Geraldine Page Movies
The daughter of a physician, Geraldine Page became a professional actress at 17, winning critical raves for her performance in a 1952 off-Broadway production of Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke (which had only recently been expanded by Williams from his one-act play Eccentricities of a Nightingale). Within a year, Ms. Page was co-starring with John Wayne in the austere 3-D Western Hondo. Too offbeat, too mercurial, and much too overly selective to qualify for movie stardom in the 1950s, Page flourished on Broadway during that decade, again excelling as a Tennessee Williams heroine in the 1959 staging of Sweet Bird of Youth. When she repeated her stage roles in the film versions of Summer and Smoke and Sweet Bird of Youth, she was nominated for an Oscar on both occasions. She went on to win two Emmies for her portrayals of Truman Capote's eccentric aunt in the TV productions A Christmas Memory (1967) and The Thanksgiving Visitor (1969), and after seven nominations won a belated Oscar for her lead performance in 1985's A Trip to Bountiful. Married twice, Geraldine Page's second husband (from 1963 until her death in 1987) was actor Rip Torn; and, yes, the couple's country estate was named "Torn Page." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1976
In the first episode of a two-part story (originally telecast as a single two-hour "special"), Lt. Kojak (Telly Savalas) tackles a case of matricide that has remained unsolved from two years. Unfortunately, he meets stiff opposition in the form of Edna Morrison (Geraldine Page), a powerful politician who is determined that the whole truth about the murder will never see the light of day. Featured in the supporting cast as a deputy district attorney is a pre-Murphy Brown Charles Kimbrough. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1975
In this drama, the New York State County Chairwoman must use all her prestige and influence to get her grandson acquitted of murder charges. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
The Day of the Locust is anything but a cheerful, light look at Hollywood in the '30s. It recreates both the town as well as the filmmaking world around which much of the town revolved with devastating accuracy. The movie tells the twin tales of talentless wannabe actress Faye Greener (Karen Black) and Homer Simpson (Donald Sutherland), a lovelorn accountant who couldn't care less about movies. Around this framework, a huge and intricate social network is tellingly revealed, until the film's gruesome and tragic ending. Not for those who prefer to hang onto their illusions about the glory days of Hollywood, The Day of the Locust, based on the novel by Nathanael West, is a must-see for serious film buffs. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Sutherland, Karen Black, (more)
- 1974
The science of "cryogenics" forms the basis of the made-for-TV Live Again, Die Again. Donna Mills plays a young woman who dies of rheumatic fever. At her deathbed request, Mills' body is frozen, in hopes of reviving her in the future. Thirty years later, Mills awakens, returning to the not-so-open arms of her doddering husband (Walter Pidgeon), her spiteful daughter (Vera Miles) and her mixed-up son (Mike Farrell). No, this was not produced by Walt Disney Studios. Adapted by Joseph Stefano from a novel by David Sale, Live Again, Die Again first aired February 16, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
- PG
Happy As the Grass Was Green still stands as one of the few Mennonite-related films ever made. Graham Beckel plays an aimless hippie who visits his friend's Pennsylvania home town on the occasion of his friend's brother's death. The community is primarily Mennonite, whose lifestyle intrigues Beckel. Slowly undergoing a religious conversion, Beckel elects to renounce beads and bongs to join the small, devoutly religious community. While the cast includes such recognizable favorites as Pat Hingle and Geraldine Page, most of the cast of Happy As the Grass Was Green consists of genuine Pennsylvanian Mennonites. The film was based on a novel by Merle Good. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
- PG
Based on Peter DeVries' novel Witch's Milk, Pete 'n' Tillie stars Walter Matthau and Carol Burnett in the title roles. Middle-aged when they first meet, eternally joking Pete and repressed "old maid" Tillie don't immediately hit it off. Gradually, their friendship deepens into love and culminates (reluctantly, on Pete's part) in marriage, eleven years of which is explored in this film. Throughout the funny and tragic moments, and despite the many breakups, their love endures. Oscar nominations went to screenwriter Julius J. Epstein and supporting actress Geraldine Page. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Matthau, Carol Burnett, (more)
Cliff Robertson wrote, produced, directed and acted the lead in this film about a rodeo performer. The rodeo footage in this film was shot at actual rodeo competitions. Rodeo rider J.W. Coop (Robertson) has just spent ten years in jail for passing bad checks. He comes out and discovers that everything except his crazy mother (Geraldine Page) has changed. Riders don't compete in all-around events anymore, but fly all over the country in private planes to compete in the same event in several rodeos a day. Furthermore, the sexual liberation movement has changed the way women relate to men. He is nonplused to discover a hippyish woman (Cristina Ferrare) who wants a no-strings relationship with him. The idea of health food catches him by surprise, too. Coop wants and needs to win a national rodeo championship, despite all the new challenges he faces. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cliff Robertson, Geraldine Page, (more)
- 1971
In this drama, a district attorney up for a judgeship is deemed unfit and an investigation ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
The Beguiled is a Freudian mood piece from the team of actor Clint Eastwood and director Don Siegel. Eastwood plays Corp. John McBurney, a wounded Union soldier during the Civil War, who takes refuge in a prim-and-proper Southern girl's school run by Martha Farnsworth (Geraldine Page). Chauvinistic, insensitive and conceited, McBurney takes full advantage of the women by bedding each successively -- and then learns the true meaning of "a woman scorned." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, Geraldine Page, (more)
- 1969
- PG
- Add Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice? to QueueAdd Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice? to top of Queue
Mrs. Marrable (Geraldine Page) is a bereaved widow who takes to hiring housekeepers then kills them for their money in this shadowy macabre drama. When Miss Tinsley (Mildred Dunnick) disappears, her former employer Alice (Ruth Gordon) investigates. Posing as a maid, she gains employment with the murderous Mrs. Marrable. Her nephew Mike (Robert Fuller) helps Alice and manages to fall in love with the girl next door (Rosemary Forsythe). When Alice exposes the murderess, she risks her life, and her disappearance leads to the title of the film. Look for Second City alumnus Peter Bonerz in a minor role. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Geraldine Page, Ruth Gordon, (more)
- 1969
This trilogy begins with "Miriam" in which the title character (Susan Dunfee) watches as her longtime nanny Miss Miller (Mildred Natwick) slowly sinks into insanity. In "Among The Paths to Eden," Mary (Maureen Stapleton) is a lonely woman searching for a husband among the widowers paying respects to their dearly departed at a local cemetery. "A Christmas Memory" concerns the childhood recollections of a woman who slowly loses her mind. The last segment is narrated by the author and was shown on ABC television, winning both an Emmy and Peabody Award. The success of the program prompted Capote and Eleanor Perry to expand this feature to a trilogy. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mildred Natwick, Susan Dunfee, (more)
Adapted from the book and play of the same name, The Happiest Millionaire is the (mostly) true story of eccentric Philadelphia millionaire Anthony J. Drexel Biddle (Fred MacMurray). The Biddle mansion is the gathering place for a pugilistic boxing class, pet alligators and would-be opera singers. Cordelia Biddle (Lesley Ann Warren), the daughter of Anthony and his wife (Greer Garson), wants to marry wealthy and handsome Angie Duke (John Davidson), but Angie's parents are shocked by the Biddles' freewheeling lifestyle. Thanks in part to the ebullient intervention of John Lawless (Tommy Steele), the Biddles' butler, all misunderstandings are eventually swept away. Like Disney's previous Mary Poppins, The Happiest Millionaire is decked out with a vibrant musical score by Richard and Robert Sherman, but the magic is somehow lacking this time around. This was the last live-action film to personally supervised by Walt Disney; released several months after Disney's death, the film was made available in 141-minute and 164-minute versions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred MacMurray, Tommy Steele, (more)
- 1967
A married couple uproot their entire family and move to Puerto Rico where the familial tree promptly dies in the face of relentless poverty and depression in this down-beat drama, the directorial debut of Argentine filmmaker Torre-Nilsson. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arthur Kennedy, Geraldine Page, (more)
- 1966
This cult favorite began as Francis Ford Coppola's UCLA thesis, ending up with a professional cast and nationwide release. Teen Peter Kastner undergoes his coming-of-age rites when, urged on by dad Rip Torn, he strikes out on own and moves to NYC. Every person Kastner meets is an eccentric's eccentric, from landlady Julie Harris to cop Dolph Sweet. Kastner's new friend Tony Bill, who works at the New York Public Library and accumulates pornography on side, introduces the boy to sex and drugs. Our hero truly matriculates to manhood after his heart is broken by disco dancer Elizabeth Hartman; he settles instead for Karen Black, still enough of an unknown quantity in 1966 to play against type as "the right girl". Adapted from a novel by David Benedictus, Big Boy is afflicted with usual youthful film-class fervor, crammed full of showoffish cinematic tricks that Coppola would eventually outgrow. But one can't deny that this seminal production is both heartfelt and energetic. To improve the film's saleability, distributors Seven Arts tacked on a music score by the Lovin' Spoonful, hardly necessary but very enjoyable appendange. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Hartman, Geraldine Page, (more)
- 1966
Socrates falls from grace, and becomes the lone voice of democracy amongst the corruption of his fellow Athenians in this television adaptation of Maxwell Anderson's play. The fall has been hard on the great philosopher. He walks about his city ragged and sans footwear, causing his wife untold shame. His raving about truth and democracy is more than embarrassing to the city's crooked politicians, and they devise a plan to silence him forever. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1966
Narrated by the author himself, this heart-warming made-for-television drama takes place in his childhood and recalls the time he helped bake a truckload of fruitcakes for friends and family with his ancient cousin. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1965
The Three Sisters is a literal transcription of the 1965 Actor's Theatre production of the Chekhov drama. Kim Stanley, Geraldine Page and Shelley Winters play the title characters, all members of a wealthy but unhappy 19th-century Russian family. Stuck in a forsaken garrison town by their army-officer father, the sisters long to return to Moscow, a dream that, along with all their other dreams, is doomed to be unfulfilled. Featured in the cast are Kevin McCarthy and Sandy Dennis, the latter performer somewhat less mannered than usual. Originally lensed on videotape, The Three Sisters was transferred to 35 millimeter film for limited theatrical release. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Geraldine Page, Shelley Winters, (more)
- 1964
In this romantic comedy, a middle-aged postmistress from a small town goes to a post office convention in New York and promptly falls in love with a man who is engaged to another. His fiancee is a widow with a teenage son. The man really wants a family, but he also really wants the postmistress.Trouble ensues while he makes up his mind. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Ford, Geraldine Page, (more)
- 1963
Julian Berniers (Dean Martin ) return from Illinois with his young bride Lily (Yvette Mimieux) to the family in New Orleans. Sisters Carrie (Geraldine Page) and Anne (Wendy Hiller) welcome the couple, who arrive with expensive gifts for the spinsters. The sisters hope brother Julian will help with much needed expenses, and he tells them his profitable factory went out of business but that he managed to save some money. It turns out Julian pulled of a real estate scam and took off with the dough. Carrie wishes to welcome her brother back with more than just her open arms. Carrie's jealousy of Lily pushes her to discover the shady land deal for herself as she tries to wreck the marriage. Lily returns to her mother Albertine (Gene Tierney), and is horrified to find her having an affair with their black chauffeur Henry (Frank Silvera). This film version of the Lillian Hellman play proves that Tennessee Williams is not the only playwright mining the twisted psychological profiles of characters from the deep South. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dean Martin, Geraldine Page, (more)
Paul Newman recreates his Broadway role in the 1962 film version of Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth. Newman plays handsome hustler Chance Wayne, who romances fading film star Alexandra Del Lago (Geraldine Page) in hopes of winning a movie contract for himself. The mercenary Wayne and the self-destructive Alexandra find themselves in Chance's home town, where corrupt politician Boss Finley (Oscar-winner Ed Begley) rules the roost. Finley's daughter Heavenly (Shirley Knight), impregnated by Chance during his last visit, dreams of a reunion with her old beau, but Finley and his brutish son Tom Jr. (Rip Torn) make certain that no such reunion occurs. Even the well-intentioned interventions of Heavenly's Aunt Nonny (Mildred Dunnock) fail to move the stubborn Finley. Warned to leave town or risk a broken skull, Chance is dumped by Alexandra, whose recent "comeback" film has proven a success and who thus no longer needs a gigolo to feed her ego. From this point on, Richard Brooks' screenplay departs so radically from the Tennessee Williams original that to elucidate the differences would require a book in itself. Suffice to say that the play's Chance Wayne is rendered "less than a man" by the vengeful Finley, whereas the film's Wayne emerges with all his working parts intact. A second version Sweet Bird of Youth (1989), purportedly based on Williams' own rewrite of his earlier material, was filmed for television in 1989, with Elizabeth Taylor and Mark Harmon in the leads, and with Rip Torn, Tom Finley Jr. in the original, stepping into the role of Boss Finley. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Geraldine Page, (more)
- 1961
Tennessee Williams' Broadway play Summer and Smoke (expanded from his one-act piece Eccentricities of a Nightingale) was brought to the screen by adaptors James Poe and Meade Roberts and director Peter Glenville. Geraldine Page repeats her stage role as minister's daughter Alma Winemiller, who lives a spinsterish existence in her WWI-era Mississippi home town. Though her hateful mother (Una Merkel) has nothing but nasty things to say about men, Alma carries a torch for her handsome next-door neighbor and lifelong friend, Dr. John Buchanan (Laurence Harvey). The doctor prefers the companionship of Rosa (Rita Moreno), a "wrong side of the tracks" girl who is as open and freewheeling as Alma is shy and repressed. Desperate for Buchanan's attention, Alma begins behaving with uncharacteristic affection towards him. He misreads her signals and attempts to seduce her. Already on the edge, Alma goes ballistic, literally running out of Buchanan's life. When the doctor throws an engagement party for himself and Rosa, the neurotic Alma tells Buchanan's father (John McIntire) that a wantonly immoral get-together is taking place in the doctor's home--an act of vengeance that has long-range tragic consequences. By film's end, the previously strait-laced Alma, unhinged by previous events, has become as misguidedly passionate as her spiritual sister, A Streetcar Named Desire's Blanche DuBois. Summer and Smoke earned Academy Award nominations for both Geraldine Page and Una Merkel; while Merkel would never win an Oscar, Ms. Page finally collected her statuette for 1985's A Trip to Bountiful. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurence Harvey, Geraldine Page, (more)
Hondo is so "perfect" a John Ford western that many people assume it was directed by John Ford--or at the very least, Andrew McLaglen. Actually the director was suspense expert John Farrow, who worked with the "Duke" only twice in his career (the second film was an oddball war drama, The Sea Chase [55]). In Hondo, John Wayne plays a hard-bitten cavalry scout who is humanized by frontierswoman Geraldine Page and her young son (Lee Aaker, star of TV's Rin Tin Tin). Try as he might, Wayne can't convince Page to move off her land in anticipation of an Apache attack. He leaves her ranch, only to be ambushed by desperado Leo Gordon--who happens to be Page's long-absent husband. Having killed Gordon, Hondo returns to the ranch to protect Page from the Indians, and to rekindle the woman's hesitant love for him. The climactic attack sequence is enhanced by Hondo's 3-D photography, one of the few truly effective utilizations of this much-maligned process. Long unavailable thanks to the labyrinthine legal tangles of the John Wayne estate, Hondo was finally released to videotape in the early 1990s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Geraldine Page, (more)
- 1953
Taxi stars Dan Dailey as Ed Nielson, a been-there-done-that Manhattan cabbie. Nagged by his mother (Blanche Yurka) to find himself a wife, Ed must also contend with a blood-sucking loan company, demanding huge payments for his cab. His life is further complicated when he falls in love with one of his fares: Mary, a young Irish immigrant (Constance Smith), freshly arrived in New York in search of her husband. The girl discovers that her hubby is a louse, but she's forced to stay with him lest she face deportation. Despite his own problems -- not to mention the huge cab fare that Mary's running up while searching for her husband -- Ed vows to rescue his new love from an ungovernable fate. Though running only 77 minutes, Taxi boasts no fewer than six screenwriting credits. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dan Dailey, Constance Smith, (more)
