Am I Missing Something?

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Blistering performances.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Want you to meet the family known as the real McCoys. From West Virginia they came to stay in sunny California, there's Grandpa Amos and his favorite boy, his grandson Luke McCoy.The Ozarks comes alive and was never better. Walter Brennan's antics were memorable as he portrayed the irascible grandfather here. With his grandson, the two live like absolute pigs. They need a cleaning girl, not wives.Brennan literally limps along as he portrayed this memorable character. After a world-wind career in films, and 3 Oscars for best supporting actor, Brennan made the transition to television relatively easy here. Right from his Walter Denton role on "Our Miss Brooks," Crenna was right at home with his role as the Ozark-like grandson.

The 224 half-hour episodes (all in B&W) of the situation comedy "The Real McCoys" ran from 1957-1963 on ABC and CBS. The show's creators/producers were Irving and Norman Pincus, a pair of brothers with little other claims to fame. But they left quite a legacy with "The Real McCoys" as the series literally changed the direction of network situation comedy. Early sitcoms like "I Love Lucy", "The Honeymooners", "Make Room for Daddy", and "The Goldbergs" were urban in tone and set in downtown apartments in big east coast cities; urban families were the first buyers of televisions. By the mid-fifties suburbia was getting a lot play ("Life of Riley", "Leave It to Beaver") as Americans began moving out to the suburbs. But network executives were resistant to the idea of rural characters in rural setting. Rural families were unlikely to own televisions (or have television stations within broadcast range) and urban sophisticates could not be expected to tune into a show featuring rural rubes. When "The Real McCoys" proved the suits wrong it set the stage for Andy of Mayberry, Jed in Beverly Hills, Kate and the Shady Rest, and Oliver and Lisa in Hooterville. Danny Thomas and Paul Henning who would launch those shows were both involved in "The Real McCoys". The premise of the show is the move of the legendary West Virginia McCoys to a farm in the San Fernando Valley they inherit from their uncle. Given the current value of valley real estate it is amusing that one of the central conflicts of the series is the family's precarious financial position (insert lack of money here). The McCoy family is a bit usual as it skips an entire generation. Grandpa Amos (Walter Brennan) lives with his grandson Luke (Richard Crenna), Luke's new wife Kate (Kathy Nolan), and Luke's little brother and sister (Michael Winkleman and Lydia Reed). Apparently Luke's parents mysteriously died. Like "The Beverly Hillbillies", the comedy comes from watching the family adapt to their new environment and seeing things we take for granted from a fresh perspective. And like Granny on that series, Amos is stubborn and irascible. The beauty of the series is that it finds satirical humor in the unsophisticated way of country folk while demonstrating that their backwoods wisdom often puts them ahead of the curve. Luke and Kate join Oliver and Lisa Douglas of "Green Acres" as television's all-time most "in- love" couples and this dynamic is the shows underlying strength. Crenna and Nolan deliver fine performances throughout the series. Brennan is likewise excellent, managing to make a basically annoying character lovable. Amos is nicely overplayed as a cantankerous old coot full of rural aphorisms and blustering exasperations yet fully repentant when he goes too far. Also notable is Tony Martinez as Pepino Garcia, a Mexican farmhand who just came with the farm. Pepino is a frequent foil for Grandpa, as his more laid-back approach to life often riles up the old guy. They do a nice job of avoiding what could have been a negative stereotype as Pepino is the best adjusted character on the series and second only to Kate in the wisdom department. Kate left the cast after the 5th season, she was missed.Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

A small part of a very large family named McCoy who hailed from the hills of West Virginia, put a down payment on a land in the Imperial Valley of Southern California and moved there and into our television sets for a considerable in the late fifties and early sixties. We know there was a whole lot more of them because occasionally some kinfolk came to visit.After a career with three Oscars under his belt and at that time he was the only one who had that many, you'd think Walter Brennan might want to slow up at the age of sixty three when he started that series. Not only did he keep up the grind of a weekly television series, but Brennan's movie career didn't slow down a might. You might remember he played a pretty substantial role in Rio Bravo and in How the West Was Won while The Real McCoys were still running.The rest of the McCoys consisted of Richard Crenna and Kathleen Nolan as Luke and Kate, a pair of young marrieds. Kate married into the McCoys, but like Ethel Kennedy you'd think she was born into the clan instead. Kathleen was a wise old soul in her own way inside a beautiful young lady. She was the heart of the show, more than Brennan at times.Richard Crenna went on to a career that involved him playing a lot more than hayseeds like Luke McCoy. But he said many times that the real value of The Real McCoys for him was as an acting school. Just working with and watching Walter Brennan every week was more valuable than acting lessons with Stella Adler or the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.Two younger siblings came along with Luke, Kate, and Grandpa. There was Lydia Reed and Michael Winkelman as Hassee and Little Luke. I thought it a bit much to name a kid after Tallahassee because someone sent them a picture postcard from the place and they thought the name was so pretty. Lydia had enough teenage angst, settling from West Virginia into sophisticated southern California without that added to her woes. As for Little Luke, I guess the McCoy clan got squeamish on names after Tallahassee and stuck with one tried and true.Tony Martinez, all barely five feet of him, played their Chicano farmhand, Pepino. The Chicano and hill cultures blended very well together. At the time Tony Martinez was considered to have a breakthrough part for Latinos. Pepino was always a cheerful guy, but a hardworking person of real dignity and was never demeaned in any way by the stories.As I said other McCoys got in the cast. Jack Oakie did several episodes as Uncle Rightly McCoy when Brennan was on extended leave in a movie. And several episodes had the McCoys make a visit back to West Virginia where we ran into the real head of the clan, Great Grandma McCoy played by Jane Darwell. That's right, Jane was Amos's mother and in fact she was just about old enough in real life to be just that. They should have canceled the show after Kathleen Nolan left or paid her what she wanted. A lot got taken out of the show when she left and Luke was left a widower.In many ways the Real McCoys was a survival story about a family leaving one culture and trying and succeeding in making it in a different location with different ways. Maybe that's why The Real McCoys was as successful as it was. Isn't that what the American Dream is all about?

I watched this show fairly frequently as a child but now that I am an adult I appreciate it much more. I am so impressed with the acting and stamina of Walter Brennan. For a man in his late 60's, he had to memorize tons of dialogue and work so hard it must have been a strain on him, however it never showed in his performance. His wonderful love/hate friendship with George MacMichael (Andy Clyde) was a highlight of the show. I was very sorry when Kate left the show, though it wasn't the same, I still enjoyed it because I loved watching Walter. I am so glad that TNN is showing reruns of this show.