Movie Review: Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
By Trevor King
On Sunday afternoon, Westport Town Hall graciously hosted the Westport Cinema Initiative’s screening of Man in a Gray Flannel Suit (1956) to celebrate the one-year anniversary of their campaign to bring a movie theater to Westport.
The classic film was a perfect choice to commemorate the occasion. Part of the film’s production took place in Westport ten years after WWII, and the movie features shots of familiar Westport landmarks—Main St, Bridge St, South Compo Rd, the Saugatuck train station—all great spots for a future movie theater.
Adapted from Norwalk native Sloan Wilson’s 1955 novel of the same name, the film revolves around Tom Rath (Gregory Peck), a World War II veteran struggling to readjust to civilian life, and his family as they navigate social pressures and battle emotional scars in the wake of WW II.
Opening scenes depict the rhythmic hustle-and-bustle of the daily commute between New York City and Westport. Tom wades his way through a sea of people in Grand Central to board the Metro North, where he takes his usual seat next to his train buddy. His friend happens to know of a Public Relations position opening up and offers his network to Tom.
Tom’s wife Betsy (Jennifer Jones) encourages Tom to take the interview, hoping he will command a higher salary. He agrees to meet with the firm’s hiring manager, who orders Tom to write an autobiographical essay in lieu of a typical interview. The task triggers Tom to mentally time travel to faraway places like the beaches of Normandy, and he relives horrific memories of war and reveals the tragic source of his sorrows.
Tom is offered the PR position, and his first assignment is to write a speech for a politician’s main campaign platform—government-run mental health institutions. This is ironic in retrospect, given that Tom may suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, which wasn’t yet diagnosable. The film is cutting edge in other ways—it pushed the boundaries of Hollywood’s sense of sexual propriety by having two lovers lay on a picnic blanket together at a time when a shared marriage bed was not permitted on screen (the married couple’s bedroom holds two twin beds).
The movie gracefully moves from profane plotlines to sacred concerns, as the couple attends to financial matters and more intimate family issues. Tom slowly assimilates to Madison Avenue’s corrupt corporate culture, which seems set up to best serve the interests of spineless men. Though Betsy had encouraged Tom’s career aspirations, she protests when he begins slipping into the depraved role of a city-slicker, telling him, “Ever since the war… you lost your guts, and I’m ashamed… I wanted you to go out and fight for something again—not some shining ‘Yes’ man."
Betsy isn’t aware of all the turmoil Tom’s troubled soul faces as a “Citizen Soldier,” a man who goes from a cold gray woolen coat to military armor and from catching the 8:26 to killing. She doesn’t realize he’s returned from war as a frail shell of his former self, although she feels they’ve been “Living without fun, loving without caring, making love without emotion.” This realization forces her to reevaluate their relationship, and the resolution she arrives at will dictate their future together.
Man in a Gray Flannel Suit succeeds in giving one of the most realistic depictions of American family life I’ve ever encountered in film, and it resonated on a deep personal level with the Westport audience.