A Rage to Live

I really love this movie. Grace Caldwell is the ultimate bad girl, tries to turn her life around, but is crushed in the end. Nothing like the book, A Rage To Live was considered racy for the 60's. Suzanne Pleshette acted her heart out. I've been waiting for years for this to come out on video; in fact, I haven't even seen it on TV for several years.

Movie adaptations from John O'Hara never really get it right. Either they're not frank enough or they sentimentalize or they just plain don't have the budget to put his world on screen. He's very specific about the historical moment when his stories take place. "A Rage to Live" (like "From the Terrace" and "Butterfield 8" as well) is transposed to a later time. It really might have helped if it could have shown us the changing manners and mores of a very specific Pennsylvania world. What I mainly remember it for is one of the two flat-out sexiest performances by a male in the movies that I can readily recall. The other one is Ray Danton in "Too Much, Too Soon." Gazzara is hotter than blazes in his part. A few years ago, when the actor Harry Reems was extradited to Tennessee for appearing in a porn film shot elsewhere that just happened to be sold there, Gazzara was one of his most vocal defenders. He was no kid, Gazzara, but he said "I work out every day. My body is in WONDERFUL shape. And if I want to do a porn film, I want the right to do one." Any surprise that he was so sexy in this film, or in "The Strange One"?

Grace Caldwell differs from the usual "bad girl" in that she's not trading sex for money, social advancement, etc. Nor is she detached from a "normal" life of home and family. Rather she is an intelligent wife & mother who has a fling on the side just because she's horny, in the manner expected of men. A good film with strong performances by Suzanne Pleshette as Grace & Ben Gazarra as her lover.

This is soap opera pure and simple about a woman who in more enlightened times would have been viewed as a person with a crippling disorder that would require treatment but for our purposes here is a wanton slut. Suzanne Pleshette was a superior actress so she is able within the confines of the script to present her character as someone who is ruled by urges she can not control. There are minor attempts at some insight into her problem but they are quickly tossed away in favor of sensationalism. Good supporting cast including in a small role a rare on screen role for Brett Somers Klugman from Match Game. For those who enjoy trashy cinema with quality actors enacting silly situations with earnest professionalism.

I would definitely recommend this film to others. I especially enjoyed this film because it had a great cast and the story plays out quite realistically. A lot of modern movies have very unrealistic endings or story lines and in contrast this movie contains a solid story line and a realistic ending. It shows how an individual's actions has consequences. So from this perspective, it also has a lesson woven into it. I really like the dramatic role each character has. Characters like Mrs. Hollister and Mr. Bannon really make the story entertaining. Aside from the richness of the story line, I absolutely loved the costumes! Suzanne Plechette wears a number of gorgeous dresses throughout the film that would still be fashionable today.