Daisy Clover

It's always amazed me that this movie doesn't get more respect--sure it's campy, but the performances are fantastic: Christopher Plummer's speech to Daisy by the pool after she's been abandoned by her new husband (a super young Robert Redford playing a gorgeous pansexual for God's sake--what more could a person ask?) is stunning and Natalie Wood's "The Circus is a wacky world"-induced breakdown in the sound booth is brilliant and scary. Roddy McDowell's killing smile as he says "Good night, Miss Clover." Redford getting away with lines like "Good night, sweet, sad, lonely lady" and a drunken Malora (great name) screaming at Daisy "They say I've got a headache, BUT I'VE GOT A HEARTACHE!!!" The gorgeous black and white promotional video of Daisy singing and bouncing her way through the cardboard galaxies. All incredible stuff--why isn't this on DVD yet? Wake up, Hollywood, and give us this treasure on DVD!

A rather strange film upon revisit. For those who have loved Aldrich's LEGEND OF LYLAH CLARE and BAREFOOT CONTESSA--This one is for you. Granted Natalie Wood is playing young when the actress was in her late 20's--but her legend is alive and well in this film. Plummer is amazing, as is the actress who plays his manic depressive wife. The film is beautifully shot in and around LA, and the Kurt Weill'ish musical score by Previn is superb. A decidedly campy look inside the film studios of the Forties, but intriguing, interestingly acted, superbly scored, photographed, and one of those strange films in which the leading lady who died tragically offers many amazing moments to remember. The film was horribly reviewed when it was first released--but time and the personal stories, both successful and tragic, of many of its actors, give the film a certain fascination in 2002. Unfortunately it has not yet been released on DVD--but it must be seen in wide screen and not in the pan and scan version available on VHS. Gavin Lambert did the screenplay based on his own novel. . .and it works.

Almost everything about this film ... from the casting and acting, to the plot, to the musical numbers, to the costumes and hairstyles ... seems fake.

Natalie Wood, 27 years old, plays 15-year old Daisy Clover, a spunky tomboy/brat/beach bum extraordinaire. Daisy, who lives with her eccentric elderly mom, played by Ruth Gordon, in a shabby wooden trailer near the beach in Southern California, has Hollywood stars in her eyes. And when Raymond Swan (Christopher Plummer), head of The Swan Studio comes calling, Daisy jumps at the chance to be a movie star.

She leaves her mom and lets Swan remake her into America's ideal of a teenage girl. In effect, Swan Studio is Daisy's image maker. Even though surrounded by cold-blooded snakes in the movie business, Daisy is such a brat that she doesn't elicit much sympathy from me. But then I found little interest in any of the characters.

With the exception of Daisy's mom, the characters lack depth of emotion. Maybe that's the point ... Hollywood is filled with emotionally empty people. They're all image, no substance.

Set in the 1930s, the film has visuals that look straight out of the 1960s, especially relative to hairstyles and costumes. The musical numbers, though well executed, trend toward upbeat, bubble gum optimism, which is inconsistent with the film's overall thematic cynicism. I know what they're driving at with these musical numbers. But the abrupt tonal shift is jarring.

Perhaps the worst element of this film is Natalie Wood's performance. She seriously overacts. It's a performance not unlike that of Patty Duke, in "Valley Of The Dolls" (1967).

"Inside Daisy Clover" is filmed in color. It would have been more realistic had it been filmed in 1930s B&W. And the cinematography projects an annoying wide screen image.

The only thing I liked about this film is the presence of the always interesting, and unique, Ruth Gordon. Otherwise, this film is forgettable.

I remember this movie was highly publicized in the 1960s, but it had no appeal to me then as a teenager. As an adult, however, I was pleasantly surprised. Natalie Wood plays an oddball 15-year-old. It took every ounce of her acting skills, since she was nearly 30 when she made the film. And it requires a willing - heck, make that mandatory - suspension of disbelief on the viewer's part. But it's worth it.

Wood plays against type, since she's not the suave glamor princess she usually played in other movies. And the movie itself is pretty odd, particularly in a scene where Wood's character has to repeatedly over-dub a musical number. And somewhat shockingly, during the otherwise serious dramatic arc of Inside Daisy Clover, you will suddenly be treated to several minutes of what is - at least in my dark-humor-loving eyes - one of the funniest, laugh-out-loud suicide scenes I've ever seen.

Particularly if you're a Natalie Wood fan, this film is quirky, fun, and worth watching.

Inside Daisy Clover is not just any movie about a wanna-be-star that has her dream come true and in the process witnesses the changes and corruption that bring her to the top. It is a movie about the movie industry itself. Actually it is the BEST movie that Hollywood has ever made about itself. Natalie Wood stars as the 15-year-old child star and manages to pull it through. She is a lot older and we all know, but there are times when just a look or a smile of hers can be nothing but as close to childhood as an adult actress could ever get. On the other hand we have Robert Redford, the young careless and unsteady lover that lifts everyone he meets to the sky and then dumps them to the ground leaving in his passage something more than pain: the realization that what is inevitable will happen and we all know it from the beginning. Somehow we wish it were different but it isn't and the end offers the only solution that could close such a movie without destroying its unique feeling. Redford's role is undoubtedly the greatest of his career. He is so young, strong and handsome that no one can resist him. And yet, there is a lot more hidden beneath his nice facade than anyone could ever think possible. Somehow he is a tortured character that finds content in hurting others but still he does it in such a way that you can't but admire him. Even the most fanatic feminist can try to persuade me he isn't the most charming - and at the same time cryptic - character even written for the big screen but the truth remains the same: like Michael Caine in Alfie we'd love to hate him but we can't! I must say the end is not exactly as dark as I would have expected it given the fact that we all know Daisy's path goes only downhill from the moment she meets Wade (Redford) but the queer thing (and what makes it a little unbelievable and lame) is that she manages to survive in such a random way that even the viewer wouldn't want her to. But that's the beauty of it all!