Did no one blink an eye at age differences in films in the past?

I just watched Bell Book and Candle last night with 50 year old Jimmy Stewart paired with 25 year old Kim Novak. Last year I watched White Christmas with the same age gap between Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney. In neither one does anyone in the film say a word about men pairing with women young enough to be their daughters. Then I think of a more recent film, The Oranges, where 52 year old Hugh Laurie pairs with 25 year old Leighton Meester, and that's all anyone in the film talks about.

 

Um, because up until recently (see: lib, women's) men in general didn't see women as equals, and were more than happy to use their wealth and standing to get what they wanted sexually (i.e., young hot babes). It's still pretty prevalent (see current president, U.S.), but thankfully disappearing as people become more enlightened.

 

And women were more than happy to use their sexuality to get what they wanted (i.e. security and stability) but of course that's no longer the case.

 

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...good points,back in the day,those[macho men]had to be seen as young and viral,and looking back...it's comical!!

 

Well, it used to be they didn't have much of a choice, there wasn't much opportunity for them in the business/science, etc. world. Some still make that choice, but at least there are other choices too.

 

Yeah it was pretty common for mid-twentieth century movies and TV shows to pair up gorgeous young women with much older men and ugly fat bald men. Often the men weren't even rich or powerful, so it could be a real head-scratcher sometimes. In that universe I would be married to Victoria Justice.

 

"Thankfully disappearing as people become more enlightnened"...

....like a 61 y.o. millionaire star paired with a 25 y.o. dancer?

 

I read the title of this thread too fast!......
I thought it was about how actors never 'blink' their eyes in movies!

 

People these days seem to have a lot of hangups. Especially pretend people on Twitter.

 

Well, for a cat, you still have pretty good comprehension.

 

I, too, was a Lawn Guy-lyn native!

 

For Bell Book and Candle and White Christmas, the audience was just supposed to accept that the lead male character was of an appropriate age for the lead female, and just accept Stewart and Crosby in those roles.

Everyone knew Novak was promoted as a hot young thing of the day and that Stewart had been around forever, it was just accepted casting, ignoring or in spite of the age difference.

Similar to 30 year olds playing high schoolers in uncountable films and TV shows.

 

About 20 years ago there was a Richard Gere-Winona Ryder movie called "Autumn in New York" where they were 25+ years apart.

 

If you watch TCM, it is frequent - older male established 'star' - matched with young ingénue.

 

Ace !

 

"I prefer young women. Their stories are shorter." - PJ O'Roarke

 

It's a little creepy to realize that Gene Kelly is more than twice Debbie Reynold's age in Singin' in the Rain.

 

My dad is 81 years old and I recently learned he remarried. His new bride is a very youthful looking 24 yr old Filipina...

 

People have too many hang ups about age these days. As long as they are both consenting adults, right?
A friend of my mother's first married a man 20 years her senior and when he died she married a man 20 years her junior. There are no hard and fast 'rules'.
In any case, it's the movies we're talking about. The established star with a hot young starlet is a given especially in older films. Don't like it? Don't watch.

 

I saw the 1949 adaptation of "The Fountainhead" recently on one of the cable channels and was thinking something similar. Gary Cooper (48) was twice the age of Patricia Neal (23) when that movie was made.

 

I honestly think that in a movie like White Christmas, Bing Crosby is supposed to be playing a man who is substantially younger than the actor's actual age. Crosby's character was a Captain in the army, which means that during the film's WWII scenes, he's in his late 20's or early 30's. It's not clear how long after the war he meets Rosemary Clooney, but if we assume that it's contemporary with the movie's release - 1954 - that makes Bob Wallace at most about 40. Rosemary Clooney was 26 at the time and her character is is likely the same age. So even assuming that there's a significant age gap between Bob and Betty, it's not like Bob's hitting on a 20-year old ingenue - Betty is a grown woman who seems pretty independently minded. When she misjudges Bob's character because of silly movie reasons, it's at least with good and just motivations - she sees showbusiness exploitation as immoral and rejects Bob on that basis. In other words, yeah, there's an age disparity, but it's still a depiction of two mature adults, not an old man preying on an ingenue.

I think that in a lot of old movies, we're not meant to assume a character's age based on the actor's age. The male actor was chosen because he was skilled and bankable, and he's often playing a character who's logically probably much younger.

 

[ gary cooper was 56 (and looked it!) with Audrey Hepburn in love in the afternoon, she mustve been mid 20's, that one I really noticed, felt like she was dating her grandfather - normally I don't noticed

 

ha! I just saw you mentioned Gary Cooper as well.....poor Coop, just didn't seem like he could keep up with the young girls

 

Gary Cooper did Man of the West with a youngish Julie London as well.

 

Old guy could sure could out dance her, fit as a fiddle.