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Love with the Proper Stranger
The 1963 classic Love with the Proper still provides sparkling entertainment due to a surprisingly adult story for its time and mad chemistry between the stars, both cast radically against type.
Angie (Natalie Wood) is a Macy salesgirl who lives in a cramped New York tenament with her mother and her three over-protective brothers and is being courted by a clumsy short order cook. Rocky (Steve McQueen) is an unemployed musician who is having a relationship with an exotic dancer (Edie Adams). As our story opens, it is revealed that Angie and Rocky had a one night stand which Rocky doesn't remember and even the news that Angie is now pregnant barely jogs his memory. Angie claims all she wants from Rocky is the name of a reputable doctor who can get them both out of this impossible situation.
This movie scores on a number of levels. Abortion was not an everyday topic for the movies in 1963 and this story manages to broach the subject without ever actually using the word, which I'm sure was one of the conditions upon which the studio allowed the movie to be made, the same way The Man with the Golden Arm was made without ever using the word heroine. Even though the "A" word is never used, we know exactly what is going on, thanks to Arnold Schulman's carefully molded screenplay and Robert Mulligan's sensitive direction. The episodic progression of this story is quite compelling from Rocky seeking advice from his girlfriend about a doctor to the pursuit of money to pay for it, to the ugly climactic meeting with a backstreet butcher as I'm pretty sure abortion was still illegal at this time.
What we get then is the relationship that develops as Angie and Rocky get to know each other and it should come to no surprise that this so-called courtship has genuine peaks and valleys as we are see Rocky trying to do the right thing and Angie wanting something that is probably never going to happen.
A great deal of the appeal in this story also steams from the lead female character, a truly contemporary movie heroine. I loved when she first meets Rocky that all she wants from him is the name of a good doctor. I also loved that when Rocky offers to marry her, she turns him down because she doesn't want him to marry her out of obligation, though she is willing to marry the short order cook, who she doesn't love. This character was all over the place. but nothing she did or said strayed from realism. She was explosive and unpredictable.
Natalie Wood's dazzling performance as Angie earned her a third Oscar nomination and I can't believe I'm saying this, but Steve McQueen has never been sexier onscreen and McQueen brought a lot of sexy to the screen in the 60's and 70's. Also have to give a shout out to Herschel Bernardi as Angie's oldest brother and Tom Bosley as Angie's clumsy, cooking boyfriend. I also loved Elmer Bernstein's bluesy music which served this bumpy yet believable love story to a T. A must for Wood fans.
The 1963 classic Love with the Proper still provides sparkling entertainment due to a surprisingly adult story for its time and mad chemistry between the stars, both cast radically against type.
Angie (Natalie Wood) is a Macy salesgirl who lives in a cramped New York tenament with her mother and her three over-protective brothers and is being courted by a clumsy short order cook. Rocky (Steve McQueen) is an unemployed musician who is having a relationship with an exotic dancer (Edie Adams). As our story opens, it is revealed that Angie and Rocky had a one night stand which Rocky doesn't remember and even the news that Angie is now pregnant barely jogs his memory. Angie claims all she wants from Rocky is the name of a reputable doctor who can get them both out of this impossible situation.
This movie scores on a number of levels. Abortion was not an everyday topic for the movies in 1963 and this story manages to broach the subject without ever actually using the word, which I'm sure was one of the conditions upon which the studio allowed the movie to be made, the same way The Man with the Golden Arm was made without ever using the word heroine. Even though the "A" word is never used, we know exactly what is going on, thanks to Arnold Schulman's carefully molded screenplay and Robert Mulligan's sensitive direction. The episodic progression of this story is quite compelling from Rocky seeking advice from his girlfriend about a doctor to the pursuit of money to pay for it, to the ugly climactic meeting with a backstreet butcher as I'm pretty sure abortion was still illegal at this time.
What we get then is the relationship that develops as Angie and Rocky get to know each other and it should come to no surprise that this so-called courtship has genuine peaks and valleys as we are see Rocky trying to do the right thing and Angie wanting something that is probably never going to happen.
A great deal of the appeal in this story also steams from the lead female character, a truly contemporary movie heroine. I loved when she first meets Rocky that all she wants from him is the name of a good doctor. I also loved that when Rocky offers to marry her, she turns him down because she doesn't want him to marry her out of obligation, though she is willing to marry the short order cook, who she doesn't love. This character was all over the place. but nothing she did or said strayed from realism. She was explosive and unpredictable.
Natalie Wood's dazzling performance as Angie earned her a third Oscar nomination and I can't believe I'm saying this, but Steve McQueen has never been sexier onscreen and McQueen brought a lot of sexy to the screen in the 60's and 70's. Also have to give a shout out to Herschel Bernardi as Angie's oldest brother and Tom Bosley as Angie's clumsy, cooking boyfriend. I also loved Elmer Bernstein's bluesy music which served this bumpy yet believable love story to a T. A must for Wood fans.