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FilmsWest, Inc.When You Grow Up (1973)

Film for middle-school children about vocational choices and opportunities in the U.S. Great shots of early 1970s children and adults pursuing everyday activities. Most of the shots are quick and take place in and around the city of Los Angeles. Director: Jerry Kurtz. Writer: Ingvar Grimsgaard. Cameraman: Dan Yarussi. Graphics: Thomas Johnson. Production Manager: Linda Gries. Consultant: Robert Babcock, Ph.D., Los Angeles County School Office.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: FilmsWest, Inc.
Sponsor: N/A
Audio/Visual: Sd, C
Keywords: Occupations: Vocational; 1970s; Labor: 1970s

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: ask4fish - - March 24, 2008
Subject: Makes me nostalgic
Wonderful period piece. Actually does a better than expected job of representing diversity. For those who disliked the gender-based roles, you need to realize that this film showed the world as it was, not as they wished it to be.

Reviewer: AynRandsPlumber - - November 12, 2007
Subject: Nice Film Nostalgia Sweet More Innocent Time
I think it's sweet and innocent and just shows people doing the best they can under the circumstances. As far as the stereotype thing goes, maybe so, but you can't hold that against them; it's what they were told to do and it was how they were taught to think.

The reality is certain jobs are more accepted for certain genders and you will recieve discrimination, especially if you expect to be treated the same way among everyone. Certain groups may accept you, but not every group.

This is just a sweet movie [love the music] of some adults trying to give young people the best advice they could give.

Reviewer: Marysz - - July 6, 2006
Subject: What adulthood has in store for you
A 1973 film showing schoolchildren the world of adults at work. The film consists of many quick scenes with an incredibly annoying pseudo-rock soundtrack. I was reminded of the sort of film sequences they used to have on Sesame Street in its early days. The idea then was that children were accustomed to watching television commercials and that programming had to be fast-paced to prevent them from getting bored. At the time, it was considered innovative but watching this film now, we can see how this film technique could descend into mindlessness. It's nice not to see rows of workers staring at computer screens and we donât see any fast food workers here. The jobs are still stereotyped by gender; in the trucking company, men drive trucks and women are secretaries. âYou will grow up someday, you will get a job, you will work,â the narrator says to his child audience. Could we be as confident about the world of adult work today as this film is?

Reviewer: ERD - - January 18, 2006
Subject: Well done for 1973
In 1973 this would have been a good film for middle school aged youngsters. Scenes were quickly changed to keep their attention. Music background fit the times.

Reviewer: Spuzz - - August 13, 2003
Subject: ..Hopefully you won't be as dull as this film,
This film which seems to talk about every single job availible to anyone, bores us quickly with how every single job you can go on will lead to a better life.

Reviewer: Christine Hennig - - December 27, 2002
Subject: When You Grow Up
Kids are shown lots of different kinds of jobs they might have when they grow up. With the exception of a female mail carrier, all the jobs are stratified into stereotyped gender roles. This film was made in the 70s, so they should have known better. It also features some of the most annoyingly repetetive soundtrack music in film history.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: **. Also available on The Educational Archives, Vol. 4: On the Job.

Reviewer: SYFer - - October 23, 2002
Subject: Pretty good
Good example of the stuff I was subjected to as a youth. And look how I turned out... er, anyway, this is OK, but nothing particularly hilarious or ironic. A good document of what these films looked like--too often we see the odd examples, but his is how it really was. Peppy soundtrack. Great narration. I'm going to go make myself an Ovaltine and turn on the Banana Splits--gotta go!

Shotlist

Film for middle-school children about vocational choices and opportunities in the U.S.
Great shots of early 1970s children and adults pursuing everyday activities. Most of the shots are quick and take place in and around the city of Los Angeles.
VS young children (multicultural) doing household chores: taking out garbage, setting table, mowing lawn
Housecleaner
Housepainter
Librarian
Bicycle mechanic
Kids walking around and playing
ÒYou will grow up. You will get a job. Working. What do you want to be when you grow up?Ó
VS construction workers
Auto mechanic
Faces of men working
Baker
Nurse
Carpenter
Traffic enforcement officer
Woman looking at sweater for sale
Woman under hair dryer reading magazine (brief but good)
Pan over canned food cans coming off cannery assembly line
Workers in Kerns food plant inspecting output
Man on ladder painting lamppost
White-collar (boss)
Woman secretary
Painted
Yellow Cab driver (Los Angeles airport)
Mainframe computer operators
CU Univac 1108 tape drive (good)
CU hands operating circular saw
VS carpenter
Cabinetmaker
African American mechanic working on auto engine
Group of students studying auto engine repair
CU hands calculating with slide rule
CU young woman talking on phone; zoom out to show she is a secretary sitting at a desk
CU dental drills and tools; zoom out to show dentist working
Optometrist
Health care workers on rounds checking out female patient in hospital bed
Driving down highway next to truck with red trailer marked ÒRCAÓ
Truck driver getting into cab
Secretary going into files
Cars on freeway, dense but not jammed
Santa Fe RR train going from left to right
VS series of zooms into and out of sketches showing workers performing different types of jobs (70s-type sketches)
Pediatrician examining African American young boy
Woman letter carrier
African American man in suit behind desk (nameplate: ÒLes ShawÓ)
GS white working-class family at dinner
VS MS and CUs kids playing with one another, walking around
CUs of kids looking pensive, ostensibly thinking about their future careers