All My Sons

All My Sons is the name of a 1947 play by Arthur Miller, a 1948 movie based on the play, and a 1986 made-for-TV movie, also based on the play.

The play opened on Broadway at the Coronet Theatre in New York City on January 29, 1947, and ran for 328 performances. It was directed by Elia Kazan, and won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award.

The movie stars Edward G. Robinson, Burt Lancaster, Mady Christians, Louisa Horton, Howard Duff, and Frank Conroy. The supporting cast includes Arlene Francis and Harry Morgan. This version was directed by Irving Reis.

The TV movie stars James Whitmore, Aidan Quinn, Michael Learned, Joan Allen, and Zeljko Ivanek, and was directed by Jack O'Brien.

Synopsis

Joe Keller is an apparently successful businessman who made his fortune by selling airplane parts to the army during World War II. Not wanting to slow business he sent out a batch that he knew to be defective, and twenty-one pilots died as a result. Keller was arrested and tried, but lied, saying that the parts went out without his knowledge and his partner, Steve Deever, was the one who had covered it up. Deever is sent to jail and Keller is exonerated. One of his sons, Larry, is missing in action, but the mother, Kate, insists that their son is still alive, though we later learn that he committed suicide on learning of his father's arrest. When their other son, Chris, asks Larry's old girlfriend (who happens to be Deever's daughter, Ann) to marry him, it causes tension, which results in Keller's deceit coming out. Chris fought during the war and watched many of his peers die, so on discovering his father's guilt he totally rejects him. On discovering why Larry died, Keller finally accepts his responsibility for the crime and kills himself.