single over-worked stage and film star and an orphaned clan of kids supposedly in the care of a dysfunctional pair who may be their aunt and uncle.

Reynolds plays popular actress Janice Courtney. When the doctor orders her to take a vacation and a long rest, she retreats to her Connecticut house in the country with her assistant, Ethel (played by Eileen Heckart). She soon discovers six children and their dog holed up in an old shack on her property. The local Rev. Jim Larkin (Cliff Robertson), of Fairmont Community Church, then enters the picture.

Courtney becomes torn between caring for these kids as a family and resuming her career. When derelict no-good caretakers of the kids show up so they can continue to get the welfare check for the kids, Jan and Jim set out to get the children put in her custody.

Jan's agent and manager, Marty Bliss, promotes her career and is at her beck and call. David Janssen plays this part superbly and for great humor, especially when Jan enlists him for tasks for the kids. He puts together a picnic for everyone that comes with a chef and caviar, truffles, pate, etc. And, as might be expected, romance enters the picture as the Rev. Larkin becomes a fixture at Jan's with the kids. John McGiver has a nice role as Judge Harris, and all the rest of the supporting cast are quite good and add to the humor.

The light touch of this film doesn't bear down on the derelict care couple, Doreen and B. J. Smith, for their negligent and criminal behavior. Mary McCarty and Max Showalter play their parts perfectly. The satire comes later when Jan decides to try a stage role that is contrary to her stage persona and personal life. It sounds like it might be X-rated when Jim gives his assessment after Jan asked him to read it and advise her. The play's author is famed playwright Kinsley Kross, played superbly by Hans Conried. The obvious satire is very funny. It covers the theater - stage and screen, and everyone associated with it from writers to actors to studios to agents - even to the audiences that go for low taste entertainment.

This is a fun film that people of all ages should enjoy. The older critics and cynics will enjoy the satire. Here are some sample lines from this film.

Selena Johnson, "It's very important for a budding young actress like Ava to study fine acting." Ethel, "On television?"

Ethel, "Selena, if you have a menu for dinner tonight, I'd like to look it over later." Selena, "Today is Tuesday." Ethel, "What's wrong with Tuesday?" Selena, "Tuesday is Ava's night at elocution. We'll be dining out."

Marty Bliss, carrying Jan's large birdbath pedestal, "I'd like to meet the idiot that buys this thing." Rev. Larkin, "Oh, well, uh, we'll find a sucker."

Janice Courtney, "You mean nobody here wants half a birdbath? Nobody has half a bird?"

Ethel, "I don't think he likes caviar." Marty, trying to feed Sherman a cracker with caviar on it, "At eleven bucks an ounce, he likes it. Don't ya?" Sherman, "Uh, uh." Marty slips the cracker into his mouth as he speaks, and everyone laughs.

Kinsley Kross, "This play breaks with the past, transcending also the trending modern postures which I find equally irrelevant in their persistent search for universal verities. It, uh, springs from a personal ethos that I call generative nihilisms. Do you agree, darling?" Jan Courtney, "Oh, yes, of course I do. Um, how do you feel about it, Ethel?" Ethel, "He lost me at lunch, right after he said, 'Pass me the potato salad.'"

Kinsley Kross, "Well, let me put it into simple language. A civilized woman rebels against the dichotomy of modern society, and seeks her euphoria in.. depravity." Marty Bliss, "Why, it'll make a bombshell at the box office." Ethel, "That explains everything."

Kinsley Kross, "I see you've been reading my play." Rev. Larkin, "That's right." Kross, "Well?" Larkin, "Well, I've always had a grudging respect for your work, Mr. Kross. Even though it's offended some people, it's always had a certain honesty. I wish I could say the same for this."

Kinsley Kross, "Well, I realize this is pretty heady stuff for a man of the cloth, reverend. But there are other days in the week beside Sunday." Larkin, "Trash is trash any day of the week, Mr. Kross."

Rev. Larkin, "Jan, you're an intelligent woman. But I don't know what kind of intelligence it is that makes you wanna play the role of a .. a scheming two-headed sex-pot. If this is an example of, uh, modern theater, I don't think you oughta be part of it."

Jan Courtney, "I'm sorry, Jim, but scheming two-headed sex-pots make great parts for an actress, and no one is gonna talk me out of playing it. I've worked too hard and too long to wind up my career as chief cook and bottle washer in Connecticut." Jim Larkin, "Well, I guess that about covers it."

Kinsley Kross, "And under my brilliant tutelage, every good, healthy, schizophrenic impulse within you will surge to the surface."

Kinsley Kross, "Where's your flaming star going - for a cooling walk in the rain?" Marty Bliss, "Uh, let me put it to ya this way, Kinsley. She's escaping from the dichotomy of modern living and she's going to seek her euphoria in Connecticut."

Debbie Does Doris Day and outdoes Doris Day

[jayraskin1 · 4/10 · 28 August 2015]

Debbie Reynolds always brings a lot of energy to her best roles like "Singing in the Rain" "Tammy" and "Molly Brown." Unfortunately, here she plays an actress who is ordered by a doctor at the beginning of the film to rest. The director has Debbie following the doctor's orders, so she is pretty lethargic throughout the movie. Her love interest in the movie is a preacher played by Cliff Robertson (Charley). The erotic undertones that we find in most comedies are missing here. One expected her agent played by David Janssen ("The Fugitive)to be the love rival, but again this is aimed at a Sunday School audience, so all hints and traces of sex have been eliminated. This is the opposite of the most enjoyable Doris Day comedies, where hints of sex are everywhere tempting the pure, but tempted Miss Day. This leaves the six children that she finds hiding out on her Connecticut estate to carry the movie. This is perhaps the film's biggest disappointment. The kids are more obnoxious than adorable. Debbie seems to become attached to them simply because nobody else wants him, not really a good reason to embrace six children. The movie relies on an ice-making machine gone wild for its biggest laughs. It comes off as silly more than funny.

The movie plays more like a pilot for a 1960's family sit-com. It is kind of a lack-luster version of "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" (Doris Day and David Niven) which was far superior. In fact the sit-com of "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" (1965-67) with Pat Crowley was also much better.

Mary McCarty and Max Showalter do show up later in the movie as antagonists and they do bring some laughs as low-life would-be parents to the six kids. Unfortunately, it is too little, too late, to save the movie.

The movie gets some brownie points for being a family comedy, but the comedy is so lackluster that only younger kids (6-12) might enjoy it.

Heartwarming!

[pitagirl38 · 10/10 · 14 August 2001]

I just loved this movie! Exhausted Debbie Reynolds goes to her country home to find two inept housekeepers and six little orphans. It's one of those movies that makes you wish you could find a nice little town like that to live in. The musical numbers are a lot of fun too. Even my children love to watch this movie.

I haven't yet looked to see if it's available on video, but if it is, you can be sure I'll buy a copy.

Delightful, light, frothy comedy

[milleraj-2 · 8/10 · 1 April 2001]

Wonderful little flick, with family values, warm fuzzies galore, pleasant moments, and real meaning. Funny and touching, with an outstanding performance by the ever cute Debbie Reynolds. Would never be produced today.

Excellent!

[fullquiver-34782 · 10/10 · 9 March 2020]

This movie is heartwarming, funny, and was a joy to watch! It is easily as good or better than well known movies of this type, such as Doris Day in "Please Don't Eat the Daisies." The values may seem a little "old fashioned" to some; but they are really timeless values of people being more important than things. Values that will never go out of style! My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this delightful story! Enjoy!!

Pretty good movie, oddly overlooked - why?

[rooster_davis · 18 August 2011]

For some reason, My Six Loves seems to have slipped between the cracks and just doesn't get shown on TV, at least not these days. In brief, it's the story of a show business star who takes a break due to exhaustion - and finds six basically abandoned kids living in her garden shed. Of course the story is going to be about her developing a relationship (or more) with them, I don't have to tell anyone that, it's a given.

There are some rather odd things about this movie that I'd like to point out, concerning one of the kids - a youngster named Billy Hughes Jr. who plays the eldest child and sort of the 'head' of the detached sibling family. Billy Hughes was becoming known in Hollywood for being able to play darker or more intense roles, and while parts of his role here fit him - being able to carry that chip on his shoulder towards God for instance - other parts are such a bad fit that it's painful to watch. There is a musical number where the kids each have to act out something that goes with the song, and young Hughes was clearly not comfortable doing this. As I said, it's painful to watch. It would be like asking someone like Humphrey Bogart to appear in the Do Re Mi song from 'Sound of Music'.

One rather ironic flaw to the movie is that the six kids Reynolds finds in her garden shed have been dumped and are penniless, wearing shabby old clothes... yet young Billy Hughes is sporting a dandy gold ring in 2/3 of his scenes! How that got past the director I can't guess but someone must have been kicking themselves big time when they realized the huge boo-boo of an impoverished kid wearing bling.

Debbie Reynolds was great, she always is. The story is pleasant enough and there have been far worse movies made (and better too). This is a real Hollywood oddity that somehow doesn't get shown anymore. Worth watching just to see it as part of Reynolds' body of work, and for Billy Hughes in his good and not so good moments of the film.