Gypsy

"Gypsy" is a very difficult movie to have achieved from a writer's standpoint. As is true of "Dr. Zhivago" and "The Searchers", much of the film is told from the point of view of a younger person, who serves as the viewer's alter ego within scenes while the central character does little. This book, play and film was the result of Rose Louise Hovick's biography of herself and her mother before and at the beginning of her celebrity as "Gypsy Rose Lee", burlesque icon. The film is filled with famous songs and comedy scenes, alternating with moving confrontations that for once gain by having been real ones. Among the songs are "Some People", "Everything's Coming Up Roses", "All I Need is the Girl" and "You Gotta Have a Gimmick", "Small World" and more. The memorable comedic scenes involve the repetition of Dainty June and her boys coming onstage in various guises, with a two-person cow dancing behind her; the three strippers who try to teach Louise how to succeed; the children singing, "Momma Get Married"; and "Please Mr. Goldstone" in gratitude to the producer who inexplicably likes their corny act. The moving scenes are Herbie, Mama's boyfriend, trying to convince her to give up her hard-minded pursuit of show business fame, Louise realizing the girl a young boy dancer says he needs is not she; her realization just before she goes onstage at a burlesque theater at her mother's insistence that she has one talent--she is a pretty girl, etc. the songs by Jule Styne all work, but only some are classics. the direction of the film by Mervyn LeRoy is very good, economical, and only occasionally look staged the device of theatrically closing out a scene by artificially dimming the lights for me works in this fictionalized biography; we get as viewers the feeling we are seeing glimpses of an interesting life, partly because of this device. Costumes by Orry-Kelly, Howard Shoup and others, the cinematography of Harry Stradling, Sr., excellent period sets, art direction and more are major assets to this colorful but never-splashy musical success. not the last of director LeRoy's here is that we see theatrical scenes and scenes in a theater as well or better handled than in any other film I know. The actors including the three strippers, Faith Dane, Betty Bruce and Roxanne Arlen are wonderfully funny; Benny Lessy as Mr. Goldstone, Louis Quinn, Guy Raymond and Harry Shannon get all they can out of their small parts. the children who play Rose's girls are all good, particularly Ann Jillian as June. As Herbie, Karl Malden is energetic and first-rate at conveying his love and his desire for a normal life, for the children and himself. Natalie Wood is too thin-voiced to be great but she is a seasoned performer and underplays Louise intelligently. As Rose, Rosalind Russell occupies the active center of almost every scene. There is another way to play Rose other than as someone coldly obsessed with fame; I saw Giselle Mackenzie do the role onstage as a caring obsessive, one who would not be denied justice for her children as she was for herself. But Rosalind Russell is alternately brassy and wheedling, working everyone for exactly what she needs while pretending to be pushing for the sake of her daughters. She is intelligent, always interesting and frequently epic in her hunger for what has eluded her in her own performing career. And in "Rose's Turn" we see that her extraordinary charisma and courage were indeed something special. This is a show business biography of unusual believability and intelligence for all its laughter. And a memorable musical biography that works differently on film, but does work very effectively.

For years I have read that Rosalind Russell was miscast as Mama Rose in this film production of "Gypsy." I disagree. I thought she brought great humanity to this hard-boiled character. Russell proves that no person's persona is black or white, but a mixture of both. In short, her performance is excellent and very touching.

This enjoyable class act has Natalie Wood as Gypsy Rose Lee and Rosalind Russell as her overbearing mother Rose. And they are both terrific. Ok, so Russell isn't Ethel Merman and the OBC has that bit of an edge where the songs are concerned, but as an actress she is great in this role, especially in the scenes where June and Louise (Gypsy-to-be) are auditioning and she constantly interrupts; and in the Mr Goldstone number.

Natalie Wood looks the part and gives Louise a sympathetic edge, particularly in 'Little Lamb'. The best musical numbers of the lot though are Tulsa's song and dance number rehearsing his imaginary double act, and the truly brilliant 'You Gotta Have a Gimmick'. It is also a joy to see Karl Malden in a nice supporting role as Rose's long suffering beau Herbie.

I guess Roz Russell's singing, which was dubbed, was a bit underwhelming, but she has great presence in many of her songs, such as "Rose's Turn". She gives a pretty complex portrayal of Mama Rose that shows she has some heart. Though I wish I'd seen Ethel Merman, Miss Russell is a worthy substitute! Natalie Wood is quite good, too, giving much depth to her portrayal of Louise/Gypsy. Ann Jillian is good, also, as Dainty June. Karl Malden does overact, but that's only a small complaint. Great songs and good performances make this worth watching.

It's been nearly 50 years since I first saw this film, and at the time I thought it was good. Over the years since, many criticisms have been hurled at this film version, and it has suffered a bad reputation. Yes, it would have been great to have a film record of Merman performing one of her most famous roles, but Merman was not as good on film as on the stage. In subsequent years, I have seen the Bette Midler TV version (Midler was much more miscast than Roz Russell! And Midler seemed to really struggle vocally in the part). I have also seen Tyne Daly on stage (great acting, vocally a stretch for her), and most recently, Patti LuPone's Tony winning, mesmerizing performance on stage. LuPone had both the acting and singing ability required and then some - it would be interesting to see how she would fare in a film version. So, when TCM recently showed this, I thought it was time to revisit the film and see what my view was after nearly 50 years. My verdict is that Rosalind Russell is not that bad really, she really acts the part, and as for Lisa Kirk dubbing some of her songs, I think it is a good fit and not at all distracting. All of the supporting roles are excellently played, too, especially my favorite Paul Wallace as Tulsa. In short, I think Russell deserves a lot more credit than she is often given for her performance!