The Sex Symbol

TV-movie casts Connie Stevens as a boozing, unreliable, faded Hollywood star in the 1950s, fired from her last picture, who recounts her life and love affairs to a psychiatrist over the telephone. Tacky roman à clef, adapted by Alvah Bessie from his novel "The Symbol", was clearly inspired by the life of Marilyn Monroe, but takes no care to present Monroe's triumphs and tragedies with any class. Also absent is an accurate recreation of Hollywood from this era, with gossip columnist Shelley Winters (doing a Hedda Hopper) actually reporting the show business news on her own color television show! Stevens, with her hair frosted blonde and her eyelids frosted blue, isn't of the period, either--she's more Las Vegas than '50s Hollywood--although she does do well in her dramatic scenes with William Smith, surprisingly low-keyed as a former football star. 74-minute movie-of-the-week was expanded to an astounding 107 minutes for European release. Both versions are interminable, with blurry-romantic music, gloppy color photography, wooden staging and abrasive sound.

This was bad. I mean bad writing, bad clothes, bad hair, bad bras and bad acting.

The script is so bad it could have been written in an afternoon. It is so lazy. It is half exposition.

The acting is equally horrid. I understand Connie Stevens has a certain appeal to some people, but as an American sweetheart, not a dramatic actress. In this she tries way too hard. It is all over acting in between baby talk.

The film takes place in 1957 and is supposed to mirror Monroe's life. The clothes and hair are pure 1974. I had no idea bras were so bad back then or am I just too accustomed to fake bewbs?

The one bright spot is Shelly Winters as a vicious gossip columnist. Even though she phones it in, she's fun.

This flick comes and goes on YouTube.

I saw this when it first aired as a 13 year old, and I just viewed it again on a bootleg DVD. I loved most TV Movie's of the week as this was. Most were great little well produced dramas however this one sadly was not one of them. Thinly based on the life of Marilyn Monroe, Connie Stevens spends most of the time screeching out her dialogue to the point you almost want her to commit suicide so you don't have to hear her whining. Shelly Winters who I ALWAYS find fascinating to watch even in bad movies is just dreadful here. Her performance is just so bland and not even bad enough to be funny. SHe plays a Hedda Hopper type who is so jealous of Connie she continually insults her not just to her face but on her TV Gosspi show as well. You want to put a bullet in her head she is such a bitch. William Smith is gorgeous as always but has little to do here playing a "Joe Dimaggio" type character. I couldn't believe how bad the sets and costumes were. The sets looked like they recycled them a year later for Happy Days and the 70's clothes were odd for a movie set in the 50's. Of course Happy Days did that too, had 70's hair on a show set in the 50's. was hoping this movie would get bad enough to be funny but it didn't even go there. A major disappointment, but if you love Connie then watch it in orgasmic delight because she does look beautiful here.

Cute and promiscuous "Kelly Williams" (Connie Stevens as Marilyn Monroe) sleeps her way to stardom. Along the way, she is hounded by bitchy press (Shelley Winters as "Agatha Murphy"). Not satisfied with her status as "The Sex Symbol", Ms. Stevens wants to be an Actress. Stevens has unhappy love affairs and marriages with "Grant O'Neal" (Don Murray as John F. Kennedy), "Calvin Bernard" (James Olson as Arthur Miller), "Buck Wischnewski" (William Smith as Joe DiMaggio), and others. She feeds her pain with barbiturates and alcohol. You know the rest.

This movie begins with an outrageous lie: "The characters and incidents portrayed and the names used herein are fictitious, and any similarity to the name, character, or history of any person is entirely coincidental and unintentional." Stevens is a beautiful woman, but quite unlike Monroe. An explicit nude scene occurs near the end - Stevens spills a drink, and removes her slip; it could not have been shown on US television in 1974. Whatever its intentions, "The Sex Symbol" is insulting and unflattering. And, some of those involved knew, and worked with, Monroe.

*** The Sex Symbol (9/17/74) David Lowell Rich ~ Connie Stevens, Shelley Winters, Don Murray

Nothing on television ever rivalled ABC's Tuesday Night at the Movies, a anthology of made-for-TV films which pushed the envelope on what could be shown on TV. Movies like "Duel," "Tribes," "Crowhaven Farm," "Satan's School for Girls," and "The Sex Symbol" were cutting edge stories that still hold up by today's standards. I guess that's why they call them classics. "The Sex Symbol" was a thinly veiled telling of the Marilyn Monroe story (in this case "The Kelly Williams Story"). Connie Stevens gave an acclaimed performance which seemed to have inspired Halle Berry in another excellent biopic "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge" with some of the scenes being frightfully similar. I wish "The Sex Symbol" were available somewhere (especially the European version. Connie allowed some rare nude scenes to be shot for inclusion in prints that would among other places, be shown to military troops overseas) but for now I must depend only on my memory of the original broadcast, and Halle Berry in "IDD."