The Group (1966)

Fans of Sidney Lumet and screen adaptations of 20th-century literature may want to check out The Group, a relatively faithful film version of Mary McCarthy's seminal post-graduate "campus" novel of the same name. The elliptical and rather familiar plot follows a group of young women--all classmates, friends, and recent graduates from a certain single-sex liberal arts college--as they face the inevitable pressures to sand the rough edges off their personalities and to surrender their independence to the men in their lives and the institutions they represent. Lumet (The Verdict, Dog Day Afternoon) lends to this tale his peculiar sense of lighting, pacing, and rich, captivating color, but he directs with a ponderousness and seriousness that the source material perhaps does not deserve, and certainly cannot comfortably withstand. The wedding-funeral framing device employed here is one we've all encountered before, and Lumet does not afford his young actresses much latitude of expression or interpretation. Particularly stiff (in her first film role, and, boy, does it show) is Candace Bergen; as Lakey Eastlake, the "beautiful one" among the friends, she's asked to provide a moral center for the story, yet her scenes are wooden and rarely develop any dramatic momentum. The lovely Elizabeth Hartman fares better as Priss, an innocent whose blunt sexual initiation still feels harrowing. Amid the gravity of the proceedings, an ensemble cast (which includes, among others, Joan Hackett, Shirley Knight, and Joanna Pettet) strains to replicate the searing wit of McCarthy's prose; and, in several winning scenes, the script preserves some fine examples of her dialogue. Nevertheless, the source novel--by no means War and Peace--doubtlessly would have benefited from a lighter touch. --Miles Bethany Amazon.com

Torn between satire and soap

It is my view that some types of novel do better when adapted for Tv rather than the movies and The Group by Mary McCarthy is one example .While not a long novel -like Dickens or the great Victorians wrote ( whose books also cry out for TV rather than cinema simply because they are so long)-it is one with a great many characters and even at 150 minutes the movie simply cannot do justice to them all
The Group was one of the earliest movies to show women's emotional development as individuals ,not simply lost souls awaiting salvation from the penis owning half of the world .
It is based on a book that is hard on the adapter having a focus on 8 graduates from Vassar in 1933 and tracing their lives over a 20 year period .It tries as does the book to give equal time to them all but in trying to cram so much into the movie the result is that it feels unweildy and some of the characters emerge as sketches not fully rounded portraits .Much of the author's social and political views have been eliminated and the movie is the poorer for it

The women are Lakey (Candice Bergen -on debut)as the Sapphic "Lakey" Dottie( Joan Hackett);Priss ( Elizabeth Hartman)'Polly (Shirley Knight);Kay (Joanna Pettet) Pokey ( Mary-Robin Redd) 'Helena (Kathleen Widdoes) and Libby (Jessica Walter )The men in their lives are mostly weak and disposable

Director Sidney Lumet seems unsure if the material should be treated as satire or soap and it is the soap operish elements that fare better /And there are several of them -there are such soap staples as lesbianism ,alcoholism ,frigidity ,death and war . It seems appropriate given the "soapish proceedings that Larry Hagman crops up as one of the men involved
The best episode for me was the lightest as Polly wryly copes with her eccentric father who is allegedly crazy and shrewdly exploits this "fact"
The period detail in the De Luxe photography of Boris Kaufman is impeccable and the all NY female cast do well .The basic problems are the uncertainty of directorial tone and a movie too full of characters to give us a coherent and wholly focussed narrative

This is still a work that should be seen and its reltively unknown status is sad
December 6, 2007

Awesome

I first saw this movie in 1972 and it has remained one of my favorites. I have wanted my own copy for a long time March 5, 2005

COMPELLING ODDITY

Sidney Lumet gives this movie a glossy sheen, and it is certainly dated with a sense of pretension. However, the story, about a group of lberal-educated women in the 30s/40s, is fascinating in its truly bold depiction of issues rarely raised in the movies of the 50s and 60s. The issues these women confront as they weave themselves into ordinary life play like a prequel to Valley Of The Dolls -- with some camp intact. Jessica Walter plays her frigid society girl to the hilt, while Shirley Knight has a gorgeous glow as perhaps the most humane member of the group. The costumes and art direction are much more 50s/60s than 30s chic -- and this detracts from the story, which is infinitely more compelling and even shocking knowing that these women -- who speak freely of communism and lesbianism -- are essentially products of a Depression-era college. Still, what fun to peek into the living quarters of these Manhattanites, and watch the soap suds rise. June 25, 2001

Enjoyable, but not great

I doubt that any film can do justice to Mary McCarthy's spicy turns of phrases or her brilliant social insights. Given this parameter The Group is an enjoyable film. It is a little prudish when compared to the novel, but I imagine that it was bold for its period. October 21, 1999

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