The Courtship of Eddie's Father

Eddie Corbett is a young boy living in New York with his father, Tom, a widowed radio station program director. Convinced that his father needs a new wife, Eddie sets his mind on a woman he already knows and likes, but Tom's attention lies elsewhere. Tom becomes involved with a fashion expert named Rita Behrens, while Elizabeth Marten, a nurse who lives nearby and often helps care for Eddie, quietly cares for both father and son. Eddie's disapproval of Rita leads him to interfere with his father's plans in ways that push the household toward a different outcome.

Vincente Minnelli directed the film, the fourteenth of fourteen features listed in chronological order of his career, following Home from the Hill. John Gay wrote the screenplay, and Joe Pasternak produced for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer with Euterpe Productions and Venice Productions. Glenn Ford plays Tom, Shirley Jones plays Elizabeth, Stella Stevens plays Dollye Daly, Dina Merrill plays Rita Behrens, Roberta Sherwood plays Mrs. Livingston, and Ron Howard plays Eddie. Fifty-five cast members are credited.

The film runs two hours and was released in March 1963. It blends comedy, drama, family and romance. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.8 from around 3,700 votes, while on TMDB its rating is 5.9 from 39 votes, a small sample. The gap suggests that viewers who have sought it out over the years respond more warmly than the narrower TMDB group does.