Les sensuels

The script is sharp and at times, poignant, the acting is superb, and the overall impact is overwhelming. It peels the label off of the seemingly happy suburban couples and, in so doing, provides the sharpest snapshot ever put to film about a time and place that no longer exists, the one that was written about by such giants as Updike and Cheever. The only problem with this movie is that it's only shown on TV about once every ten years and it's not available on video. One last comment. After watching this movie, you'll never look at Tony Randall in the same way.

It may not be Peyton Place but this tight-knit Californian community is still plagued by maritial infidelity, heavy drinking, domestic abuse, rape and, of course, racial prejudice. Martin Ritt's "No Down Payment" benefits from being well-written, (Philip Yordan), nicely photographed in black-and-white Cinemascope, (Joseph LaShelle), and it features a good cast of up-and-coming Fox stars headed by Joanne Woodward, (very good), though it's Tony Randall and Pat Hingle who walk off with the picture. Considered very daring and adult in its day, it now seems pretty tame but it did pave the way for a number of 'grown-up' American movies in the late fifties and early sixties and is actually a very good example of its kind. Worth rediscovering.

I grew up in a post ww11 housing development, and all the characters of No Down Payment were our neighbors and family. Right down to the racial discriminating, only Mexicans were the people our neighborhood discriminated against. A pity. The buying of new cars,and ex-servicemen unable to find their niche, still living their war glory days. And young women who weren't really ready for married life,like the character portrayed by Joanne Woodward. The actors playing the characters were so believable, Pat Hingle even looked the part of the put upon successful man, Tony Randle played a depressed alcoholic,Jeffrey Hunter was an excellent college educated young man. I knew all these characters while growing up in a post ww11 housing development. Now I want to buy a copy of this excellent film.

This 20th Century Fox expose of "the good life" in the suburbs wasn't seen by anybody much in 1957, and it's easy to see why: It probes convincingly deep into the less pleasant aspects of this clean, all-white subculture, and suburban moviegoers probably didn't want to see their worst aspects on screen, and urban audiences didn't care. Early Martin Ritt, and typically thorough of him, it explores prejudice, sexism, alcoholism, war veterans with what would now be diagnosed as PTSD, and capitalism's way of trapping young families in debt. The wide-screen black-and-white cinematography is clean and alluring, and all eight principals do well--Sheree North, groomed by 20th to be a threat to Monroe, proves once again that they didn't really give her enough chances to show what she could do. The shiny surfaces and flattering clothes and powerful cars all illustrate that "good life," and show what's wrong with it. And in comprehensively exploring the roots and hypocrisies and effects of racism at the time, it's a good deal braver than many contemporary films.

This is not the sort of movie, I usually like. It's basically a soap opera about of the lives of 4 young married couples in a new community in California. What makes it stand out is the truly amazing performances of the actors - Oscar material, certainly. It's well worth the rental, if you can find it. Occasionally shown at 2am on access cable, this is a hidden gem.