Extasis prohibido

Grace Caldwell (Suzanne Pleshette) has a problem - she really likes sex. The film treats it like an addiction, probably triggered when she is raped by a friend of her brother's when she is still in high school. It seems like, if she was a guy, at least when she was single, the adults wouldn't be taking this so seriously. But abortion was largely illegal in 1965, so that's at least part of it.

So like most addicts, Grace pledges reform at certain junctures - when her mother has a heart attack after they have an argument over her behavior, and then later when she marries Sidney Tate (Bradford Dillman). She first grows to love Sidney when he defends her honor against the insults of the man who raped her in high school. But in each case, in spite of promises of sobriety, she falls off the wagon and offends again. Being married and doing this can have particularly bad consequences, and it does.

Suzanne is joined by the earthy Ben Gazzara, the patrician Bradford Dillman, the slimy Mark Goddard (offering to scrub Suzanne's back), and even Peter Graves and the oleaginous character actor James Gregory slithers around as a family doctor (!). Bret Somers (then Mrs. Jack Klugman I believe) even proves that she was a thespian at least once before The Match Game became her claim to fame. One of my favorite character actors from the '60s, Frank Maxwell also pops up in a small role, (see 1958's Lonelyhearts for a sample of his real worth as an actor).

Despite the puritanical overtones, this is really a psychodrama about the forces of lust and jealousy versus the 50's white bread fantasy of domestic bliss. A-list actors and some great camera shots make me wonder why this film isn't more highly regarded.

I know this movie doesn't deserve a 7, but it's very entertaining if you like scandalous happenings amongst the small town elite.

Suzanne Pleshette is gorgeous and alluring even as she is conflicted by inappropriate liaisons with men. It's not her fault that she looks like a lush 30-year old when she's supposed to be 16.

We are led to believe she has a disorder (nymphomania), but maybe her actions are just outside the norms of the town which seems mired more in 1955 than 1965? There is no need to recap the plot here. If you like movies where upset people grip highball glasses and gulp down liquor, or make out with people not their husbands in cars with rain/steamed windows, you'll love A RAGE TO LIVE (based on the novel by John O'Hara).

I thought that "A Rage To Live" was a fine -yet tragic- portrayal of a nymphomaniac (Suzanne Pleshette) struggling to find personal identity outside of the bedroom, auto backseat, etc. Also, the meaning & outer realms of "love" and how it factors into a one-sided, non-monogamous marriage. Ben Gazzara's character is very dark; a hard-working Irishman who desires material wealth as well as the flesh. There are several story lines that branch from Pleshette's infidelities, one of which brings a psychologically tragic aspect to the film. A feminist approach to this film might suggest that all of the other women in the film were overly (yet appropriately for the times) supportive of their husbands alone, living or deceased. Pleshette's character felt the need to find her true self with the help of emotional love, given to her for the first time by her husband. She constantly admits to having a "problem that she is embarrassed about", however she seeks no real counsel or help. Pleshette almost appears too aware of her faults yet acts baffled when she is caught. Her character is too assuming of others' forgiveness, using the age-old "I said I was sorry" routine almost every time. The "encounters" are subtle and portrayed very tactfully as well, I suppose because it was still the 1960's; I would hate for this film to be remade because I'm sure that some of the scenes would have overblown sexual situations.

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.