Main Cast: Patty Duke, James Farentino, Martin Balsam, Elsa Lanchester, Salome Jens
Release Year: 1969
Country: US
Run Time: 111 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Since she was a child, Natalie Miller (Patty Duke) has always thought she was an ugly ducking. When a boy called her "clown face", the six-year-old knocked out his front teeth with a shovel. Despite her mother's encouragement that she will grow up to be pretty, Natalie has never believed it will happen. When her parents bribe a young medical student to date her, Natalie discovers the ruse and moves out of her parent's house. She rents a Greenwich Village apartment from an eccentric landlady (Elsa Lanchester) and gets a job at the Topless Bottom Club. She rides a motorcycle to work, decorates her loft with a moose head, and rides up and down a dumbwaiter to get to her apartment. There Natalie meets David (James Farentino) an artist, and the two have a love affair before she discovers he is married. She considers returning home after finding him in bed with his wife. Al Pacino makes his first screen appearance in a minor role in this engaging drama. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
Nancy Marchand - Mrs. Miller; Philip Sterling - Mr. Miller; Deborah Winters - Betty Simon; Milo Boulton - Mr. Simon; Cathy Burns - Hester; Matthew Cowles - Harvey Belman; Ron Hale - Stanley Dexter; Milt Kamen - Plastic Surgeon; Daniel Keyes - Surviving Brother; Robyn Morgan - Natalie, age 7; Al Pacino - Tony; Ann Thomas - Mrs. Schroder; Peter Turgeon - Attorney; Bob Balaban - Morris; Dennis Allen - Max
Credit
George Jenkins - Art Director, Fred Coe - Director, Jack McSweeney - Editor, Henry Mancini - Composer (Music Score), Rod McKuen - Composer (Music Score), Arthur Ornitz - Cinematographer, Stanley Shapiro - Producer, Dick Smith - Special Effects, Dennis L. Maitland - Sound/Sound Designer, Stanley Shapiro - Screen Story, Stanley Shapiro - Screenwriter, Martin Zweiback - Screenwriter
From childhood, Brooklyn teenager Natalie Miller, with upper front teeth that are slightly bucked and a nose too large for her face, has considered herself homely, and she never has subscribed to her mother's determined belief that she will grow up to be pretty. Her father, a druggist who doesn't share his wife's optimistic outlook, bribes myopicoptometrist Morris to marry her, hoping his nearsightedness will prevent him from seeing she's no beauty.
After she discovers her father's plan, Natalie leaves home and moves to Greenwich Village, where she rents an apartment from eccentric Miss Dennison and sets out to enjoy a Bohemian lifestyle. She finds employment as a cocktail waitress at the Topless Bottom Club and befriends drug-addictedgo-go dancer Shirley Norton. Although she contemplates suicide after discovering her aspiring artist lover David Harris is married, he finally convinces her she's a worthwhile human being and not the ugly duckling she imagines herself to be.
In his review in the New York Times, Vincent Canby called the film "an artificial mess of wisecracks and sentimentality" and added, "Locales and a gummy musical score by Henry Mancini and Rod McKuen are among the things constantly impinging on Me, Natalie. Another is Coe's apparent indecision as to whether the movie is a character study or a gag comedy. Mostly it's just gags, delivered abrasively by Miss Duke, who is even less effective when registering pathos." [1]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times found it to be "as conventional and corny as warmed-over "Young at Heart" . . . a pleasant film, very funny at times . . . Patty Duke, as Natalie, supplies a wonderful performance." [2]
TV Guide considers the film "somewhat bland" but calls Duke "a wonder" and adds, "Handled by a lesser actress, the results might have seemed more stereotypical, but Duke is convincing." [3]
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