A Rage to Live (1965)

That was an excellent one.

i must have seen a different film!!

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

This is a spicy drama based on a John O'Hara novel. Suzanne Pleshette is terrific as Grace Caldwell, a newspaper heiress that has a problem with her sexual desires. Not really a problem for her; but an embarrassment for her family. Her many trysts threaten to destroy her wealthy family's image. While on a vacation with her widowed mother Emily (Carmen Matthews), Grace can't wait to have a fling with a young waiter. This causes her mother a fatal heart attack. This beautiful nymphomaniac promises to end her sexually wild ways after marriage. But, she's got to have it when she wants it; affair after affair. Even old friends are not safe from her wanton desires. No doubt about it, Miss Pleshette is very desirable. Walter Grauman directs a very solid cast that includes: Bradford Dillman, Ben Gazzara, James Gregory, Peter Graves, Bethel Leslie, Mark Goddard, Ruth White and Aneta Corsaut.

I would definitely recommend this film to others. I especially enjoyed this film because it had a great cast and the story plays out quite realistically. A lot of modern movies have very unrealistic endings or story lines and in contrast this movie contains a solid story line and a realistic ending. It shows how an individual's actions has consequences. So from this perspective, it also has a lesson woven into it. I really like the dramatic role each character has. Characters like Mrs. Hollister and Mr. Bannon really make the story entertaining. Aside from the richness of the story line, I absolutely loved the costumes! Suzanne Plechette wears a number of gorgeous dresses throughout the film that would still be fashionable today.

Movie adaptations from John O'Hara never really get it right. Either they're not frank enough or they sentimentalize or they just plain don't have the budget to put his world on screen. He's very specific about the historical moment when his stories take place. "A Rage to Live" (like "From the Terrace" and "Butterfield 8" as well) is transposed to a later time. It really might have helped if it could have shown us the changing manners and mores of a very specific Pennsylvania world. What I mainly remember it for is one of the two flat-out sexiest performances by a male in the movies that I can readily recall. The other one is Ray Danton in "Too Much, Too Soon." Gazzara is hotter than blazes in his part. A few years ago, when the actor Harry Reems was extradited to Tennessee for appearing in a porn film shot elsewhere that just happened to be sold there, Gazzara was one of his most vocal defenders. He was no kid, Gazzara, but he said "I work out every day. My body is in WONDERFUL shape. And if I want to do a porn film, I want the right to do one." Any surprise that he was so sexy in this film, or in "The Strange One"?

Grace Caldwell differs from the usual "bad girl" in that she's not trading sex for money, social advancement, etc. Nor is she detached from a "normal" life of home and family. Rather she is an intelligent wife & mother who has a fling on the side just because she's horny, in the manner expected of men. A good film with strong performances by Suzanne Pleshette as Grace & Ben Gazarra as her lover.