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THE MYSTERY OF NATALIE WOOD
ABC television struck gold with their lavish TV biography of Judy Garland entitled Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows. Unfortunately, they did not have nearly the success with their 2004 effort The Mystery of Natalie Wood, another expensive made-for-television biopic focusing on an iconic movie star whose mysterious and tragic accidental drowning still haunts people today with so many unanswered questions about exactly what happened and the aggravation that has developed over the fact that the parties who were directly involved that night still aren't talking. This TV movie is afforded the same care and attention to its subject that the Garland film was but suffers due to a fuzzy screenplay and a problematic performance from the actress playing the title role.
The film is a detail-oriented look at the star's life, a young girl of Russian descent whose real name was Natasha Gurdin who was pretty much pushed into show business by her domineering mother, Maria who neglected the rest of her family in order to focus on Natalie and her career...not unlike Judy Garland's relationship with her mother, Ethel Gumm, and like Judy, Natalie could never wrestle free of her mother's iron grip, though said grip was instrumental in the beginning of Natalie's path to becoming a movie star. We watch as Maria murders a butterfly in order to get young Natasha to cry on cue during her film debut and even though she was pushed into it, began to take control of certain aspects of her career...we watch her tireless efforts to get the role of Judy in Rebel Without a Cause, which may or may not have motivated a sexual relationship with the director, Nicholas Ray and her troubled relationship with director Elia Kazan, as well her fairy tale romance with Robert Wagner, which couldn't withstand Natalie's fame, but would eventually heal, and of course, her mysterious death in the water in 1981.
And this was one of the primary problems with the film for me. We all know the story of how Natalie died and how Natalie always had a fear of water, but the screenplay here just pounds it into our heads with sledgehammer-like effect through about two thirds of the film's running time. It seems like every ten minutes in the film we are reminded that a gypsy predicted Natalie death in dark water and that Natalie had a lifelong fear of water. We all knew this and didn't need to be reminded of it constantly throughout the story. I would have liked this film to concentrate more on Natalie's long dormant desire to be a mother, her stormy relationships with Wagner and Richard Gregson (her marriage to Gregson is summed up in about 10 minutes), and more behind the scenes dirt on the set of her many movies.
I sat patiently waiting for the story to reach the point where Natalie was cast in West Side Story, one of her biggest hits but also a film where many felt she was miscast and there was a lot of tension on the set because of it. Again, precious little time was devoted to this crucial point in her career. This movie concentrated too much on unsubstantiated parts of her personal life rather than confirming documented controversy. The film created relationships that I never knew Natalie had before. This film presents Natalie as having some sort of relationship with Marilyn Monroe and relating to her so much that according to this film, the day Marilyn died, Natalie was so affected by it but not in the way you would think...it appears that Natalie is almost jealous of the attention that Marilyn received by dying which I found really disturbing.
Director Peter Bogdanovich works very hard at making classic Hollywood look fresh and glamorous and manages to get some pretty solid performances from his cast. Justine Waddell is acceptable in the title role, resembling the star, but never really capturing her maturity or intelligence. Loved Michael Weatherly as Robert Wagner and Matthew Settle as Warren Beatty, but the acting honors here definitely go to Alice Krige as Natalie's nightmare of a mother, a performance of bone-chilling intensity that should have at least earned her an Emmy nomination. I must also credit Bogdanovich for the detail he put into the final act of the movie on the boat...we all know what happens, but there is a viable tension created here that actually made the final fifteen minutes of this movie very difficult to watch. The movie has its problems, primarily ignoring or glossing over facts in favor of dramatic effect, but fans of the iconic star will definitely want to take a look.
ABC television struck gold with their lavish TV biography of Judy Garland entitled Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows. Unfortunately, they did not have nearly the success with their 2004 effort The Mystery of Natalie Wood, another expensive made-for-television biopic focusing on an iconic movie star whose mysterious and tragic accidental drowning still haunts people today with so many unanswered questions about exactly what happened and the aggravation that has developed over the fact that the parties who were directly involved that night still aren't talking. This TV movie is afforded the same care and attention to its subject that the Garland film was but suffers due to a fuzzy screenplay and a problematic performance from the actress playing the title role.
The film is a detail-oriented look at the star's life, a young girl of Russian descent whose real name was Natasha Gurdin who was pretty much pushed into show business by her domineering mother, Maria who neglected the rest of her family in order to focus on Natalie and her career...not unlike Judy Garland's relationship with her mother, Ethel Gumm, and like Judy, Natalie could never wrestle free of her mother's iron grip, though said grip was instrumental in the beginning of Natalie's path to becoming a movie star. We watch as Maria murders a butterfly in order to get young Natasha to cry on cue during her film debut and even though she was pushed into it, began to take control of certain aspects of her career...we watch her tireless efforts to get the role of Judy in Rebel Without a Cause, which may or may not have motivated a sexual relationship with the director, Nicholas Ray and her troubled relationship with director Elia Kazan, as well her fairy tale romance with Robert Wagner, which couldn't withstand Natalie's fame, but would eventually heal, and of course, her mysterious death in the water in 1981.
And this was one of the primary problems with the film for me. We all know the story of how Natalie died and how Natalie always had a fear of water, but the screenplay here just pounds it into our heads with sledgehammer-like effect through about two thirds of the film's running time. It seems like every ten minutes in the film we are reminded that a gypsy predicted Natalie death in dark water and that Natalie had a lifelong fear of water. We all knew this and didn't need to be reminded of it constantly throughout the story. I would have liked this film to concentrate more on Natalie's long dormant desire to be a mother, her stormy relationships with Wagner and Richard Gregson (her marriage to Gregson is summed up in about 10 minutes), and more behind the scenes dirt on the set of her many movies.
I sat patiently waiting for the story to reach the point where Natalie was cast in West Side Story, one of her biggest hits but also a film where many felt she was miscast and there was a lot of tension on the set because of it. Again, precious little time was devoted to this crucial point in her career. This movie concentrated too much on unsubstantiated parts of her personal life rather than confirming documented controversy. The film created relationships that I never knew Natalie had before. This film presents Natalie as having some sort of relationship with Marilyn Monroe and relating to her so much that according to this film, the day Marilyn died, Natalie was so affected by it but not in the way you would think...it appears that Natalie is almost jealous of the attention that Marilyn received by dying which I found really disturbing.
Director Peter Bogdanovich works very hard at making classic Hollywood look fresh and glamorous and manages to get some pretty solid performances from his cast. Justine Waddell is acceptable in the title role, resembling the star, but never really capturing her maturity or intelligence. Loved Michael Weatherly as Robert Wagner and Matthew Settle as Warren Beatty, but the acting honors here definitely go to Alice Krige as Natalie's nightmare of a mother, a performance of bone-chilling intensity that should have at least earned her an Emmy nomination. I must also credit Bogdanovich for the detail he put into the final act of the movie on the boat...we all know what happens, but there is a viable tension created here that actually made the final fifteen minutes of this movie very difficult to watch. The movie has its problems, primarily ignoring or glossing over facts in favor of dramatic effect, but fans of the iconic star will definitely want to take a look.