The Affair

THE AFFAIR is a very bad TV movie from the 1970s starring the then-husband-wife team of Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood as hesitant lovers. She has polio and leads a reclusive existence as a pop song writer. He's an ambitious lawyer who is very outgoing and absolutely smitten with her. Their affair, such as it is, is doomed from the start, and she knows it, but goes along with it anyway. Two things to watch for if you are trapped into watching this: Wood's Jane Fonda hairdo that is never mussed, no matter what, and a tune she sings early in this dreadful flick. She sings it for four or five or six minutes, so you know it's classic padding between commercials. It also is one of the worst songs ever written, and the woman doing Wood's singing voice should have been shot and put out of her misery. Also, keep an eye out for all the peasant tops and dresses. By comparison, Wagner looks relatively timeless, with close-cropped hair and sporting a series of classic suits.

Ordinary TV movie that would be forgotten entirely if not for the costarring of the lead pair who had just reunited years after the end of their first storybook marriage. The film is assuredly beneath Natalie but right in Wagner's ballpark, she did it so they could work together and his feature film career was over. He offers a surface performance, she a good one although she may look the worst on screen that she ever has. Expecting during production, the baby-a daughter was named Courtney after her character, she looks bloated with a very unflattering hairdo. Still her movie star charisma shines though making this gruel better than it would have been.

These are the first words of Natalie Wood concerning Robert Wagner as a visiting lawyer at her father's house, who later on will make himself her first lover. Of course it is utterly irresponsible to engage in a love affair with a polio cripple, but she has no experience and falls for him, which leads to consequences. Too late he realizes his own mistake and just leaves her, which of course is the worst thing he could do. Natalie Wood's performance is as sensitive and endearing as ever, while you must hate Robert Wagner for his wooden dullness and shortness of character. Natalie Wood deserved a better husband, they tried to divorce, but just like that other fatal marriage between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, they just had to do it again, and as everyone knows, that marriage ended by Natalie Wood's accidental death. We have never learned the entire truth about it from Robert Wagner, her death remains an unfinished affair, but as you see them together in a love affair like in this film, he certainly is not good for her. She plays a composer who writes and sings her own songs, and the great song she is performing in the beginning she actually sings herself, perfectly in tune and in perfect pitch - some regard this film as her swan song, and as such, it is perhaps a final emblem of a tragically precious actress.

I think this is a very sensitive performance by Natalie Wood. She had any great roles but this one showed a depth of character not seen in her larger studio films. I enjoyed it very much and encourage those sho have doubts to watch it through to the end.

It's difficult to know who to blame for this dreary presentation. Even the best actors are disadvantaged with a poor script and I have to say that the script has to share some of the blame for this uninteresting piece of entertainment. A few times voices are raised in heated argument but on the whole the dialogue drifts along slowly and hesitantly as each character timidly explores the possibility of an affair. Natalie Wood as Courtney does well enough as the polio victim but her scenes with Marcus (Robert Wagner)were dull and vague and I felt little sympathy for either of the characters. It is true that Courtney confined herself to her own little world and was afraid to step outside of it and let some sparks fly. Some tighter direction might have helped too with Courtney delivering a greater feeling of her frustration. For me the projection of the feelings of the characters was missing. There was little drama to speak of.

So don't waste your time on this one. There are plenty of good dramas around