Andy Hardy Comes Home (1958)

Andy Hardy Comes Home: Directed by Howard W. Koch. With Mickey Rooney, Patricia Breslin, Fay Holden, Cecilia Parker. Andy Hardy, now a grown man with a wife and children, returns to his hometown on a business trip and finds himself getting mixed up in local politics.

“TCM ran all but 2 of the Hardy Family movies a couple of weeks ago and, thank heavens for my DVR, I was able to watch them all and just finished up the series. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWatching Mickey Rooney u0026quot;grow upu0026quot; was wonderful; the turn around, I think, being in u0026quot;Andy Hardy Gets Spring Feveru0026quot;, and even more so in u0026quot;Life Begins For Andy Hardyu0026quot;; those two films in particular in the series contained some great character development for Andy and I loved seeing how Mickey Rooney handled it. And Andy Hardy Comes Home was a good conclusion. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI found that I didnu0026#39;t need to know the back story of how Andy met Jane or ended up in California; I enjoyed seeing the little bits and tributes to the earlier movies (Andy tossing his hat onto the peg, the clips of the girls, even the u0026quot;Carvel Hiu0026quot; banner in his bedroom) and Andy going in to his fatheru0026#39;s study when he needed to think… I got teary eyed seeing the portrait of Lewis Stone over the fireplace. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBecause I was able to watch the movies so close together, I was able to notice little things that they missed in the continuity: the picture of u0026quot;Betsy Boothu0026quot; was different from the one Andy was originally given (see Andy Hardy Meets Debutant), and the front door of the house opened on the opposite side (see Love Laughs At Andy Hardy when he gets locked out of the house), but even that was fun to see. I found this to be a good place to end the series. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTo see Andy taking on his fatheru0026#39;s mantel, literally, was very satisfying. Andy is no longer the skittish young boy/man that the audiences grew up with, but then, we all grow older and are not the same people we were in our youth. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI was glad to see that Andy Hardy came home!”