Main Cast: Natalie Wood, Christopher Plummer, Robert Redford, Roddy McDowall, Ruth Gordon
Release Year: 1965
Country: US
Run Time: 128 minutes
Plot
Daisy Clover (Natalie Wood) goes from teenage girl to movie star practically overnight when her demented mother enters her voice in a talent-search contest. From a broken-down carnival on the Santa Monica Pier, in no time at all she is attending glamorous Hollywood parties. But Daisy soon learns that misery and pain go hand-in-hand with fame and fortune. Before Daisy completes her first film, the studio execs have her mother committed to an asylum without permission. Daisy tries to find happiness in a series of unfulfilling romances, her one-day marriage to Wade Lewis (Robert Redford) leaving her alone and divorced. After her mother dies, Daisy has a nervous breakdown and refuses to work, but the cold-hearted studio moguls threaten her with starvation if she does not report back to the soundstage. Christopher Plummer, Ruth Gordon (in an Oscar-nominated performance) and Roddy McDowell co-star in this story of a Hollywood dream that turns into a nightmare. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
Review
Natalie Wood certainly seemed to want to be a big musical film star, but she really lacked the basic equipment (as witnessed by the dubbing of her singing in her only successful musical, West Side Story). This lack is one of the problems with Inside Daisy Clover; building a film about a musical comedy star around someone without real musical talent is just not a good idea. Still, Wood is clearly game and gives it her all -- sometimes to the point that the viewer wishes she would just pull back and relax a little. Perhaps if Daisy had been helmed by someone like Robert Aldrich, who has a gift for shepherding stars through ghoulish black comedies about Hollywood, the actress and the film might have been better served. Unfortunately, Robert Mulligan's direction is very hit-and-miss and lacks a cohesive vision. At times, Daisy is played straight, at others, much like the satire that it was in its original novel form. This indecisiveness is damaging, but Mulligan still creates some powerful moments, such as Wood's breakdown scene. Clover's supporting cast comes off better on the whole than its star, especially the always interesting Ruth Gordon and Christopher Plummer, operating in top "oily" mode. Daisy is ultimately unsatisfying, but there's enough "right" about it to make one regret that it didn't become the sharp and devastating picture that it could have been. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Katherine Bard - Melora Swan; Betty Harford - Gloria Goslett; John Hale - Harry Goslett; Harold Gould - Cop; Ottola Nesmith - Old Lady in Hospital; Peter Helm - Milton Hopwood; Paul Hartman - Dancer; Edna Holland - Cynara
Set in the 1930s, the plot centers on Daisy Clover (Wood), a teen-aged tomboy who lives in a ramshackle trailer with her eccentric mother (Gordon) on a California beach and dreams of Hollywood stardom. After mailing her recording of a song, produced at 25-cents-a-song recording booth on the beach, she is discovered by a well-known film producer, Raymond Swan (Plummer), and is quickly thrown into the spotlight of Hollywood, becoming a star overnight. Once she becomes an established success, she is forced to deal with the pressures of fame. She's also forced to accept the studio's placing her mother in a mental institution, to protect her reputation as pristine "America's valentine," and told to tell any interviewers that her mother is dead. But Daisy finds relief in a fellow teen star, Wade Lewis (Redford). But their heavy drinking and partying is not good for either of their reputations. Soon they marry, not to the liking of Ray (whom Wade has nick-named 'The Prince of Darkness'), fearing that the romance would interrupt Daisy's busy schedule. On their honeymoon in Arizona, Wade drives off while Daisy is sleeping, abandoning her. Daisy returns to Ray's house, and runs into Ray's wife, Melora, who tells Daisy that the screen idol she married is a closet homosexual. The next morning, Ray reveals he knew about Wade's sexual preferences, but that Daisy had to find out for herself, as did his wife. With that, Ray scoops her into his arms and kisses her.
Daisy takes her mother out of psychiatric care and moves to a beach house. But soon her mother dies. This, combined with her affair with Ray, lead to her suffering a mental breakdown. She is moved to her beach house, where she spends day after day silently in her bed, under the care of a private nurse. Melora visits, assuring Daisy she is not jealous of her affair with Ray. Wade even comes to see Daisy, but still Daisy stays silent. Eventually Ray visits, glad to see Daisy, but impatient that she is taking so long to recover, wanting her to finish a motion picture. Daisy stubbornly refuses his advances and threats to end her career. Finally, Raymond leaves, firing the nurse, and saying he doesn't care what happens to Daisy anymore. Daisy decides suicide is her only option, so she lays her head in the oven in the hopes of suffocating, but she's constantly interrupted by visitors, ringing phones, and even burning herself. Finally, she gives up for the day.
The next day, while pondering the last two years of her life, Daisy turns the gas oven back on, lighting a flame on the ktichen stove top, and strolls out of the house with a cup of coffee. She barely flinches when the house explodes behind her, and when a passerby asks what happened, she simply replies, "Somebody declared war!"
Reception
Upon its release, the film was a box office and critical failure,[1] however, the film later gained a cult following when it was shown on television and released on home video.[2]
Vocal recordings completed by Natalie Wood of the film songs went unused, except as noted above, and were unheard on commercial recordings until the release, in April 2009, of the complete dramatic score and song score by Film Score Monthly.
