Very simple. Effective. Empathetic to kids. Two of them want to shag, she's poor, he's rich. He dumps her to get a root she goes mad. Her mother worries about her virginity but um that doesn't drive you mad. To be fair the film doesn't say that. The depression equals them all.
Inge was a good script writer. He should've written the adaptation of A Loss of Roses. But... casting essentia. That and this needed two leads who are perfect.
A comedy of remarriage that shoud've been a romantic comedy. Because they split up for dumb reasons so I didn't care, and it's so contrived keeping them apart. It's a dumb script.
The set up would've worked as a rom com. Barbara Stanwyck is a horsey outdoorsy woman who falls for booking Robert Cummings who writes about the Civil War. Both can play comed and would be ideal casting - Stanwyck looks physical Cummings can play nerds. But this central conflict isn't dramatised. It's mostly Cummings having literary groupies particularly Diana Lynn who tries to kiss him all the time and Stanwyck eventually sues for divorce. It makes everyone an idiot. Break them up for a solid reason. I mean they've got two kids one of whom is Natalie Wood.
Classy cast includes Robert Benchley, Willie Best. Patrick Knowles is dull as a rival for Stanwyck.
A tour de force for Natalie Wood who is gorgeous and very good as a wildcat living in a small town panted over by a lot of men, including Charles Bronson (a rail worker) and some old dude John Harding. Then Robert Redford comes into town and he pants over her too.
Redford is handsome and gives what David Shipman once described as his "usual hesitant, nice performance". Director Sydney Pollack once said they never cracked the love story - I think the issue is more Redford struggles to portray lust for Wood. He's always been better as a lust object - Wood's keen for him but you don't get the sense that she's keen for her. Also the reason he dumps her is so stupid - because his mother says she's a liar. He just believes the mother, walks out on Natalie Wood, who is naked in the shower. I'm sorry he doesn't care about her - why should we care about them?
The film feels vey studio bound although there was some New Orleans filming. Some weird decisions - Wood runs off after Redford discovers she's married and stole money off Bronson (so?).. she dies off screen... we don't know what happened to Redford.
Why not have Bronson appear and kill Redford? Or why not make Redford a complete cad? Why cheat Wood of a death scene? It's so stupid. Wood's excellent performance deserved better. Bronson is good too. The mother is fine. Redford isn't up to it.
Mary Badham is Wood's younger sister. Mary Reid is a stock monstrous Williams mother, and Robert Blake is in it too.
Warners tried to jazz up their Westerns with their teen idols, Tab Hunter and Natalie Wood, which actually wasn't a bad idea but they didn't put them in teen roles ie misunderstood kids. It's just a stock Western played by younger than usual actors.
It was based on a novel by Louis L'Amour whose novels don't have the best track record of adapting to the big screen. I haven't seen that many I admit but they're not that well known. Hondo is the big exception - it had a major star, a strong co star, and character work and mood.
The Burning Hills could have had that maybe - L'Amour wnated John Wayne and Katy Juarando and that would've worked. Hunter and Wood don't work here - they are too light, the story doesn't give that much to do.
You could change it - they should've changed the material for them. Given Hunter a dad, Wood a dad, had them struggle against their parents. It would've been a nice parallel to the lead baddy, Skip Hoimer, who is working for his dad.
Wood plays a Mexican. She's lovely and gorgeous and tries but it's silly. Hunter tries too.
It's nicely shot in colour - didn't expect that. Essentially lower budgeted though. Simple story, too simple I feel - Hunter gets revenge on person who killed his brother, and is chased. That level of simplicity you need character work. That's not here.
A few visual flourishes and scenes in caves. Stuart Heisler directed. He did The Glass Key and put Hunter in an early lead.
1) Miracle on 34th Street
2) Rebel Without a Cause
3) Splendor in the Grass
4) West Side Story
5) Love with a Proper Stranger
6) Bob and Ted and Carol and Alice
7) The Searchers
8) Gypsy
9) The Great Race
10) Sex and the Single Girl
I haven't seen all her films. I think there would only be debate about the bottom three.
Tab Hunter became a star (ish) supporting crusty older actors in Battle Cry, Sea Chase and Track of the Cat - Warners prompted him to main star with this service comedy, from the author of the books See Here Private Hargrove so it was a decent piece of IT and they team him with Natalie Wood.
The two stars are actually very well cast. The basic story idea isn't bad - rich kid grows up via army service. But it's done with remarkable ineptness.
It's not in colour. There's no jokes. No songs. It's played straight, as drama. But there's no war.
There's no real supporting characters.The only meaty part is Murray Hamilton as the sergeant, but even he's just a sergeant.
Hunter is a likable actor but his character is remarkably unlikeable. I kept waiting for him to show nice signs, turn a corner... but he sulks for most of the flm. Like, 80 minutes in, he's at some exercise and these kids run on to the field and I though oh he's going to be heroic... but no. He does nothing. Gets in trouble. David Janssen his officer suggests he be discharged. Hunter agrees. This is 85 minutes in! The one heroic thing he did is throw away a grenade.
His other soldiers don't like him. Natalie Wood dumps him - that's why he drops out of college - and they meet each other and he tries to root her. But she says no.
Hamilton fights Hunter and beats him up. Hunter is a little bit heroic at the end but that's it.
Gosh this was odd. Why did they make it? I know why... they thought Hunter plus Wood plus army was enough. But it's not.
They needed to tell the story of one or two other soldiers. Or add a war so it had a point and real stakes.
I had similar problems with Lafayette Escradille also with Hunter. That did have a war - but it felt like a film about what should've been one of three plots. Battle Cry showed how it should be done. There's not even a final kiss between Hunter and Wood.
There were a lot of pastiches of old time Hollywood in the 70s - Peter Hyams did one for TV and now did this. The script is full of quips but rarely funny, there's plenty of story but it's not interesting, no one really plays an interesting character. it's all rehashed Big Sleep only without as much life.
Michael Caine is professional and always likeable but it's weird to see him as a British PI in 1947 Hollywood (which might've made a more interesting movie than this if explored). Nice to see Natalie Wood in her least interesting cinematic decade but her character isn't much - none of it is much. It isn't bad just dull. Actually that probably makes it bad.
Technical credits fine, as Variety would say. Lacks a jazzy support cast.
It's a shame in a way that Elia Kazan and William Inge didn't do more teen-related stuff... there would have been a market for it, and they had a real feel for it. Inge understood outsiders, teen pressures and everyone being horny all the time. Kazan could also bring his excellent casting eye for young players - this not only introduced Warren Beatty, but Sandy Dennis, Gary Lockwood, Barbara Loden and revitalised Natalie Wood's career.
Wood is stunningly good as the pretty but poor girl dating the popular rich boy. Beatty and Robert Wagner insisted the Beatty-Wood romance didn't start until after filming ended and Wood and Wagner had gotten divorced. Well, all I can say is she seems to be enjoying her work. I actually think Wagner could have played the role of Bud... the rich boy who is happy... but Beatty was new, and also a champion football player himself, and came from a small town. He also has an element of moodiness with helps.
Pat Hingle's performance is very much in the Karl Malden vein - loud, bombastic, energetic, over the top. He does add a burst of energy which is needed in the Beatty scenes.
Wood is sensational. Achingly pretty. Her eyes on the people she's doing scenes with. I like that they didn't demonise the mother. Her character clearly has some mental issues - as did Wood in real life. She gets to be upbeat, trashy, happy, in love, in agony, wise... it's wonderful work. Beatty is effective because he's stakes, surrounded by bigger personalities - trashy sister (Loden), loud dad, crazy Wood.
Gary Lockwood is effective as a slime. It's beautifully shot.
A simple, very well made movie.
This is one of my favourite screenwriter memoirs ever - I'd rank it up with William Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade and Joe Esterhaus' Hollywood Animal. I never knew that much about Tom Mankiewicz before reading this - I'd seen his name pop up of course, was a big fan of his father, and he always seemed to be available for a retrospective making of doco, especially about the Bonds. His credits are of variable quality - but his memoir is a definite classic.
The irony is Mankiewicz didn't even write this by himself - it was actually written by Robert Crane, who completed it after Mankiewicz's death at a relatively young age (68, due to pancreatic cancer - he liked to drink and smoke so maybe 68 wasn't too bad). Crane has done an excellent job knocking it all into shape; it's full of short, sharp chapters which get right to the point of the story and ensure you never get bored.
I've read a lot about the period in time covered by the book but most of the stories were fresh and new to me. They were often very funny and moving. The ending does feel like it could have done a polish - it's a lot of rambling by Mankiewicz about Hollywood today and repeating things he's already said in the book.
Mankiewicz has a big advantage over most screenwriters in that he was
Hollywood royalty - son of Joe, nephew of Herman. It was a privileged upbringing in many ways - Beverly Hills childhood, then to New York; visits to film schools; an expensive east coast education; contacts that got him involved in the film industry. However it came with a price: dad was emotionally distant, mum was schizophrenic and abusive and wound up a suicide. Mankiewicz found himself attracted to emotionally unstable actresses for the rest of his life - so, despite not exactly looking like an oil painting, had a highly successful strike rate with women in Hollywood, the Mecca for emotionally unstable actresses; his exes include Dorothy Provine, Tuesday Weld, Carol Lynley, Margot Kidder, Stefanie Powers, Jean Simmons and Elizabeth Ashley (he's not very discrete), and he was good friends with Natalie Wood but didn't have an affair with her (they did make out in a sauna which isn't bad).
Mankiewicz must have been great company to have around - he talks about all these friends he had (Jerry Moss, Jack Haley) and he seems to have been a social animal. Maybe it was that combination of wit, some talent, famous father, social connections and just the right amount of tragedy in the background. Or maybe he was just a great guy.
How good a screenwriter was Mankiewicz? He brags every now and then about its quality and how "hot" he was once upon a time but it's hard to gauge He wrote some of the worst James Bond films of all time - Diamonds Are Forever, The Man with the Golden Gun - and rewrote a bunch of movies were the screenplay doesn't exactly sing - The Cassandra Crossing, The Deep. But he wrote a decent enough Bond on his own - Live and Let Die - some okay entertainments - The Eagle Has Landed, Hart to Hart - and "script doctored" and bunch of classics: Superman, The Spy Who Loved Me. My guess is he wasn't a particularly strong on structure or original material, but he could do a decent rewrite and had a gift for dialogue, and he was clearly a great collaborator.
What makes this really special are not just the funny stories but the more heartfelt stuff... his suicidal mother, his loneliness, his tendency to be attracted to crazy women but his inability to sustain a long term relationship. I've read this three times already - it's wonderful.
It is fitting that Robert Wagner’s memoirs came out around the same time as Roger Moore’s because they are two actors with a lot in common: smooth types who are greatly liked and respected within the industry, don’t enjoy reputation as great actors, thrived under contract for studios, had active love lives, had a career which went into several phases, enjoyed great success on the small screen, turned producer and thrived. Wagner never had a role in his career like James Bond or Simon Templar (although he could have played either role; indeed he says Broccoli approached him about Bond in the immediate post-Lazenby years but he begged off), but he was a bigger star than Moore in the 50s. The two men were friends – both close to David Niven.
This is even better than Moore’s book, not as funny but far better written (Scott Eyman co-wrote). I was familiar with a fair bit of Wagner’s life from an excellent unpretentious paperback bio Natalie and Rj but this adds a lot.
Wagner was born into a wealthy family who lived in Bel Air – his father was mates with Bill Wellman and he used to caddy for Clark Gable. Although Dad wanted RJ (as he is best known) to go into the family business, he wanted to act. Wagner wasn’t blessed with great natural talent but he was very good looking and Fox put him under contract as a sort of back up to Tyrone Power (like Jeffrey Hunter). Like David Niven, he had a great knack for being likeable and getting people to take him under their wing; he worked hard and was very keen and pro-active – he wasn’t his father’s son for nothing – and started to get little roles. A small scene as a soldier in With a Song in My Heart saw him become a bobby sox idol, up there with Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter and Rory Calhoun. Like many of them, his agent was Henry Wilson.
Wagner never reached the heights of Curtis or Hudson but he did reasonably well for himself. Fox gave him plenty of chances, and he definitely reached the second tier of stardom, playing juvenile leads to older stars in films like Broken Lance. But he never broke through to the top, even when given a chance. For instance Prince Valiant did well but Wagner had a tremendously silly haircut which made him something of a joke for a while; ditto Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, which became a hit off the back of CinemaScope but in which Wagner wore a golliwog wig; or in The Mountain in which he was absurdly cast as Spencer Tracy’s brother.
Marriage to Natalie Wood gave him a few more years near the top, but when the tide ran out it ran out fast. It wasn’t entirely his fault – Hollywood was changing and Wagner was too associated with old school Hollywood. This turned to his advantage, however, when he became a television star. There were two semi hits, then a big one with Hart to Hart. His remarriage to Wood was one of Hollywood’s greatest love stories; her death from drowning one of its greatest tragedies.
I always figured Wagner was a ladies’ man, but also thought that he was the kind who wouldn’t kiss and tell. Well, I was wrong: we hear about flings with Joan Crawford (they went for a swim – she came out naked and dived into the pool which is kind of hot; apparently she was a domineering and yielding lover), Yvonne de Carlo, Anita Ekberg, Elizabeth Taylor (which surprised me), Joan Collins, chaste dating with Debbie Reynolds, plus a four year relationship with Barbara Stanwyck (a fire cracker in the sack apparently). He knocked back Bella Darvi and Noel Coward (he seems to have had many gay friends throughout his life – but then Natalie Wood was a big time fag hag star).
Wagner is one of those stars who seem to get along with everyone – he was particularly close to David Niven and Spencer Tracy; he even hit it off with Peter Sellers. Errol Flynn gave him a lift when he was a hitchhiker, which is nice of Errol; he later tells about walking in on Errol’s dressing room during the filming of Too Much Too Soon to find the swashbuckler getting a blow job from a blonde – Beverly Aadland?
Wagner was going to make a film with Flynn, Clifton Webb and Joan Collins in the late 50s for Fox called Lord Vanity (off the back of Flynn’s success for Fox in The Sun Also Rises) but Flynn died before it could get going. He was also going to make an interesting-sounded project with Dick Powell, Solo, about a jazz musician with a score by Andre Previn that was unfortunately watered down then cancelled; he turned down the second male lead in Flaming Star for fear it would hurt his career – I think that was a mistake; admittedly the film wouldn’t have done anything for his career, but it was a decent role and is one of Elvis Presley’s best films. He says Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was “dangled in front of him” for a bit – he would have been fine if not magical; he would have been very good as the husband in Rosemary’s Baby which he was apparently all set to do but he couldn’t get released from It Takes a Thief.
Wagner did clash with some people – Frank Tashlin, Maximillian Schell, Lesley Anne Downe, Stanley Donen… actually come to think of it that's a lot (I didn't know Charlie Brackett was gay.) Wagner also gets a bit grumpy at times about things – law suits, the population explosion in LA – and while he tells a good anecdote, he’s maybe a bit too worshipful of older Hollywood stars (maybe because they were his elders rather than his contemporaries eg Spencer Tracey, Fred Astaire, Bette Davis – I mean, what’s there is enjoyable anecdotes but the characters never feel as fleshed out as say in David Niven’s memoirs; it feels as though Wagner is overly deferential). Still a highly enjoyable book; at times very moving, and full of sensible advice for actors, both in terms of craft and career.
