Dear Heart (1964) - Turner Classic Movies

Brief Synopsis

A middle-aged postmistress falls for an engaged man during a convention in New York.

Cast & Crew

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Delbert Mann

Glenn Ford

Geraldine Page

Michael Anderson Jr.

Barbara Nichols

Charles Drake

Photos & Videos

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Dear Heart (1964) -- (Movie Clip) Open, Sign It Bimbo Jones

Alicia Malone Intro -- Dear Heart (1964)

Dear Heart (1964) -- (Movie Clip) Phyllis Is Done With Doing

Dear Heart (1964) -- (Movie Clip) Sometimes I Say Things Too Loud

Dear Heart (1964) -- (Movie Clip) The Tomato From Altoona

Film Details

Also Known As

The Big Weekend, The Out-of-Towners

Genre

Romance

Classic Hollywood

Comedy

Drama

Release Date

Jan 1964

Premiere Information

Los Angeles opening: 2 Dec 1964

Production Company

Out-of-Towners Co.

Distribution Company

Warner Bros. Pictures

Country

United States

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 54m

Sound

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color

Black and White

Synopsis

Evie Jackson, a smalltown postmistress whose compulsive friendliness causes men to avoid her, arrives in New York City to attend a postmasters' convention and meets Harry Mork, a recently-promoted greeting card salesman staying at the same hotel. Harry, who is engaged to Phyllis, a widow from Altoona, Pennsylvania, looks forward to settling down after years on the road. Like other men, he is wary of Evie, but after an unhappy rendezvous with June, a magazine salesgirl, he accepts Evie's invitation to a party. He enjoys her company, and she begins to fall in love with him. Evie learns of Harry's forthcoming wedding when he takes her to see the apartment he has rented for himself and his wife, and she decides to return home. Phyllis arrives in New York and visits the apartment with Harry. They find Phyllis' teenaged son, Patrick, living there with his beatnik girl friend, Zola, and learn that the boy plans to stay. Phyllis announces that she prefers to live in hotels because she is tired of housekeeping, and it becomes apparent that she plans to marry Harry to unburden herself of responsibilities and chiefly of the problems involved in raising a son. Harry leaves her and rushes to Pennsylvania Station in time to prevent Evie's departure.

Director

Delbert Mann

Cast

Glenn Ford

Geraldine Page

Michael Anderson Jr.

Barbara Nichols

Charles Drake

Patricia Barry

Daphne Mitchell

Angela Lansbury

Ruth Mcdevitt

Neva Patterson

Alice Pearce

Richard Deacon

Joanna Crawford

Emile Zola Bernkrand

Peter Turgeon

Ken Lynch

Mary Wickes

James O'rear

Nelson Olmsted

Steven Bell

Crew

Dorothy Aldrin

Script Supervisor

Gordon Bau

Makeup Supervisor

Folmar Blangsted

Howard Bristol

Carter Dehaven Jr.

Assistant Director

Ray Evans

Don Feld

Russell Harlan

Director of Photography

Robert B. Lee

Jay Livingston

Henry Mancini

Henry Mancini

Martin Manulis

Martin Manulis

Tad Mosel

Story & Screenplay

Jean Burt Reilly

Supervisor hairstylist

Norman Stuart

Dial Supervisor

Joseph Wright

Videos

Dear Heart (1964) -- (Movie Clip) The Tomato From Altoona Glenn Ford is salesman Harry, just arrived in New York for his last meeting before he settles into his new executive job, met at the hotel by Peterson (Peter Turgeon), and unexpectedly by Patrick (Michael Anderson Jr.), son of his fianceè, early in Dear Heart, 1964, starring Geraldine Page.

Dear Heart (1964) -- (Movie Clip) Open, Sign It Bimbo Jones Joining director Delbert Mann’s neatly integrated credit sequence, Geraldine Fitzgerald as Evie from Ohio arrives at Grand Central for the postmaster’s convention, having made friends with everyone on the train, not quite meeting co-star Glenn Ford, in Dear Heart, 1964.

Dear Heart (1964) -- (Movie Clip) Phyllis Is Done With Doing Having finally appeared more than 90 minutes into the picture, Angela Lansbury as Phyllis from Altoona is in New York, surprising her salesman fiancè Harry (Glenn Ford), who’s perplexed about her son, and her attitude toward another woman (Geraldine Page), in Dear Heart, 1964.

Dear Heart (1964) -- (Movie Clip) Sometimes I Say Things Too Loud First proper scene between Geraldine Page as single Ohio postmaster Evie and Glenn Ford as engaged salesman Harry, both with some time to kill at their New York hotel, in Delbert Mann’s Dear Heart, 1964.

Dear Heart - (Original Trailer) Glenn Ford must decide between his fiancee and a woman he meets at a convention in Dear Heart (1964).

Intro Aired: Apr 2018

Alicia Malone Intro -- Dear Heart (1964) Guest host Alicia Malone introduces Dear Heart, 1964.

Film Details

Also Known As

The Big Weekend, The Out-of-Towners

Genre

Romance

Classic Hollywood

Comedy

Drama

Release Date

Jan 1964

Premiere Information

Los Angeles opening: 2 Dec 1964

Production Company

Out-of-Towners Co.

Distribution Company

Warner Bros. Pictures

Country

United States

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 54m

Sound

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color

Black and White

Award Nominations

Best Song

1964

Articles

Dear Heart

October 5, 2011

In Dear Heart (1964), Geraldine Page (Best Actress Academy Award winner for The Trip to Bountiful in 1985) portrays Evie Jackson, a naive but self-sufficient small town postmistress visiting New York for a postal convention. She strikes up a friendship with businessman Harry Mork (Glenn Ford), a hotel guest who is troubled by his social-climbing fiance Phyllis (Angela Lansbury) and her beatnik son, Patrick (Michael Anderson, Jr.). As Harry and Evie slowly fall in love, the former is distracted by a sexy shop girl, his fiance's sudden visit, and her exasperating son. The frantic quality of his life almost causes Harry to miss the one thing that would ensure his future happiness.

Although Dear Heart is not one of Delbert Mann's most acclaimed films, it is essential viewing for Geraldine Page's performance alone. As her affection for Glenn Ford's character deepens, she alternates between a touching vulnerability and a barely suppressed hysteria. Veteran character actresses Ruth McDevitt (The Birds, 1963), Alice Pearce (TV's Bewitched series, 1964-66), and Mary Wickes (Sister Act, 1992) turn in comic performances as a trio of convention-going spinsters foreshadowing Evie's future without Harry, and Richard Deacon (The Dick Van Dyke Show, 1961-66) appears as a fussy conventioneer. The songs sung by the postal workers in the hotel bar are memorable and Henry Mancini, author of the hypnotic "Peter Gunn Theme", wrote the title tune for the film. Dear Heart was nominated for an Oscar® for Best Song, but lost to "Chim Chim Cher-ee" from Mary Poppins (1964).

Director: Delbert Mann
Producer: Martin Manulis
Screenplay: Tad Mosel
Cinematography: Russell Harlan
Editor: Folmar Blangsted
Art Direction: Joseph C. Wright
Music: Henry Mancini
Cast: Glenn Ford (Harry Mork), Geraldine Page (Evie Jackson), Angela Lansbury (Phyllis), Michael Anderson Jr. (Patrick), Barbara Nichols (June Loveland).
BW-115m.

by Jessica Handler

Dear Heart

Dear Heart

In Dear Heart (1964), Geraldine Page (Best Actress Academy Award winner for The Trip to Bountiful in 1985) portrays Evie Jackson, a naive but self-sufficient small town postmistress visiting New York for a postal convention. She strikes up a friendship with businessman Harry Mork (Glenn Ford), a hotel guest who is troubled by his social-climbing fiance Phyllis (Angela Lansbury) and her beatnik son, Patrick (Michael Anderson, Jr.). As Harry and Evie slowly fall in love, the former is distracted by a sexy shop girl, his fiance's sudden visit, and her exasperating son. The frantic quality of his life almost causes Harry to miss the one thing that would ensure his future happiness. Although Dear Heart is not one of Delbert Mann's most acclaimed films, it is essential viewing for Geraldine Page's performance alone. As her affection for Glenn Ford's character deepens, she alternates between a touching vulnerability and a barely suppressed hysteria. Veteran character actresses Ruth McDevitt (The Birds, 1963), Alice Pearce (TV's Bewitched series, 1964-66), and Mary Wickes (Sister Act, 1992) turn in comic performances as a trio of convention-going spinsters foreshadowing Evie's future without Harry, and Richard Deacon (The Dick Van Dyke Show, 1961-66) appears as a fussy conventioneer. The songs sung by the postal workers in the hotel bar are memorable and Henry Mancini, author of the hypnotic "Peter Gunn Theme", wrote the title tune for the film. Dear Heart was nominated for an Oscar® for Best Song, but lost to "Chim Chim Cher-ee" from Mary Poppins (1964). Director: Delbert Mann Producer: Martin Manulis Screenplay: Tad Mosel Cinematography: Russell Harlan Editor: Folmar Blangsted Art Direction: Joseph C. Wright Music: Henry Mancini Cast: Glenn Ford (Harry Mork), Geraldine Page (Evie Jackson), Angela Lansbury (Phyllis), Michael Anderson Jr. (Patrick), Barbara Nichols (June Loveland). BW-115m. by Jessica Handler

Quotes

Well that is the messiest pile of trays I have ever seen in a hotel corridor.
- Harry Mork

Trivia

Notes

Prerelease titles: The Out-of-Towners and The Big Weekend.

Miscellaneous Notes

Released in United States Winter December 1964

Released in United States Winter December 1964

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