Picnic Photos

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Cast

William Holden
as Hal Carter

Kim Novak
as Madge Owens

Rosalind Russell
as Rosemary Sidney

Betty Field
as Flo Owens

Susan Strasberg
as Millie Owens

Arthur O'Connell
as Howard Bevans

Cliff Robertson
as Alan

Reta Shaw
as Linda Sue Breckenridge

Verna Felton
as Helen Potts

Nick Adams
as Bomber

Raymond Bailey
as Mr. Benson

Elizabeth Wilson
as Christine Schoenwalder

Phyllis Newman
as Juanita Badger

Don C. Harvey
as Policeman

Steve Benton
as Policeman

Henry P. Watson
as Chamber of Commerce President

Floyd Steinbeck
as Chamber of Commerce Man

Paul R. Cochran
as Chamber of Commerce Man

Harold A. Beyer
as Chamber of Commerce Man

Adlai Zeph Fisher
as Chamber of Commerce Man

Harry Sherman Schall
as Chamber of Commerce Man

Abraham Weinlood
as Trainman

Wayne R. Sullivan
as Foreman

Warren Frederick Adams
as Stranger

Carle E. Baker
as Grain Elevator Worker

Henry Pegueo
as Mayor

Flomanita Jackson
as Committee Woman

George E. Bemis
as Neighbor

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Critic Reviews for Picnic

Audience Reviews for Picnic

• Feb 05, 2014

  There isn't much love for Picnic among the critics or the people on here but I thought it was excellent. William Holden is great as the drifter who sets the small town on its head. I particularly loved the interplay between Holden, Russell and Novak. Good stuff.
  

  John B Super Reviewer
• Oct 16, 2013

  A lower class drifter enlists an old college friend to introduce him to Southern society, which includes a pair of sisters, one coquettish and the other plain and intellectual. A drama of manners, <i>Picnic</i> is <i>A Place in the Sun</i> without the themes of violence or religion. The plot proceeds exactly as you might expect it would. The handsome, anti-intellectual drifter entertains the intellectual sister while pining for her beautiful, anti-intellectual sister. The whole thing resolves as you might expect it would, so there is no real surprise or genre-bending twist. Whatever charm the film holds is in the performances by its stars, and William Holden, showing off his muscled physique, does admirably much with little, and the same can be said of Kim Novak. Overall, this film is a cliche done well.
  Jim H Super Reviewer
• Jun 27, 2011

  Not a darling of the critics, <i>Picnic</i> has suffered from robust shellackings by popular voices such as the renowned Roger Ebert -- with whom I seem to disagree about 95% of the time -- man, do I miss Gene Siskel. Ebert, the anti-<i>Picnic</i> cheerleader -- runs down this film as clunky, awkwardly written, poorly directed, and utterly non-self-aware. When RE doesn't like a film, he does not hold back. <p> In truth, as I ruminate over what all is eating Roger Ebert, it seems to me that he is most irate about Holden and Novak being attracted to each other for surface reasons, for their physical attributes rather than their intellectual capabilities. Roger finds it ironic that Novak plainly states her desire to be seen as more than just a good-looking woman, when in fact that is the very essential and singular attraction for Holden. <p>Roger, guess what? This could very possibly be a statement about 50s' middle-American values, a rich rendering, I'm thinking, of the way the writers perceive an awkward decade, full of stilted dialog disguising sexual tensions bubbling below the surface. If only we could all say what we really mean, really want, really desire so deeply -- hey, then the stuffy 50s might erupt into a decade of revolutionary thought and action -- hmmmmm, kind of like the 60s, huh Roger? <p> On another note, Rosalind Russell is yet another fine actor who never gave a bad performance and never won an Academy Award. She could have certainly won for Best Supporting Actress with this depressingly desperate performance.
  Lanning : Super Reviewer
• Sep 05, 2010

  An okay melodrama, it's not bad, but it's pretty boring for the most part.
  Aj V Super Reviewer

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