Released by 20th Century Fox in December of 1972, Paul Newman's sensitive screen version of Paul Zindel's Pulitzer-Prize winning play has been unjustly forgotten. A showcase for wife Joanne Woodward who gives a bravura performance as Beatrice aka "Betty the Loon". In addition to Woodward, there are excellent performances from 2 second generation actors: Nell Potts and Robert Wallach as her daughters Matilda and Ruth, and Judith Lowry as "Nanny" who manages to create a character without uttering a single word. Newman, the 4 actresses, and a well-chosen supporting cast succeed in making the crux of the film funny, touching and believable. This film, and Rachel,Rachel(68)are tributes to director Newman. Marigolds is not available on VHS or DVD. I saw it at the Brooklyn Academy of Music(BAM) as part of a retrospective tribute to Paul Newman the actor and director.

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (Wow! Long title...) is an interesting drama about an awful mother and her two teenage daughters. The mother, Beatrice (Joanne Woodward), is a widow who doesn't really work. She instead chain smokes, complains about everything, insults everyone, including her kids, and doesn't seem to know how to raise children. Her oldest daughter Ruth (Roberta Wallach) is a popular cheerleader, who occasionally has convulsions. Youngest daughter Matilda (Nell Potts, Woodward's real life daughter) is good at science, but is very shy and has no friends (despite being more attractive, in my opinion). They have an old woman as a border to earn some money. This movie is very sweet and deals realistically with family problems. Beatrice is obnoxious and self-centered and Ruth is the same. The only character one can sympathize with is shy Matilda. The film was directed by Paul Newman, husband of Woodward and father of Potts. It was based on a play by Paul Zindel, who wrote a book, "The Pigman", that I had to read for high school. I think the movie was once available on VHS, but it's probably out-of-print. I hope someday the Newman family will take some time off from making spaghetti sauce to collaborate with 20th Century Fox to give this movie the deluxe DVD treatment.

In a year of excellent female performances on the big screen, someone had to suffer by being overlooked for an Oscar, and I can't think of whom I'd leave out over Lixa (The deserving winner), Diana, Cicely, Maggie or Liv, but Joanne Woodward here is brilliant. Her character is probably the most unlikable of any of the characters of the other women, and her brush this is often off-putting and depressing in representing a widow with two children having to take in a boarder to make ends meet. When that border is Judith Lowry, the future Mother Dexter of 'Phyllis", there's going to be some competition for attention. But Lowry, only grunting on occasion, playing a woman abandoned by her daughter, had the epitome of the pathetic effects of old age, booking on silently with anger at her daughter as she gets the impact of what's happening. A glow on her face over the attention she is paid gives us a glimpse of her acceptance of what little happiness she can find.

As for the two daughters, they are very different, with the self-centered Roberta Wallach suffering from epilepsy on occasion, making fun of her mother in a drama class skit, and declaring her hatred of Lowry just because she's old and helpless. It's as if she's really her mother's daughter, unlike Nell Potts who takes Lowry for walks and takes her class projects seriously including one for science which is what the title is based on. Both young ladies provide real interesting characters, both embarrassed by their mother in one way or another, but in very different ways.

While the three supporting characters are all very interesting, they know they are taking a backseat to Woodward who was hotter than ever, getting great mature parts on screen, and always coming home with excellent reviews, even if the characters weren't people that the audience would want to hang out with. That's especially the truth about her character of Bernice here, a role played by Sada Thompson in his original production, Eileen Heckart on TV, and Joan Blondell and Shelley Winters in other theatrical productions. I've seen the abridged version with Heckart (which also co-starred Lowry) and this movie version is far more detailed. Not sure I could stomach this more than once, but it sure is fascinating viewing. Great direction by Paul Newman aides in Woodward giving another performance of total excellence.