Rant #1,848: A Rage To Live

On the weekend, my wife and I search Netflix and other sources for movies to watch.

Saturday and Sunday used to be big TV evenings in days of yore, but now, they simply aren't.

Saturdays, in particular, are sort of the black hole of the TV schedule, with so many people not viewing that the networks and local stations basically just fill out the schedule on that evening with whatever is available.

Like I said, it wasn't always this way, but it sure is now.

Thus, my wife and I search for movies to watch, and not necessarily current blockbusters. The movies today simply do not have the pizzazz that movies of earlier eras had, and when you watch the older movies, even the lesser ones, you see that today, moviemaking seemingly has become way too easy. You get more when you work within a certain group of parameters, and films up to 1968 or so had to work within those boundaries.

Thus, we found one of those types of movies that kind of hit the boundaries of its time but never went over them with a film that we watched called "A Rage to Live." It is based on the novel of the same name and starred the always stunning Suzanne Pleshette as the fim's star, a woman who tries valiantly, but cannot satisfy her urges with just one man.

The 1965 film, with the screenplay written by John T. Kelley and directed by Walter Grauman, portrays Pleshette as the teenage child of a wealthy family, Her father has died, and presumably looking for that father figure in her life, she is coerced into "necking" with a host of men, and finds that she actually likes it.

Fighting the then current social mores, she gains the reputation as the "rich whore" until she meets a straight college guy, played by Bradford Dillman. He has a strict hands-off policy, and they fall in love. She confesses her past ills, and while he has to think about it for a short while, he decides to put her past indiscretions out of her mind and proposes marriage.

All goes well for the couple. He has a successful business, she acts the role of the staid wife and mother, joining women's clubs while raising their son.

But then, while construction ensues at their farm, she meets up with Ben Gazzara, who plays grungy, dirty and exciting Roger Bannon, who she had known earlier as the child of her housekeeper and now, as the owner of the construction company doing the work.

One thing leads to another, and Pleshette goes back to her old ways, having a steamy affair with Bannon.

I won't give the rest of the movie away, but things do not turn out too well for Pleshette, as the invisible scarlet letter she has been wearing since she was a teenager ends up doing her in.

Yes, the movie reflects the times, when women were supposed to be chaste, staid and saving themselves for marriage.

The movie also rams right into the boundaries of films at the time, delving into her need for passion, but never stepping over the line.

Like she told her mother, all she did was "necked" with the many men she was with.

Yup, and if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you somewhere.

I love movies that operated within those parameters, never crossing the line but getting their point across perfectly. You don't have to show everything--whether literally or figuratively--to make your point, and the point was made very well in this film.

I kind of stumbled upon it because I recently bought the soundtrack LP for the film--featuring the title song by Ferrante and Teicher and all other music by Nelson Riddle--at my local record store. It seemed intriguing, I found the film at YouTube and the rest is history.

Sure, the movie kind of veers into soap opera territory, and with a fine cast--also including Peter Graves--it was kind of irresistible.

Incredibly, the movie was nominated for an Academy Award for best costumes in a black and white film, an award it lost to a British film called "Darling." Yes, they did have such an award, as many films still were shot in black and white in 1965.

We forget just how good an actress Pleshette actually was. Yes, we mainly remember her from "The Bob Newhart Show," but she had been in dozens of films before hitting TV paydirt with this show. Whether it is "The Birds" or "If It's Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium" or this film, she and celluloid really were a match made in heaven. She was really, really good as an actress and really, really nice to look at, too.

Anyway, I would give this one a try. You can see it at https://youtu.be/ktCXWPhKegQ