THE GROUP

THE GROUP (1963). Director: Sidney Lumet. 

"Who'da thunk it?" -- various.

"Sacrifice is dated. You don't reform a man. They just drag you down." -- Dottie.

In 1933 a group of women friends graduate from Vassar. The first to get married is Kay (Joanna Pettet), whose husband is a philandering playwright named Harald (Larry Hagman) whose mistress, Norine (Carrie Nye), also went to Vassar (but is not part of the group). Helena (Kathleen Widdoes) is the one who sends out a newsletter detailing the activities of the others. Priss (Elizabeth Hartman of The Beguiled) gets married to a controlling doctor, while Dottie (Joan Hackett) disillusioned by her first lover (Richard Mulligan), marries a much older man. Although she seems man-hungry, the bitchy Libby (Jessica Walter) reveals that she's a virgin when one suitor tries to assault her. Lakey (Candice Bergen) turns out to be a committed lesbian who comes back from Europe with a German baroness in tow. Polly (Shirley Knight) dallies with a married publisher (Hal Holbrook) before uniting with a doctor (James Broderick) who befriends her somewhat unusual father (Robert Emhardt). Pokey (Mary Robin-Redd) is a friendly and plump gal who seems a bit on the fringes of the group.  As the years go by the women interact, have babies, divorces, break-ups and react to world events such as communism and Hitler. Then one of their lives takes a decided and tragic turn for the worse. 

Lidia Prochnicka as the baroness with Bergen 

The Group is an interesting if very talky movie with some well-drawn characters and excellent performances. In the early scenes, of course, the actors all seem too old for their parts, but that isn't a problem in the later sequences. You expect -- and get -- memorable  performances from such as Joan Hackett, Jessica Walter (although perhaps a bit too arch and brittle at times), Kathleen Widdoes, and Hartman, but there's also good work from Candice Bergen and excellent work from Joanna Pettet, who is essentially the main character and is on top of things every step of the way. 

Bill Fletcher (seated) with some of the ladies

Larry Hagman has some good moments, as do the other fellows, with Broderick perhaps getting the most time on screen. Doreen Lang (of The Birds) makes a highly sympathetic nurse in one sequence. Bill Fletcher makes an impression as a rude actor who takes on Harald at a party. Sidney Buchman's screenplay seems to be fairly faithful to the novel (judging by a synopsis) while Sidney Lumet's direction covers the action competently but isn't especially inspired. There are no wipes, dissolves or other segues in the movie and nothing whatsoever to denote the passage of time, although there is period atmosphere. The ladies all had many credits after this film, with Bergen, Hackett, Knight, and Walter having the highest profiles. Kathleen Widdoes did work on the soaps. 

Verdict: If you can take all the cute nicknames -- what, no "Pukey?" -- this is an absorbing film with some fine performances. ***.  

CARNAL KNOWLEDGE

Art Garfunkel and Candice Bergen

CARNAL KNOWLEDGE  (1971). Director: Mike Nichols. Screenplay by Jules Feiffer.

In college post-WW2, two friends, Jonathan (Jack Nicholson) and Sandy (Art Garfunkel), contemplate getting laid and what type of woman they'd like to wind up with. Sandy begins dating Susan (Candice Bergen), but so does Jonathan, sleeping with Susan behind his friend's back.

Ann-Margret and Jack Nicholson

Years go by. Although married, Sandy wants more excitement in the bedroom and hooks up with the more aggressive Cindy (Cynthia O'Neal). while Jonathan shacks up with Bobbie (Ann-Margret of State Fair), who -- a la Rosalind Russell in Picnic -- is almost desperate to get married. Things don't go smoothly with either relationship, but then Jonathan is a complete chauvinistic pig -- his truly disgusting nature becomes even more apparent by the end -- and Sandy, although apparently more "sensitive," isn't much better.

Best friends? Garfunkle and Nicholson

Carnal Knowledge was a popular and admired film in its day, probably due to its frankness, but it doesn't hold up well. It is an absorbing picture nevertheless because of the acting and because there's some suspense over what will happen to the characters. Bergen, Ann-Margret, and Garfunkel (so good you wished he did much more acting) are all excellent, and while Nicholson was already falling into that certain stock "Jack Nicholson" mode, his performance is also good. O'Neal and Rita Moreno are quite effective in smaller roles.

Triangle: Bergen, Garfunkel, with Nicholson in background

But one is left with the sensation that this screenplay was an old and unsatisfactory stage play dusted off by Jules Feiffer and turned into a movie by a compliant Mike Nichols working in a Woody Allen mode. The movie, deliberately paced and with long takes, is expertly shot by cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno [Haunted Summer]. Some scenes, such as when Jonathan shows Sandy and his new girlfriend slides of all of the women he's screwed (Susan gets in there by "mistake"), are quite contrived. Mike Nichols also directed Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Verdict: Two pigs in a poke. **1/2.

HOLLYWOOD SCREEN TESTS

HOLLYWOOD SCREEN TESTS: Take One (1999 TV special). Director: Edith Becker.

Narrated by Robert Culp, AMC presented this first of two specials showing and commenting on various Hollywood screen tests. The tests are interesting, even if some of them go on a little too long. We see tests for Candice Bergen, Ann-Margret, Mitzi Gaynor, Barbara Eden and Andy Williams doing a scene for State Fair, and Patty Duke in Valley of the Dolls, among others. (How anyone could have given the role in the movie to Duke after seeing how horrible she was in the screen test is beyond me!) Singer Marni Nixon, who dubbed Audrey Hepburn and many others, is tested for the lead in The Sound of Music, but wound up playing Sister Sophia. Dustin Hoffman does a "personality" test and obviously passes it, and there's also Raquel Welch, Marlon Brando, and several big names doing tests after they were already established stars.

Verdict: Fun. ***.