BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Lawbolisted Powerful

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

egan-gwen They should NEVER get these 2 women to do a commentary on anything again. i finally started to fast forward----they described so many people's careers, not even connected with the movie. one area of nyc was mentioned---old meat packing district---but the rest was pretty much ignored except for natalie wood's early connection to macy's. oh yeah---greenwich village was mentioned. & they did mention richard mulligan as one of the brothers, which i did not know. & natalie wood's & steve mcqueen's childhoods. i was actually in nyc twice in 1963 & wanted to hear some comments on the city & locations used. that's why it's better to have the directors or actors do the comments. in this case, not possible. toby roan, who was not the director, did a great job on the "one million bc" dvd..

norakecer Wonderful ! A movie which, via a striking realism and burning issues (abortion) approached frontally, regenerates the charming power of the best Hollywood cinema, power reduced by the end of the golden age of Hollywood studios. Indeed, the movie starts as an intimist drama before ending as a romantic comedy without that ever the spectator perceives the transition. It is because some "clichés" are themselves dramatic impulses since "love with a proper stranger" may be summarized as the confrontation between love as the ideal formated by fairy tales and Hollywood, and love as generally binding social reality (marriage). The movie is no more and no less only the story of a young independent woman (some would say a "modern" woman) which is going to try to find its way between the weight of the family traditions and her teenager's images which she knows outmoded but which she cannot get out of her head. Robert Mulligan's style is perfectly appropriate and it is a bit raw and optimistic; it is a perfect synthesis between experience of the new waves (filming in the street, the audacious ellipses which revitalize the story, the mature representation of the sexuality) and clichés used aptly (the sequence in the cab :very Hollywoodian ). Thanks to this inspired composition, the film-maker succeeds to create miracles – such as, the loving feeling rising within both characters in the central sequence of the film,. Furthermore, the Elmer Bernstein's slowly lyric music matches smoothly with the Mulligan's frames of the movie. Finally, it would be improper to finish this chronic without speaking about both leading actors.Steve McQueen is surprising in this cast against type of a man overtaken by events.He is at his best, a bit boyish and so handsome and charming. Natalie Wood is just radiant. As I hope to have convinced you of it, the movie is excellent, but Natalie is so beautiful there – The performances of both actors justify an attentive look on this film inequitably underestimated and little-known.

George Wright Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen are at the pinnacle of their acting talent in this b-w gem from the early 1960's. Two very different people - Rocky Papasano and Angie Rossini - re-unite after a one night stand that results in a pregnancy. How they resolve this crisis is the story of this movie. Along the way, there is drama and a lot of fun. Much of the movie was shot on location in New York City's Lower East Side. There is one particularly gripping scene involving a back-alley abortionist that stands out in this film. The two young people come from Italian immigrant families who provide great entertainment as a backdrop to the love story.In the course of the movie, Angie, who was under the thumb of her domineering family, came into her own and took on a new-found confidence. Rocky's support and love helped her bloom into a wonderful and mature young woman. There were two hysterical dinner scenes, breaking the tense atmosphere of this dramatic coming of age film. Tom Bosley, in his pre-TV days, is the man considered by the family as an acceptable husband for Angie. He is very funny as the good-natured clutz trying to woo her. Other than that, the two great stars,who both died too young,have left their fans with a great love story.

copper1963 Heartachingly stunning in this gritty urban tale of despair and regret, Natalie Wood, as usual, acts up a tsunami. With her big brown eyes beaming and searching for the gentleman who knocked her up, she ventures into a large, packed-in-like-sardines, union hall. She finds him there. It's none other than Steve McQueen. He's a musician. She informs him that she is "going to have a baby." Shame. Shame. Blunt girl. He doesn't recall their tryst. Shame again. The dumbfounded look on McQueen's mug is priceless. She marches out into a bright sunshine. He follows. She whirls around and tells him that his responsibility ends at finding her a doctor--and it's not a obstetrician. It is 1963 (the year I was born) and she, that is, they, are in a world of trouble. A nice, unmarried Italian girl, you see, should never find herself in such a pickle. Never. They pool their resources together. They come up with the cabbage--400 smackers--but are then told by a very abrupt fellow that they need another fifty. They pay his parents a visit at a boccie ball court, somewhere near the East River. The noise from the FDR Drive is deafening. He secures the needed funds and they beat a hasty retreat when Wood's brothers catch wind of their affairs and chase them from the playground and into a building he is familiar with. They lay low for a while. This section of the film shows us that they have wonderful screen chemistry together. They listen to some music on the radio. They drink a little red wine. And they begin to fall in love--they just don't realize it yet. Whew! No more plot for now. I love the director's use of natural light and sounds, especially with the scene over at the boccie court. You hear every single vehicle that lumbers by. Nothing was re-dubbed later. The two leads are perfectly cast in this romantic fable. I know I should cover the starkly grim "abortion scene." But why ruin a beautiful picture with a dose of unneeded ugliness. Did I mention that Natalie was sweet? Heartachingly so.