A lighthearted family comedy about a teenage girl, Dee, whose first steps into womanhood send her father, Stewart, into a frenzy. Dee's involvement with radical antinuclear causes and long-haired hippies shakes up the ultraconservative and overprotective Stewart. When Dee gets sent to
Paris on an art scholarship, Stewart becomes even more frantic. His worst fears are confirmed when he picks up a copy of Life magazine and finds his daughter posing for the paintings of Forquet, a Picasso-influenced artist. Stewart runs off to Paris to keep an eye on Dee but in the process gets
himself in big trouble with the gendarmes. He is mistakenly arrested when a seedy cafe is raided and struggles to prove his innocence. Later, at a costume ball in which Stewart dresses as Daniel Boone, Dee introduces Forquet to her father. The young couple profess their love for each other, easing
Stewart's nerves and enabling him to return to the States. Although he is reassured of Dee's safety, he is soon worrying about his younger daughter, Doherty.
Although TAKE HER, SHE'S MINE is a pretty simpleminded, wholesome story, it still serves as a fine piece of family-oriented comedy. Stewart, as always, is a pleasure to watch, and so is Meadows ("Alice Norton" in TV's "The Honeymooners") as his wife. Scripted by Johnson from a Phoebe and Henry
Ephron stage play, TAKE HER, SHE'S MINE was one of three screenplays which hit the desk of Darryl F. Zanuck when he took over the presidency of 20th Century-Fox in 1962. Johnson's script was agreed to, paid for, and cast with Stewart by former head of production Peter Lavathes. When Zanuck took
over he tossed out the other two scripts, keeping only Johnson's. Zanuck, however, wanted a number of changes before he would agree to a final okay. Johnson refused to write another word without additional payment, and the situation almost ended in a lawsuit. Zanuck finally agreed to pay Johnson
to rewrite the final third of the script, which moved the locale to Paris in an effort to make the film more internationally acceptable. leave a comment
