Star Spangled Girl

I watched the first 20-25 minutes and had to shut it off. Sandy Duncan is too cute as Amy, but Todd Susman's character, Norman, is the prototype for the desperate virgin later seen in "Porky's" and satirized in "Not Another Teen Movie". He has as much depth and subtlety as a Tex Avery cartoon. Tony Roberts is merely a younger version of Oscar Madison with the same quips and delivery. In truth, he and Susman are toned down versions of Martin and Lewis, with Roberts as the smooth sexpot and Susman as the insufferable loony. If there was a spark of originality in this film, it went out around 1979.

Sandy Duncan exchanges verbal jabs with Susman and Roberts in a film that doesn't much other than urge a weak grin on the viewers face. The dialogue is over done, marginally self referencing, and dated. It felt like Neil Simon was trying to stick with the times as American culture was transforming, but wound up dating himself.

It's not a bad film as such, but showcases a kind of self indulgent nature by the theatre elite who want more to show their abilities for the sake of it. Not a bad aim, but it does get somewhat tiring.

I think one of the key things about this film is that there isn't too much umph. And it could be because Simon is slightly out of his element here, writing about a place he wants to be part of, but is wholly unfamiliar with. Ergo we get quick witted Southern California characters with New York sensibilities, when their social extraction is Manhattan beach, and not Manhattan itself.

Still, it has a certain charm, even if the characters are reluctant fish out of water via Simon's writing. Southern California doesn't bother with lots of well educated verbiage loaded with political references, but more rather how life can be easier, and is not to be taken too seriously. So it is with the LA metroplex with lots of petty desires and image seeking. So it is that Simon misses the mark with this play set in such a milieu, and so it is that Star Spangled Girl remains an interesting experiment.

See it once.

I watched this movie on DVD after seeing a Living In TV Land on tape that featured Davy Jones knowing that his song,"Girl", would be in this movie after reading the other comments on this film. (Personal note: I saw Jones on stage at the Florida Theatre in Jacksonville, FL , where he performed this song in The Real Live Brady Bunch which enacted the episode that had Marcia trying to get him to her prom.) Based on a Neil Simon play adapted by Arnold Margolin and Jim Parker, Star Spangled Girl comes through fast and furious with the wisecracks that makes us forgive the initial annoyingness of the lead characters played by Sandy Duncan, Tony Roberts, and especially Todd Susman in a role completely different from Officer Shifflet on Newhart. Jerry Paris' direction times everything with a sledgehammer that hits more than misses occasionally slowing down so we can take a breath. If you're a fan of all of the above players as well as composer Charles Fox, what are you waiting for? By all means, seek this one out! By the way, Susman would later be the voice of the Greyhound dog on TV and radio. In case anyone didn't notice, Duncan rides Greyhound buses in the movie.

Neil Simon's Broadway dud, which featured Connie Stevens, Anthony Perkins and Richard Benjamin, has been recast but not rethought for this unbearable screen-translation. The grating text has been preserved as if each verbal volley was actually worth keeping. If this picture were to succeed at all, screenwriters Arnold Margolin and Jim Parker should have thrown out most of the source material and started from scratch. Twangy-voiced swimmer Sandy Duncan, an Olympic hopeful arriving in Los Angeles to teach and to train, gets mixed up with her nutty bungalow neighbors, a writer and an editor for a protest newspaper (the Nitty Gritty...its motto is "A Remedy for a Sick Society"). Duncan ends up working for the fellas, but she can't cook, can't type, and can't take shorthand. She pretends not to know how to dust. The guys (Tony Roberts and manic Todd Susman) pretend to find her adorable. Actually, Duncan has an appealing personality, but the silly voice she uses here (coupled with the dim lines) just about ruins her chances of charming the audience. The picture is over-lit, over-directed, over-acted, and completely underwhelming. * from ****

When I first saw this movie in the theatre, I was alone and feeling down. I walked out feeling much better. Along with a down home America girl played wonderfuly by Sandy Duncan is a Hippie played by tony Roberts. You can see they would not agree on anything. They seem to hate each other and show it with the sharp and witty dialog that goes on during their arguements. In the end they fall in love of course, but getting to that point is fun and witty. The other charachtors in the money are wonderful also. Todd Susman plays Roberts roomate who also creates sharp and funny dialog with Roberts. Some people may find this movie corny, but I loved it. Give it a chamce. They almost never show it on T.V. so you may have to hunt for it.