A Rage to Live (1965)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Walter Grauman

Writers:

John T. Kelley (writer)
John O'Hara (novel)

Release Date:

3 December 1965 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The names and places didn't matter . . . only when!

Plot:

A woman's sexual compulsions threaten to destroy her marriage.

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Cuckold | Based On Novel | Independent Film

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Suzanne Pleshette	...	Grace Caldwell Tate
Bradford Dillman	...	Sidney Tate
Ben Gazzara	...	Roger Bannon
Peter Graves	...	Jack Hollister
Bethel Leslie	...	Amy Hollister
Carmen Mathews	...	Emily Caldwell
Linden Chiles	...	Brock Caldwell
James Gregory	...	Dr. O'Brien
Ruth White	...	Mrs. Bannon
Mark Goddard	...	Charlie Jay
Sarah Marshall	...	Connie
George Furth	...	Paul Rutherford
Virginia Christine	...	Emma

Also Known As:

John O'Hara's A Rage to Live (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16

Company:

Mirisch Corporation, The

Trivia:

According to pre-production publicity, Anne Bancroft was originally sought for role eventually played by Suzanne Pleshette.

Quotes:

Grace Caldwell: All right, you win. You get your dull little story off your big manly chest, but you make it fast, huh?
Roger Bannon: Right.
[pause]
Roger Bannon: From the first time I saw you -- and that was five years ago, when I worked for Lanigan and Doyle -- I haven't been able to stop looking. Not that I wanted to stop. Looking at you became one of the big pleasures of my life. Maybe the biggest. It got so I had you memorized...

Soundtrack:

Rage To Live

Study of nymphomania among the upper middle class.

This is an attempt to duplicate the success of BUTTERFIELD 8, another O'Hara novel adaptation about nymphomania which starred Elizabeth Taylor in an Oscar-winning performance. Here Suzanne Pleshette struggles mightily with her compulsion. She loves men and she loves sex with men. Despite her honesty about her inability to control her compulsion, all around her are so willing to denounce her and call her "slut", but no one is willing to understand her or truly love her, despite her problem. This tried to be a morality film but we wind up hating the society around her with its jealousy, its smugness and its hypocrisy, and we care about Grace (well played by Pleshette) and her happiness. So its purpose sort of backfires with modern audiences. The Costume Design was nominated for an Oscar - we don't know why - the contemporary clothing of the women is attractive but never outstanding. It DID deserve Oscar noms (but did not get them) for excellent black and white Panavision cinematography and an equally excellent dramatic score by Nelson Riddle. An aborning drama with a surprise twist at the end - sort of a take on the boy who cried wolf. Worth a look.