A Rage to Live

Plot

This soapy melodrama based on the novel by John O'Hara earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Costume Design. Suzanne Pleshette stars as Grace Caldwell, a newspaper heiress and nymphomaniac whose numerous dalliances threaten to destroy her wealthy Pennsylvania family's image. Taken on a vacation to the Bahamas by her widowed mother Emily (Carmen Mathews), Grace can't resist a tryst with a waiter, which causes Emily a fatal heart attack. Back home, Grace meets a new beau, Sidney Tate (Bradford Dillman) at a Christmas party. The gentlemanly Sidney wins Grace's heart and she marries him, promising to end her sexually wild ways. A few years later, however, Grace sleeps with a construction worker and the resulting scandal when her lover dies in a drunken car wreck leads Sidney to believe that Grace is also having an affair with an old friend, Jack Hollister (Peter Graves). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Review

Pure trash, and a great deal of campy fun for those who relish over-the-top soap operas, A Rage to Live does at least have the redeeming value of a solid lead performance from Suzanne Pleshette. Now granted, there's only so much that any actress could do with this kind of part, which requires the performer to indulge in excesses of emotions, often while spouting lurid lines that have "arch melodrama' written over every single syllable. But Pleshette is so committed that, even as one laughs at the ludicrous dialogue and the ridiculous character, one can't help but be caught up a little by her fierce dedication to making the part work. And it should also be noted that few actresses could be as simmeringly sultry in as natural a way as Pleshette is here -- an important quality for a character that is essentially a nymphomaniac, Hollywood style. Beyond Pleshette, there's some good costumes (although not really worthy of the Oscar nomination they received) and an often-catchy Nelson Riddle score. And Ben Gazzara, while not turning in a particularly good performance, at least is convincingly sensual. Beyond that, though, there's all that sudsy, senseless plotting, the heavyhanded moralism, the dialogue that makes one want to cover one's ears and the paper-thin characters who behave the way they do only because it is convenient for the screenwriter to have them do so. Waler E. Grauman's direction is hopeless, and aside from Pleshette and Gazzara, the actors are at far -- very far -- from their best. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi

Cast

• Suzanne Pleshette - Grace Caldwell
• Bradford Dillman - Sidney Tale
• Ben Gazzara - Roger Bannon
• Peter Graves - Jack Hollister
• Bethel Leslie - Amy Hollister

James Gregory - Dr. O'Brien; Carmen Mathews - Emily Caldwell; Ruth White - Mrs. Bannon; Sarah Marshall - Connie Schoffstall; Virginia Christine - Emma; Linden Chiles - Brock Caldwell; Mark Goddard - Charlie Jay; George Furth - Paul Reichelderfer; Brett Somers - Jessie Jay; Frank Maxwell - George Jay

Credit

James Sullivan - Art Director, Howard Shoup - Costume Designer, Walter E. Grauman - Director, Stuart Gilmore - Editor, Nelson Riddle - Composer (Music Score), Gil Grau - Musical Direction/Supervision, Arthur Ferrante - Songwriter, Louis Teicher - Songwriter, Noel Sherman - Songwriter, Stanley Campbell - Makeup, Charles Lawton - Cinematographer, Lewis Rachmil - Producer, Raymond Boltz - Set Designer, Norman Breedlove - Special Effects, John T. Kelley - Screenwriter, John O'Hara - Book Author

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