Because it's a movie, Holden first encounters the Owens family, which consists of high-school aged Susan Strasberg, her hottie older sister Kim Novak, and their mother Betty Field. The family is fairly poor, presumably because none of them are employed. Coincidentally, Novak is dating Robertson, and Field hopes that Robertson will soon propose. Novak is obliged to say yes.
But the novelty of William Holden proves too much for both Owens daughters. Because it is a movie, the annual summer picnic is to be held that very day. Holden and Novak attend and promptly fall in love, favorable jobs and marriages be damned. Robertson turns green with jealousy and sics the law on Holden, forcing him to flee town though not before convincing Novak to hook up with him later in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Picnic is essentially the film debut of Cliff Robertson, though he had bit roles in a pair of films twelve years prior. It was the second feature for Susan Strasberg.
How others will see it. Picnic was one of the most critically and commercially successful films of 1955. It was the top-grossing Columbia movie of the year. It was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor. A song featured in the film, "Moonglow", enjoyed a long run on the Billboard charts during 1955, peaking at number two in the Best-Seller list.
Today at imdb.com, the technicolor feature has a respectable 8400 user votes and a pretty good user rating of 7.1 out of 10. Women over 45 like it best at 7.3, while men under age 45 grade it slightly lower at 6.9. The user reviews are mostly positive, with purple prose flowing over the iconic encapsulation of mid-century small-town Americana.
How I felt about it. The obvious observation regarding Picnic is that William Holden is too old to play the "young man" lead. He was 37, more than twice the age of Susan Strasberg, his date to the picnic. Holden looks and sounds even older. His forehead has multiple deep creases and his voice is raspy.
The second observation is that it is truly poor judgment for Kim Novak to leave her home to hopefully rendezvous with Holden at the Hotel Mayo in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Novak is probably taking only a suitcase or two; Holden is unemployed, without skills, and has only the shirt on his back. To say that 22-year-old beauty queen Novak could do better is a great understatement.
The film regards Novak's departure to Tulsa as a romantic leap of faith. It looks more like a travail of poverty and disappointment, which will continue until she returns home to Podunkville. As for Cliff Robertson, she doesn't have to remain married to him for long, if she tires of him. She can divorce him after two kids and enjoy both child support and a generous settlement.
Betty Field is too eager to marry off her daughter to the son of the most wealthy man in town. Not that it isn't a good idea, especially given how her attention toward a newly arrival drifter.
Arthur O'Connell is amusing as the aging bachelor arm-twisted into marrying strident noisemaker schoolteacher Rosalind Russell. I actually feel sorry for him. You know he will be henpecked into submission.
So, Picnic is a movie about the making of two bad marriages. It is a tragedy instead of a romantic comedy-drama. Holden loses his last chance (with former college buddy Cliff Robertson) at a career instead of dead-end jobs. He will probably get a beautiful wife, but he is unlikely to keep her long, even if they manage to reunite. Holden is a drifter because the rain cloud of hard luck lags behind but always catches up to him.
Although Joshua Logan won the Golden Globe for Best Director, and would later have similar success with Bus Stop, Sayonara, and Fanny, he is overly dramatic here. Rosalind Russell's behavior at the picnic is embarrassing for all concerned, the Holden-Novak romance seems implausible, it seems unlikely that Robertson would demand the police arrest Holden for stealing his car after he has returned it having driven only a few miles on it. There are also too many scenes where it appears a film is getting projected behind the actors.