WHAT WERE THOSE GIRLS (women) UP TO? How females were presented in movies in the 50s and 60s, Part 2
As if the movie industry could sense the reproductive freedoms that would soon be available for women, it began making wonderful movies about them in the 1950s and 1960s. Among these were Picnic (1955), Splendor in the Grass (1961), and This Property is Condemned (1966), three captivating dramas that told stories about beautiful young women who grew up in impoverished single-parent households. Not wanting their daughters to deal with the same struggles they had encountered, the mothers push the girls to remain chaste so that wealthy men will want to marry them. In Picnic and Condemned, Madge and Alva rebel by choosing love over financial security, while in Splendor Deanie clings to her virginity but loses both the boy that she loves and her sense of self as a result. In each case, though, the character’s behavior causes a terminal rift with her family.
I considered using these movies but decided not to because,
just like Grease, Splendor and Condemned are
retrospectives set in the 1920s and 1930s. Picnic (1955) is
contemporary, but the plot takes place four years before A Summer Place,
which was where I wanted to start. Thus, for Part 2 in this series, I chose Love
with the Perfect Stranger (1963) and Georgy Girl (1966) because they
came out right at the dawn of the sexual revolution, just before single women
were able to access oral contraceptives. The first film examines the options
for unmarried American women, while the other looks at the same choices for
single British women.
Love with the Proper Stranger – 1963
Even though she’d been in a few productions before 1947, it
wasn’t until she played Susan Walker in Miracle on 34th Street that
eight-year-old Natalie Wood became a star. Her work in the film drew so much
critical acclaim, in fact, that she went on to appear in many other popular
films like West Side Story, Gypsie, and Inside Daisy Clover.
Along the way, she won three Academy Award nominations for Rebel Without a
Cause, Splendor in the Grass, and Love with the Proper Stranger.
(“What Happened on the Boat Between Christopher Walken and Natalie Wood?”)
Although he was older, Steve McQueen wasn’t as popular as
his costar. This was because he didn’t start acting until he was an adult, and
most of his work had been portraying tough guys in television and B movies. His
career might have continued that way had he not worked alongside stars like Yul
Brynner, James Garner, Charles Bronson, and James Coburn in The Magnificent
Seven and The Great Escape. The plot in this film obviously
attempted to portray him as a man who is rough around the edges, but the
critics were unimpressed. He just didn’t seem right for a story that is about a
single woman’s sexual freedom, nor did he receive an Oscar nomination for his
performance like his costar did.
The film opens in the lobby of Carnegie Hall. At first, it’s empty, but while the opening credits roll, spectators pour in, and musicians begin warming up onstage. Just as trumpet player Rocky Papasano (Steve McQueen) arrives, he hears his name being called over the sound system. When he answers the page, he finds an attractive young woman (Natalie Wood) waiting to speak with him. She explains that her name is Angela, that they had a one-night stand a few weeks earlier, and that she is pregnant. The pair is obviously mismatched. She speaks demurely and dresses conservatively, while he is a player who is accustomed to juggling many women at once.
It’s clear that she is
seeking Rocky’s assistance not only because he is equally at fault, but also
because he is the type of guy who would know a guy. Thus, she asks him to find
a doctor who will take care of “their” problem (the word abortion is not used).
Instead of readily agreeing, however, he begins to hem and haw, which makes her
angry. She leaves in a huff, but knowing he is obligated, Rocky goes after her
and promises to help (which contrasts sharply with the way sleezy Mike Damon
ducked out on Stacy in Fast Times at Ridgemont High). Relieved, Angie
tells him that he can find her in the pet department at Macy’s Department
Store, where she works from nine to five.
That night, after the concert, Rocky joins his girlfriend,
Barbie (Edie Adams), in her apartment, where he lives. She’s dressed in skimpy
clothes and cooking dinner, and although she’s clearly smitten with her “sex
machine,” it’s just as apparent that he’s only using her to keep a roof over
his head. He asks if she knows of a doctor that can help out a “friend” who got
a girl in trouble. Even though she knows that he’s talking about himself, she
agrees to get the information. Meanwhile, Angie has returned to the apartment
that she shares with her Italian family, Mama Rossini (Penny Santon) and
brothers Dominick (Hershel Bernardi), Julio (Harvey Lembek), and Guido (Nick
Alexander). Their place is so tiny that Angie’s “room” consists of a single bed
and chest of drawers that are separated from the rest of the apartment by a
curtain.
Concerned that twenty-something Angie is going to turn into
an old maid, her family is trying to arrange a marriage with Anthony Columbo
(Tom Bosley), a pudgy, average-looking man who takes care of his mother and
sisters by running a successful restaurant. Angie, who isn’t impressed by such
things, resists their machinations because she hates Columbo’s clumsy attempts
at impressing her. Matchmaking isn’t the only way Angie’s family drives her
crazy, though. They intentionally thwart her attempts to rent a place of her
own and tell her how to live in general. This makes her so angry that she
sometimes packs a bag and walks out, only to return because she doesn’t have
anywhere else to go. Afterward, she’ll hide in her bedroom, ashamed of her
childish behavior, while the others congratulate themselves for knowing what is
best for her.
Good for his word, Rocky shows up at Macy’s to tell Angie
he’s found a doctor who will do the procedure for $400. Dismayed, she says she
can only come up with half the cash. Surprisingly, Rocky (who doesn’t reimburse
Barbie for anything) promises to cover the rest. He hands her an address and
says he’ll meet her there on Sunday. On the appointed afternoon, Rocky is
pacing in front of an abandoned building when Angie joins him. They stand
around wordlessly waiting for their connection to show up, visibly uncomfortable
over what they are getting ready to do yet worried that the guy will fail to
show up. Finally, he drives up in a clunker and parks across the street, climbs
out, pops the hood, and pretends to work on the engine. While Angie stays in
place, Rocky approaches the man and hands over the cash, which he grabs before
demanding another fifty for himself. In response to Rocky’s plea that they
don’t have any more money, the man gives them exactly one hour to come up with
it, hands Rocky a slip of paper with an address, and drives away.
Rocky and Angie only have twenty-four dollars between them
and need to go searching for the rest. Unbeknownst to them, a kid has been
watching them from across the street, and when they round a corner, he makes a
call. Rocky takes Angie to a nearby playground, where his mother (Augusta
Ciolli) and father (Mario Bandolati) are spending the afternoon. A frosty
tension hovers over the impromptu reunion, signifying that their relationship
is strained, probably because of Rocky’s lifestyle, most notably his choice of
women. The atmosphere notably relaxes, however, as the parents note that Angie
is a “nice” girl” who would make good wife material. Finally, his mom’s
attitude thaws to the point that she generously slips Rocky some money, which
is just enough to pay the doctor.
Time is slipping away, so Rocky and Angie say goodbye and
start walking back to meet the man when Angie’s brothers pull up in a truck.
Afraid of what her family will do, Rocky encourages Angie to go to a nearby
building where they can hide. While waiting for the coast to clear, they have
their first real conversation about how they got into the mess they’re in.
Angie, who’s always been levelheaded and responsible, admits that she’s
clueless as to why she had sex with a stranger. She thinks it might have something
to do with wanting to experience the romance that she’s seen in the movies, the
kind that comes with “bells and banjos.”
Instead, she adds bitterly, what she learned was that romance isn’t real
and doesn’t last. Her raw honesty strikes a chord with Rocky, who admits that
he equates marriage with being trapped in prison.
Despite always acting like he’s a cool cat, Rocky takes this
situation seriously and cannot resist trying to talk Angie out of getting the
abortion. Feeling that it’s her only viable option, though, Angie can’t see any
other way to solve the problem. Accepting that she’s made up her mind, Rocky
takes her to a dilapidated building in a rundown neighborhood, where they
trudge up three flights of stairs, find the right door, and knock. The man
opens the door and ushers them into an empty apartment, where a slovenly
dressed woman (Elena Karam) is sitting on a suitcase. The man takes the fifty
dollars, and the woman, who is a midwife rather than a doctor, picks up the
suitcase, directs Angie to follow her into a separate room, then closes the
door behind them.
Unable to accompany
her, Rocky tensely waits at the door, listening and fidgeting. As the woman
begins taking her equipment out of the suitcase, she tells Angie to disrobe.
Angie reluctantly obeys, but instead of allowing the procedure to begin, she
stands at the window, catatonically staring outside while the woman snaps on
rubber gloves and tersely commands her to hurry (this visually creates a mental
picture of what Penny will undergo twenty-five years later in Dirty Dancing).
Then, unable to stand what is happening, Rocky busts into the room, yelling,
“Don’t you touch her.” As he encourages
Angie to get dressed, the woman hurriedly gathers her equipment, and she and
the man flee.
Rocky takes Angie back to Barbie’s apartment and puts her to
bed. When she falls asleep, he leaves to find her brothers and tell them what’s
going on. As the oldest, Dominick takes it on himself to give Rocky a black
eye, then tells his mother that her only daughter is not just pregnant but is
moving out. Afterward, Rocky takes him back to Barbie’s apartment, where he
will try to convince Angie to marry him. In the meantime, Angie has gotten up,
showered, and showered, and put on Barbie’s bathrobe, which she's wearing when
she opens the door. Barbie has been nice to Angie because she feels sorry for
her, but when Rocky comes in, she really lets him have it. Then, knowing that
it has nothing to do with her, she backs off and lets the others work things
out for themselves. Rocky tells Angie that he accepts responsibility for the
situation and is willing to “take his medicine” by marrying her. Insulted that
he considers marrying her a punishment for bad behavior, Angie tells him she’s
not that desperate and leaves for work.
Underneath all her bravado, however, Angie isn’t okay with
being an unwed mother, so she forms a plan of her own. She tells Columbo about
her dilemma, and he agrees to marry her and tell people that the baby is his.
As a first step, he invites her over to dinner with his family. Ironically, at
his place, Columbo is not only a great cook but a graceful host, and it is
Angie who stutters and knocks things over. Not sure what to make of her son’s
ungainly girlfriend, Mrs. Columbo (Nina Varela) comments that Angie is pretty
but clumsy. Fortunately, Angie is readily accepted by Columbo’s sisters Anna
(Virginia Vincent) and Gina (Marilyn Chris), which keeps the dinner from being
a total failure.
Although he thinks Angie is done with him, Rocky can’t get
over her and decides to drop in at Macy’s and ask her out. At first, she says
she doesn’t have time, but when he keeps asking, she relents and invites him
over to her place for Sunday dinner. Although she verbalizes disinterest, on
Sunday she dresses in a seductive outfit, prepares a sumptuous meal, and when
he knocks at the door, she puts on a big smile before opening the door wide.
Likewise, even though he says he just wants to catch up, Rocky is wearing a
suit and carrying a small bouquet of flowers. Once inside, he keeps moving
around the apartment, unable to get comfortable, and Angie makes him a couple
of stiff drinks to help him calm down. Suspicious of her having alcohol in the
apartment even though she can’t drink, he asks who it’s for. They spend the
rest of the visit arguing, then kissing, then arguing some more until she
finally kicks him out, convinced that her decision to marry Columbo is the
right one.
The next day, when she walks out of Macy’s, she sees a large
crowd gathered around someone who’s ringing bells and playing a banjo in front
of a sign that reads “Better Wed than Dead.” When the crowd parts, and she sees
that the performer is Rocky, she starts walking away. Undeterred, he follows,
and as he catches up with her, she turns around, and he throws down the sign
and enfolds her in his arms. They share a passionate kiss, and it’s all very
romantic, but you can’t help wondering whether they will live happily ever
after or if this is just another example of them spontaneously leaping into
each other’s lives without thinking things through.
https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/classic-film-through-a-feminist-lens-love-with-the-proper-stranger/
Georgy Girl – 1966
It didn’t take 1960s viewers long to notice that the only
famous cast member in this film was James Mason, an actor who specialized in
portraying morally bankrupt rascals like the oily spy Philip Van Dame in North
by Northwest or the smitten pedophile Humbert Humbert in Lolita.
In fact, it seemed natural for him to portray a wealthy middle-aged lech who
lusts after his employees’ young daughter, Georgy. She was played by newcomer
Lynn Redgrave, an unknown actress who not only hailed from one of Great
Britain’s most noted thespian families but actually took over the role from her
famous sister Vanessa, who backed out at the last minute.
Although Vanessa
never explained why she quit, I like to think that she realized the role was
perfect for her younger sister (which it was) and that it would lead to her
becoming a star (which she did not). Besides, Vanessa already had a job lined
up as Queen Guinevere in Camelot. Whatever the reason, it worked out for
the best because both women were nominated for the Academy Award for Best
Actress that year (although the Oscar went to Elizabeth Taylor in Who’s
Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which I hated). Just because Lynn never
recaptured the sensation of her first leading role, however, doesn’t mean she
didn’t give an outstanding performance or that Georgy Girl wasn’t an
excellent movie. Her work in that film was memorable, and the plot told a story
meant to leave audiences pondering what it was like for a young woman to be
single and not beautiful in 1960s London. Besides, it had a catchy theme song
that was nominated for an Academy Award (which it lost to “Born Free”).
As the film opens, Georgy (Lynn Redgrave) is ambling down
the streets of London, hiding her dowdy outfit under an equally unflattering
leather coat, and covering her tousled hair with an ugly scarf. Enviously
studying fashionable women passing by in miniskirts, patent leather boots, and
sleek hairstyles, she decides it’s time for a makeover and enters a beauty
salon. Later, she emerges with a ridiculously bouffant beehive, which she
immediately washes out before going to the mansion where her parents, Ted (Bill
Owen) and Doris (Clare Kelly), work as domestics for James (James Mason) and
Ellen Leamington (Rachel Kempson). The couple were like surrogate parents to
Georgy when she was growing up, providing her with benefits like piano lessons
and finishing school in Switzerland. Now they let her use the upstairs to hold
dance classes for children, a pursuit that is perfect for a young woman who is
talented, silly, and loves kids even more than they love her.
After the class ends, Ted gives Georgy a box that contains a
chiffon cocktail dress that Mr. Leamington bought for her to wear that night at
his 49th birthday party. The garment is beautiful and elegant, but
Georgy knows it doesn’t suit her, and since she can’t give it back, she turns
his gesture into something of a joke. Digging through the box of old clothes
that the kids use for dress-up, she dons an outlandish outfit of sequins and
fake fur, draws heavy lines around her eyes, and struts down the stairs singing
a raunchy rendition of “Whole Lotta Woman.” The upper crust crowd doesn’t know
what to make of the performance, but Mr. Leamington is charmed, and when he
gets a chance, he takes Georgy aside and asks her to be his mistress, a request
that comes complete with a formal Mistress Agreement. Mrs. Leamington has been
bedridden for years and refuses to see a doctor, so Georgy understands why the
man craves female attention. However, she doesn’t want to go from being his
surrogate daughter to being his replacement partner, so she ducks his advances
and goes home.
Georgy lives in a small apartment in a rundown section of
London with her best friend, Meredith (Charlotte Rampling), a violinist with
the London Philharmonic. She so admires Meredith’s beauty and talent that she
chooses to ignore her friend’s self-absorption. Instead, she willingly does all
the cooking and cleaning and even entertains Meredith’s handsome boyfriend, Jos
Jones (Alan Bates), while Meredith is out with other men. Being no saint
himself, Jos shamelessly flirts with Georgy even though he considers her
unattractive because she “just missed being beautiful.” On the other hand,
Georgy is very attracted to Jos, and one night when Meredith is away, she
accompanies him to a bar where they drink and dance and end up making out. Just
as Georgy starts to believe that she and Jos could end up together, Meredith
waltzes in the door and announces that she’s pregnant again. She previously
aborted two of Jos’s babies, but this time she wants to marry him and have the
child. They get married, but the only thing about Meredith that changes is her
anatomy because she remains the self-absorbed bitch that she’s always been.
Although Georgy accepts that she and Jos will never be together now, she is
nevertheless happy because she knows Meredith will leave her in charge of the
baby.
Although she still hasn’t committed to James, Georgy
nevertheless asks him for money to buy things for the baby, and ever hopeful of
getting what he wants, James grudgingly complies. Meanwhile, Jos begins to
compare Meredith’s complete disinterest in the child to Georgy’s enthusiastic
preparations and starts to reconsider how he feels about both women, eventually
becoming jealous when Georgy goes out with James. Rather than being flattered,
however, Georgy is still hurt that he chose Meredith over her, and rather than
doing his bidding, when he asks for a favor, she coldly reminds him, “I’m not
your wife, Jos.” Meanwhile, James, who is tiring of Georgy’s flaky excuses, is
consumed with jealousy over the time she spends with Jos. Then, when Mrs.
Leamington dies suddenly, he is free to offer Georgy a respectable relationship
rather than an illicit affair, and he turns up the pressure by telling her how
good things could be if they were a couple.
When she’s discharged from the hospital, Meredith takes off
with a new man, leaving Jos and the child behind. Seeing an opportunity to be
the child’s full-time mother, Georgy decides to stay with Jos. Likewise,
relieved to be rid of Meredith, Jos is okay with the arrangement until he
realizes that Georgy is only interested in his daughter, whom she names Sarah.
Basically, a good time Joe at heart, Jos quickly tires of parenthood and starts
partying so much that he loses his job, meaning he can’t pay the rent. Just
when it seems things couldn’t get any worse, a social worker shows up at the
apartment to see how things are going. What she finds is that Sarah’s mother is
gone, her father is hungover and unemployed, and her nanny is the father’s
girlfriend; not surprisingly, she grabs the child and takes her away. Georgy is
so crushed over losing Sarah that she bids Jos goodbye, marries James to get
the baby back, and insists on bringing her along on the honeymoon. He’s clearly
unhappy with the arrangement, and you’re left wondering how long it will be
before he finds a new mistress and whether Georgy will even notice he’s gone.
https://cinemasojourns.com/2023/08/30/swinging-down-the-street-so-fancy-free/
Summary
Even though these stories are set in different countries,
they are comparable because they take place in similar cultures in the same
era. Admittedly, Angie is serious and reliable, whereas Meredith is wild and
flaky, but they aren’t as different as they initially appear. Both are career
women who want to be free from family encumbrances to be able to pursue their
interests unhindered. Both are unmarried, and although Angie is prudish and
Meredith is promiscuous, they face the same predicament. Do they break the law
and have an abortion, or do they find a husband and have a baby they don’t want?
With all the secrecy and sneaking around, it was apparent in
Proper Stranger that abortion was illegal at the time the movie was
made. However, the matter wasn’t addressed at all in Georgy Girl. A
little research, however, reveals that it was illegal in London for Meredith,
too. England didn’t pass the Abortion Act until 1967, a year after the film
came out, and even today, it has some of the most stringent restrictions in
Europe. This means that for her first two abortions, Meredith undoubtedly
endured conditions similar to Angie’s. And although she treats the matter
cavalierly, Meredith may very well have decided to continue with the pregnancy
not because she wanted the baby, but because she just couldn’t face going
through another back-alley abortion. Looking at it this way makes it easier to
understand why she rejects the baby when it’s born.
Of course, the problem could have been avoided simply by
taking “the pill,” except that oral contraceptives weren’t available for single
women in either country at the time. Angie wouldn’t have asked her doctor for a
prescription anyway because “nice girls” weren’t supposed to be thinking about
having sex before marriage (which is an entirely different issue). Meredith
undoubtedly would have taken them, but she couldn’t because England didn’t
legalize oral contraceptives for single women until 1974, and even then, they
could only be prescribed in special circumstances. It was as if English
lawmakers thought it was preferable for single women to end unwanted
pregnancies rather than prevent them in the first place.
A final matter is figuring out where Georgy fits into this
contraception/abortion conundrum. At first glance, she seems naive—a “never
been kissed” kind of girl, someone who is funny and childlike, not necessarily
interested in sex. However, as Lynn Redgrave once pointed out in an interview,
Georgy isn’t necessarily all that innocent. In fact, she’s very manipulative.
Her only income comes from the dance classes for children that she offers a few
hours a week in a space that her parents’ employer donates. Her roommate pays
the bills while she keeps house and cooks, but Meredith is always out, often
cheating on her boyfriend Jos, so the meals are primarily for him. As for Jos,
if she could, Georgy would take him away from her “best friend” in a heartbeat.
In fact, Georgy’s morals in general are questionable. She won’t commit to James
but has no compunction about leading him on for money to purchase things for
Meredith’s baby, which she actually wants for herself. And by the end of the
film, she has thrown over Meredith to have Jos, abandoned Jos in favor of his
child, and married Mr. Leamington so that she can have Meredith’s and Jos’
child for herself.
Overall, movies from the fifties and sixties that dealt with
premarital sex and pregnancy painted a bleak picture. In all four of the movies
discussed in this series, as well as the ones referenced, the women had limited
choices. They could abstain (the most unreliable form of contraception), or
they could have sex, risk getting pregnant, which would ruin their reputations,
force them to get married even if they didn’t want to, or have an illegal
abortion that could land them in jail, or even cost them their lives. What
makes it all the more maddening, is that none of their male counterparts
encountered any negative consequences except maybe catching an STD. Sexual
inequality is most stark in Where the Boys Are, but it’s present in all
the films because that’s what it was like at the time. It is also potentially
how it could be again if women were to lose access to reproductive control.
Lastly, although the films discussed in this post reflected
their time, they also looked forward, and posed the same question. What if
these women hadn’t been at the mercy of an unjust social milieu? Make no
mistake, even though the stories included males and other filler characters,
they were all about the girls. Grease is primarily about Sandy and
Rizzo; Dirty Dancing is primarily about Baby and Penny; A Summer
Place is primarily about Molly and Sylvia; Where the Boys Are is
primarily about Merritt, Tuggle, and Melanie; Love with the Proper Stranger
is primarily about Angie; and Georgy Girl is primarily about Georgy and
Meredith.
Conclusion
IMDB gives Love with the Proper Stranger a
respectable overall rating of 73%, but Rotten Tomatoes critics (82%) and the
public (87%) rated the movie even higher. Right now, this film is streaming for
free on Kanopy or is available for rent on Prime, VUDU, and Apple TV for $4. If
you are considering buying it, the DVD or Blu-ray costs $15 to $20 on Amazon.
At first glance, it looked cheaper on eBay, but every example I saw charged
shipping. Furthermore, keep in mind that some versions are not for the United States,
so you’ll have to be careful when choosing one. There is a version on YouTube,
but scenes are missing, so I wouldn’t advise that.
Interestingly, the critics of Rotten Tomatoes overall ranked
Georgy Girl (83%) about the same as Perfect Stranger. In fact,
this was one of those anomalies where critics liked a movie better than the
general audience (71%) did. People on IMDB liked it less, giving it a score of
only 69%, meaning they preferred Perfect Stranger. I find this
particularly interesting since Lynn Redgrave and Natalie Wood were both
nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress for the two films. It’s currently
streaming free on Pluto, Tubi, and, best of all, on Amazon, where there aren’t
any commercials. You can also buy it on Amazon (for $23) or on eBay for under
$10 with free shipping.
That’s it for now. I’ll be back in a couple of months with
more talk about my favorite movies, although I haven’t decided which ones. Until
then, cheerio and have happy holidays.
https://abortionrights.org.uk/history-of-abortion-law-in-the-uk/
Comments
Post a Comment