The Country Girl (1954)

Frank flashes back a few times to the death of his young son. We hear the accident off camera and see Frank's reaction. Characters mention a past suicide attempt with wrists bleeding, and a past attempt to set a hotel room on fire. One slap in the face. A man throws a drink and breaks a large mirror.

A couple of kisses.

Two of the three main characters smoke. One chain smokes and jokes a few times about always being out of cigarettes. Others mention once or twice that he smokes too much. Lots of background characters smoking. One main character is an alcoholic who drinks a lot, mostly in secret, and it's a major theme. He shows drunken behavior once or twice, spends a night in jail, and is in very bad shape the next morning. A few scenes take place in bars or at cocktail parties.

Parents need to know that The Country Girl is a slow-paced, heavy drama. Content-wise, there's no reason to pause it if tweens and under wander in, but the adult characters and mature themes make it best for older kids. One of the three main characters is an alcoholic and his problems are explored in detail. Flashbacks to the death of a toddler don't show anything graphic, but there are sound effects and we see the father's reaction to the accident. Two main characters frequently smoke and one of them chain smokes. Lots of background smoking, too. There's one deep kiss and one quick one. It ends on a hopeful note, but heavy themes, like how hard it is just getting through life and helping vs. enabling, won't hold kids' interest. Fans of acting and of Old Hollywood will enjoy watching two legends play very different roles than they usually did.

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