The Catered Affair (DVD)

Aggie Hurley (Bette Davis) is making up for a lifetime of making do. Her daughter Jane (Debbie Reynolds) is going to have a lavish wedding - even if Jane wants a simple ceremony. And even if Aggie's husband Tom (Ernest Borgnine) must give up his dream of owning his own taxi to finance the extravaganza. Borgnine, winner of 1955's Best Actor Oscar for Marty (like the Catered Affair originally written for TV by Paddy Chayefsky), etches another superb working-class portrait. And Davis, renowned for playing larger-than-life characters, proves masterly at capturing the life-sized intensity of Aggie. Together, they create a gem of 'shirt sleeved intimacy and gamy humor' (Time) as real as a shabby Bronx apartment. Barry Fitzgerald and Rod Taylor also star.

Starring: Bette Davis, Ernest Borgnine, Debbie Reynolds, Barry Fitzgerald, Rod Taylor, Ray Stricklyn, Jay Adler, Dan Tobin, Paul Denton, Augusta Merighi, Robert Simon, Madge Kennedy, Dorothy Stickney, Carol Veazie, Joan Camden, Sammy Shack, Jack Kenny, Robert Stephenson, Don Devlin, Howard Graham, Janice Carroll, Joan Bradshaw, Harry Hines, Mae Clarke, Jimmie Fox, John Costello, Thomas Dillon

Director: Sam Zimbalist