My Son John (1952) review

"Stereotypical" American parents Lucille (Helen Hayes) and Dan (Dean Jagger) have three sons, two of them are serving in the military (and play football!) while the third, and supposedly 'smartest,' John (Robert Walker), may be involved ... with the Communist Party!  Dun dun!  McCarey, an extreme right-winger (with a drinking problem), made this preachy piece of propaganda during the Red Scare, as Walker (who died before filming concluded), with his shifty eyes, mocks his parents for their Bible Thumping and Wholesomeness while he tries to evade the FBI (embodied by Van Heflin) who are trying to root out subversives working for the government.  Hayes acts like she's doing Tennessee Williams - always one step away from a nervous breakdown - and the ending, with spliced in footage from Strangers on a Train, is one long speech by Walker suggesting that the only way he could redeem himself was by getting gunned down.  Any movie that sides with Joseph McCarthy and dismisses the First Amendment has no sense of decency.