Yo, Natalia

This movie really shaped my adolescence. James Farentino was so dreamy in it. I cried when she left him even though I knew it was the right thing for her to do. The use of humour as a defence mechanism was truly touching. Philip Sterling and Martin Balsam's performances also stand out in my mind --- and what a creep Bob Balaban was! A well-done memory everlasting.

I remember going into Center City Philadelphia with a friend and walking along Chestnut Street right past a line of hippies waiting to get into Easy Rider. Of course, we went to see Patty Duke as we were fans of her TV show. I enjoyed the That Girl mixed with pathos. Yes, it was a tad preachy but the golden girl attracting trouble, a little schadenfreude on Patty's part? But, all too soon, Patty became involved with the wrong man, too. There was a lot of good in the movie for us young girls to see. Natalie graduating from school, getting a job and her own place complete with the bed cut of a bathtub seemed preferable to doing the deed in a New Orleans graveyard as in Easy Rider.

I finally managed to secure a 16mm transfer of ME, NATALIE on NTSC VHS cassette after searching for this film for nearly nine years. I originally found it on Japanese laserdisc in a video store in Manhattan in 1994 but the price was $75.00 and I was hardly about to spend that kind of money!

Al Pacino has a less-than 60-second role in this 1969 "people will love you for the person you are inside" drama starring Patty Duke and Martin Balsam. I always liked Balsam, and he had me giggling after he discourses on the virtues of being homely, then announces his decision to marry a stripper! He's a true male chauvanist pig. LOL

Nancy Marchand is very good as Duke's mother, but the screenplay suffers from a preachy tone that gets to be a real turn-off by the end of the film. A running time of 90 minutes would have been plenty rather than the nearly 107 minutes that it does run.

I love movies shot in New York City, and this film does an ample job of capturing the aura of city life at that time.

Worth seeing for the performances, plus seeing Livia Soprano 30 years younger is a treat...

Part of this movie was shot right across the street from me, in an apartment building on Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn, NY, when I was a kid. One of my friends lived there, and when I came out of his apartment, I talked to Patty Duke who was sitting with some crew in the lobby, for a couple of minutes before they ushered me out. I was a major fan of the Patty Duke show, so I was thrilled, and she was very nice. It's the only movie I can ever remember shot in my neighborhood, and it caused quite a thrill. I don't remember much about the movie except the Brooklyn street scenes of neighborhoods I was familiar with. I'd love to see this movie again to relive some of those moments. Is it ever played on TV on one of the movie channels that specialize in older movies like AMC or Turner Classic Movies?

This is by far one of my favorite films ever. I haven't seen it since I was 9 or 10 about 12 years ago. I absolutely love Patty Duke's performance, and the film is so balanced and witty. It definitely inspired me to be a filmmaker and I would love to see it again.