Social Class in America

Duration: 600

Year Published: 1957

Complete Record: A matter-of-fact film that dispels the popular image of the 1950s that America is a classless society. The film follows the lives of three small-town high school buddies- one is rich and happy (Gil) the other is poor and doomed (Dave) and a third (Ted) is middle class and also doomed. Gil will go to an Ivy League school and return to take over the family business. Dave gets married and has a bunch of kids and winds up working at a gas station. Ted wants to be an artist, but falls for Mary and becomes a bookkeeper. Mary is too greedy for that and dumps Ted. Ted then moves to Manhattan to make something of himself. After trying hard for years he gets only a boring copy writing job in an advertising agency and gets to play golf with rich men. Meanwhile Mary has married Gil and neither wants anything to do with Ted.