Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

You're a Big Boy Now Blu-ray Movie Review

The pre-graduate.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III May 21, 2024

With the recent (and possibly disastrous) release of Megalopolis, Francis Ford Coppola's first film in 13 years and one that he reportedly spent $120M of his own money on, now's as good a time as any to look back to a humbler time in his long and storied career. Warner Archive is doing so on two separate fronts with the recent Blu-ray debut of 1969's The Rain People and You're a Big Boy Now, released to theaters three years earlier. It's an unavoidably dated but lightly enjoyable time capsule and clearly an earlier, less polished version of Mike Nichols' The Graduate, earning a few bonus points for originality but otherwise feeling very much like the work of a filmmaker still finding his voice.

I wasn't kidding about its striking similarity to The Graduate, released over a full year later. You're a Big Boy Now follows Bernard Chanticleer (Peter Kastner), fresh out of high school and feeling very much under the thumb of his wealthy parents Margery and I.H. (real-life couple Geraldine Page and Rip Torn). He's socially awkward and unable to find direction in life, basically ignoring the attention of old schoolmate Amy Partlett (Karen Black) while instead pining for the more domineering and experienced Barbara Darling (Elizabeth Hartman). So yeah, there's no tawdry generation gap or mother-daughter drama fanning its flames, but the skewed love triangle at the heart of You're a Big Boy Now clearly draws an original template that Mike Nichols' later masterpiece would (perhaps coincidentally) follow.

Aside from the originality of its plot (not to mention great time-capsule footage of mid-60s New York, looking a few shades lighter than the decayed environment explored in films like Taxi Driver), You're a Big Boy Now is only a step or two above your average "fresh out of film school" feature-length production. That's not a complaint on all fronts: it's got a lot of spark and energy, almost overflowing with ideas and visual flourishes that often work to its advantage but sometimes prove to be distracting. The performances are uniformly good to great, with perhaps the best dichotomy of its mixed-bag effectiveness in its lead, Peter Kastner, who's so believable as a henpecked young man that he almost fades into the background of every scene he's in. In other words, You're a Big Boy Now is a character-fueled comedy-drama in which our main character is almost entirely forgettable, but luckily the supporting characters and outstanding cinematography pick up the slack. Even so, within those strict boundaries it's still not exactly accessible entertainment: you'll need either a deep-seated love for this particular era of cinema and pop culture -- or at least a firm interest in Coppola's early career -- because otherwise, Big Boy will probably lose you somewhere along the way.

The film's interesting visuals and memorable soundtrack, which is loaded with songs from then-ubiquitous rock group The Lovin' Spoonful, remain its most compelling elements and both shine brightly on Blu-ray thanks to reliably careful treatment by Warner Archive. This is an almost barebones disc in which I can't give an overwhelming recommendation to the main feature, yet those who fall for its charms will find this a worthy addition to their libarary.

You're a Big Boy Now Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

How good does You're a Big Boy Now look on Blu-ray from Warner Archive? The short version is "as good as expected", which kind of undersells the careful treatment of a film that very much looks like a product of its time. Sourced from a brand-new 4K scan of the original camera negative, the boutique label's 1080p transfer wrings as much detail as it can from the raw elements, presenting fans and first-timers with a very consistent and clean picture that feels entirely film-like from start to finish. Colors seem accurate to the source (if not a touch teal on occasion, though I didn't see any consistent signs of blanket color revisionism and that's never been Warner Archive's style), with a great hazy depth to some of the well-lit urban locations and excellent saturation on the era-specific signage and production design. Really, the only areas that don't look purely perfect are the brief stock shots used during cutaway gags and the like, as well as rough-looking films clips seen in first-person perspective such as the "peep show" reel glimpsed by Bernard seconds before disaster. Given the film's short life on home video (it only earned a DVD edition from WAC back in 2010 and was sourced from a lesser master), die hard fans will find this Blu-ray to be like viewing it for the first time.

You're a Big Boy Now Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

This DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix almost plays better than the 1080p transfer looks, and thus by all accounts sounds a good deal more dynamic and robust than expected. Audio is crisp and clean throughout, with background elements and other effects enjoy a presence that keeps pace with most smaller-budget films from the era.

Where this mix really excels, however, is the music, which includes original numbers by John Sebastian and Steve Boone from "The Lovin' Spoonful" as well as number of songs performed by the entire band, enough to fill a full-length soundtrack album released on Kama Sutra Records that same year. (Interestingly enough, John Sebastian even performed one of the singles, "Darling Be Home Soon", at Woodstock three years later.) The lower end of these music cues is often surprisingly weighty beginning with the opening track, which overpowers the rest of the film by a fairly wide margin. I'm not always one to complain about varying volume levels -- at least in this case, because needle-drops rarely come off so full-bodied in films from this era -- so it gets a thumbs-up from me, but there were a few times when I felt that the higher volume levels made certain song sections feel a bit overcooked. Still, it's an inarguable solid mix that undoubtedly runs circles around the previous Dolby Digital track, so turn it up and enjoy.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during the main feature only.

You're a Big Boy Now Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a standard keepcase with garish vintage poster-themed cover art; no slipcover or inserts are included. The bonus features are minimal, which isn't surprising given its sparse history on home video.

• Theatrical Trailer (2:18) - This classic promotional piece can also be seen here.

You're a Big Boy Now Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Only the second feature-length film in director Francis Ford Coppola's long and storied career, 1966's You're a Big Boy Now earns a few points for pre-dating The Graduate by a full year and featuring fairly similar plot points... but there are a few obvious weak links here, and as a whole it frankly feels like the work of someone fresh out of film school. For that reason, this one's best viewed as an interesting time capsule in two ways: for its valuable footage of mid-60s New York as well as a fascinating early glimpse of a future legend only six years away from The Godfather. Warner Archive's Blu-ray gets the job done with a great looking and sounding Blu-ray, despite the lack of bonus features.