I sometimes don't know why I go on these stupid quests to see every single movie that an actor/actress ever made. I should be smart enough to realize that I will be running into some really bad movies. But.. I like doing it and have done so for Robert Redford (I have like 4 movies left), Steve McQueen, Jane Fonda, Paul Newman, Cary Grant (have gotten to 20 of his like 60 movies so far)and Natalie Wood.
This movie is #19 for me of Natalie Woods collection. Like the last 3 I have watched it is just simply a waste of time. 1 star, and it is a generous star.
Wood plays Louise Hovick. Louise is raised by an over the top mother who forces her two daughters into show business - and the reason for that is to offset the fact that she could not become the star that she wanted to earlier in her life.
Rosalind Russell plays the mother - Rose Hovick. If there is any sliver lining in this musical it is her performance. Karl Madden plays Herbie - the business manager and love interest to Rose.
Louise suddenly becomes her mothers only hope of fame when her sister June decides to leave her mothers lifestyle. That lifestyle is one of traveling around the Country looking for the next opportunity. For the Hovick's it never happens, until one day, just when it looks like June is going to give up after 25 years of pushing her kids into show business, almost by accident Louise is asked to perform a small role at a burlesque show. That is the break they needed. Louise goes from nothing to a star - a stripper that is.
The last 20 min of the movie are about Louise becoming Gypsy Rose Lee - the stripper. The movie then moves from a dumb G musical with lame songs and acting to an adult theme of Natalie Wood doing riskay strip routines. The movie is based off of a book written about the real life of stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. What a waste of time I was so mad at wasting 2 hours of my life on this one. Natalie Wood was a star by 1962, I really don't understand why she wasted her time on this one. Maybe it was the directors fault and Natalie liked script.
1 comment:
I wonder if Natalie did this movie because she had just finished the West Side Story. Why did you choose this version and not the Bette Midler one from 1993, oh yeah your quest. Sorry you have to endure through this one, I will be sure to miss it.
I am working on Cary Grant films right now.
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