Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #160972 in DVD
• Rating: Unrated
• Format: NTSC
• Original language: English
• Running time: 102 minutes

Customer Reviews

One Of My Favorite Romantic Movies
Natalie Wood is Angie Rossini, the Macy's salesgirl who gets pregnant by hapless trumpet player Rocky Pampasano, played by Steve McQueen. When she looks him up to tell him about her problem, he doesn't even remember her but does find a doctor to perform an abortion. Seeing her in that seedy, back alley situation does something to this basically-nice guy and he rescues her before she has the abortion. Seeing these two characters bond is a romantic adventure. From their desperate struggle to raise the money for the abortion to their dinner date where he tries once again to seduce her, I fell in love with watching them fall in love. Add a hefty heaping of comedy Italian-style to this. Tom Bosley is classic in his first film as the man hand-picked by Angie's brothers to win her heart. Her mother has an Oscar-deserving scene when she takes to her bed on hearing of her daughter's out-of-wedlock pregnancy and rants in Italian as she tries to keep this news from the priest. The priest, too, is classic as the confused man who can't believe Rocky is willing to marry her but the pregnant Angie is refusing. How could this be? Because she wants to feel love, to hear bells and banjoes she explains. And in one of the best scenes in any movie, there is Rocky on the corner by Macy's strumming his banjo, ringing his bells and trying to win Angie's heart. The course of true love is never smooth, and from their unfortunate beginning to their romantic ending, you'll love watching a most unusual relationship grow. Watch also for Edie Adams (Rocky's girlfriend) and Herschel Bernardi (Angie's brother) in great supporting roles.

A complex film that works well
McQueen and Wood are outstanding as a foot loose musician and a Macy sales clerk respectively in New York City. Even in a city of millions you still get involved with the lives of two families. While McQueen and Wood are standouts, the supporting cast help make this a solid and memorable film.

The movie begins with an empty hall and quickly it turns in to a musicians hiring hall. Here is where we first meet McQueen and Wood. Wood is coming to see McQueen about the after effects of a one night stand a few months earlier. Naturally, the woman remembers the man, but the man doesn't have a clue. What makes it tougher for McQueen is that he already has a girl friend when he meets Wood again. Eddie Adams is great here as McQueen's suffering girlfriend. When McQueen asks about maybe getting her help for a friend who needs a doctor for his pregnant girlfriend, the result is predictable but Adams is superb as she makes her opinion known.

The families of these two people are a great contrast. The family of Wood, all brothers and a mother are suffocating her with their concerns about her. Her brother picks her up from work in the family truck. Her mother is of the old world. McQueen's on the other hand have accepted that he is out on his own and seem to be used to his occassional appearences.

The scenes dealing with the solution to Wood's "problem" are chilling. Waiting on a windblown street for a contact. Both trying to be inconspicuous and worry that they have enough money for the "doctor". When the contact shows, he tells them that they have enough for the "doctor" but not for his fee. They are given a deadline and then they set off to dig up the money. McQueen knows his folks will give him some money so he heads with Wood, to see them at a local playground. Here it turns into a race as Wood's brothers show up looking for her and they are also racing the clock to see the "doctor".

The actual back alley setting is sobering and a real shock of reality as it was in the years leading up to Rowe v. Wade. This is a good reminder about what an abortion involved. No sterile technique, more a process to keep the people from getting too blood stained.

This is not a lived happily ever after story. You don't know what happens to them other than that they both have a change of heart about each other.

This is a must see movie for any family with teenagers. It is a good look at the world and is timeless in it's locale. The black and white photography is excellent and adds a great deal to the visual impact. New York, as always, provides it's own unique component to this excellent film.

Add it to your library.

A DVD must
Both Wood and Mcqueen are at their absolute best in this love story that translates into any era. Why do we have to wait for movies of this calibre to appear on DVD, when the studies release so much rubbish that nobody wants.

Mike Lewis-Hart. Australia