Based on the play by
Robert Anderson, I Never Sang for My Father is devoted to the prickly relationship between aged Tom Garrison (
Melvyn Douglas) and his grown son Gene (
Gene Hackman). A college professor who feels that he has never been fully accepted by his self-made dad, Gene announces that he is going to move from New York to marry a California divorcee. His mother (
Dorothy Stickney) approves of the union but worries that her son's move will have a negative effect on the increasingly truculent Tom. When his mother dies just before the wedding, Gene is forced to help his father through his dark days. His sister (
Estelle Parsons) urges her brother to break the ties for good and all--or else he'll wind up as bitter and withdrawn as their father. Gene realizes the wisdom of these words when he tries to reach out to his father during a vulnerable moment, only to have the crabby Tom tell him to get lost and leave him alone. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide