The Group **** (1966, Candice Bergen, Joan Hackett, Elizabeth Hartman, Shirley Knight, Joanna Pettet, Jessica Walter, Kathleen Widdoes, Larry Hagman, Hal Holbrook) – Classic Movie Review 4705

Mary McCarthy’s Sixties voguish novel about the lives of eight 1933 Vassar-style Ivy-League private girls’ college graduates was one of the popular literary hits of the day and the inevitable 1966 movie version proves an acting showcase and a directorial tour de force from precise director Sidney Lumet. The only sense of strain comes in packing in a long novel with so many characters and stories over a period of 20 years into 150 minutes.

Bright and lively new stars Candice Bergen as Lakey, Joan Hackett as Dottie, Elizabeth Hartman as Priss, Shirley Knight as Polly, Joanna Pettet (in her debut, as Kay), Jessica Walter as Libby, Kathleen Widdoes as Helena, Carrie Nye as Norine and Mary Robin-Redd as Pokey all catch the eye with their very considerable style style and talent. And so do the expert performances of the young Larry Hagman, Hal Holbrook, Robert Emhardt, Robert Mulligan, George Gaynes, James Congdon, and James Broderick among the men.

This glossy film soap is written and produced by Sidney Buchman, shot by Boris Kaufman, scored by Charles Gross and designed by Gene Callahan. The script tends to avoid the social satire of the novel and instead relishes what were controversial topics in the day – free love, contraception, abortion, lesbianism, and mental illness. Spurred, no doubt, by that kind of thing, it was a box-office hit, grossing $6 million on a cost of $2.4 million.

But 50 years on, the film, the actresses and even the novel are almost completely forgotten.

The great array of actresses here had surprisingly mixed fortunes subsequently, to say the least, with only Bergen going on to hit the big time. Hartman, Oscar nominated as Best Actress for her first film A Patch of Blue, took her own life at the age of 43 on 10 June 1987 by jumping from a fifth-floor apartment window. Pettet gave up acting in 1995.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4705

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com