I finally managed to secure a 16mm transfer of ME, NATALIE on NTSC VHS cassette after searching for this film for nearly nine years. I originally found it on Japanese laserdisc in a video store in Manhattan in 1994 but the price was $75.00 and I was hardly about to spend that kind of money!
Al Pacino has a less-than 60-second role in this 1969 "people will love you for the person you are inside" drama starring Patty Duke and Martin Balsam. I always liked Balsam, and he had me giggling after he discourses on the virtues of being homely, then announces his decision to marry a stripper! He's a true male chauvanist pig. LOL
Nancy Marchand is very good as Duke's mother, but the screenplay suffers from a preachy tone that gets to be a real turn-off by the end of the film. A running time of 90 minutes would have been plenty rather than the nearly 107 minutes that it does run.
I love movies shot in New York City, and this film does an ample job of capturing the aura of city life at that time.
Worth seeing for the performances, plus seeing Livia Soprano 30 years younger is a treat...
