joedonato234

My wife begged me to turn this off. I wouldn't. I left it on to the bitter end. We are headed for Divorce Court.

Cagney was always trying to break away from his tough guy image, and is obviously relishing this FAST paced screwball comedy (think THE FRONT PAGE/HIS GIRL Friday) about two zany screenwriters. He mugs, he shouts, he dances, he wise-cracks, acts fey-you name it, he does a million bits of business here. Not until ONE,TWO,THREE 25 years later will you see Cagney in this mode again. FRONT PAGE vet Pat O'Brian easily keeps up the pace, but he's playing the "straight" funny man here. Ralph Bellamy is a riot as the idiot producer (college-man) as is Dick Foran, who sends up his own cowboy image (who knew Foran was this good?). At times the pace gets away from the actors and certain scenes are TOO frenetic, and laughs are lost, but generally this is such an off-beat surprise, that despite an ugly, washed out print that makes the film feel even older and less stellar, there is enough entertainment here for those who can plug into the farcical tone of a film that pulls the pants of Hollywood down.

This is an audience movie. You can pick apart the minor faults, but in the end it doesn't matter. If you click with Patty Duke's character/performance you're going to love this. And she's tremendously good here, easily her best adult performance. She's funny, bitter, innocent, sweet, conniving, honest, temperamental, gentle, loving and cold. Her facial make- up is by Dick Smith (who later transformed Marlon Brando in THE GODFATHER) and is completely believable and natural-looking. The supporting cast is an embarrassment of riches: Nancy Marchand as the nervous Mom who refuses to admit she has an ugly duckling daughter, Martin Balsam as the kind, understanding Uncle whose actions ultimately belie his words, Salome Jens who makes a big impression in a small part as the ex and future stripper, Deborah Winters a year before her starring role in THE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR as the beautiful friend and Bob Balaban as one of Natalie's horny dates. There's also Cathy (LAST SUMMER) Burns and Al Pacino in blink and you'll miss 'em debuts. James Farentino is the male lead and he's aces. Filmed all over Greenwich Village and Brooklyn in the late '60's the film will offer New Yorkers a nostalgic look-back. There's a beautiful score by Henry Mancini, for those that like his work (in the mode of TWO FOR THE ROAD) and a couple of vocals by Rod Mckuen.

Inexplicably a box office dud, the same year THE STERILE CUCKOO was a hit., I think the film's horrendous poster sheet was the reason. They obviously wanted to keep Duke's appearance a secret and it back-fired.

Never released on video or DVD as of yet, and hardly ever shown on TV (National General Pictures, anyone?) this funny, perceptive coming-of-age story is probably only available on bootleg.