YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW (1966)

Isn't Romantic Comedy redundant?
Post Reply
User avatar
HoldenIsHere
Posts: 641
Joined: October 22nd, 2022, 7:07 pm

YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW (1966)

Post by HoldenIsHere »

Francis Ford Coppola, a pioneer of the New Hollywood of the 1960s and 1970s, is best known for THE GODFATHER movies and his Vietnam War epic APOCALYPSE NOW, but my favorite movie of his is the comedy YOU’RE A BIG BOY NOW (1966). It was his first film for a major studio and the thesis project that earned him his MFA from UCLA. Coppola supposedly hated the movie when he saw it again a few years ago, but I love it! Besides its colorful characters and great story, the movie has preserved New York City of the 1960s including the pre-Disneyfied Times Square.

Peter Kastner stars as Bernard Chanticleer, the “big boy” of the title, who works for his father I.C. Chanticleer at the New York Public Library and, to his mother’s dismay, has recently moved from the family home in Great Neck to an apartment in the city. Bernard’s parents are played by real life husband and wife Rip Torn and Geraldine Page (who received one of her many Oscar nominations for her role in this movie). Julie Harris is a hoot as Bernard’s landlady Miss Thing (yes, that is the character’s name!) Miss Thing has a rooster that keeps young women from entering her apartment building. Mrs. Chanticleer likes that. Her Bernard is too young for girls! (He’s 19.)

Early in the movie, Bernard becomes infatuated with an actress named Barbara Darling, played by Elizabeth Hartman. He first sees her when she visits the library wearing a yellow mini-dress. Later, during F.N. (family night) with his parents, he sees her again in an off-Broadway play, which inspires him to write her a letter. Elizabeth Hartman is probably best known for her role as the timid blind girl in A PATCH OF BLUE, but she must have tapped some aspects of her own personality to bring the boldly sensual Barbara Darling to life in such a vivid way. Although Bernard is the focus of the movie, Elizabeth Hartman received top billing. We’re given insight into Barbara’s background when she dictates her memoirs (“the story of a star before she happens”) to her “confidant” played by Michael Dunn. This is one of my favorite sequences of the movies, especially her recount of her experiences with the albino hypnotherapist with the wooden leg (which she stole and keeps in her apartment). I also love it when she she bites the tongue of the fellow actor who slips it to her when they kiss as part of a play performance.

Karen Black plays sweet Amy Partlett, who also works at the library and is crushing on Bernard. Poor Amy! When Bernard takes her on a date, Barbara Darling is the go-go dancer at the club where they go. And later when Bernard kisses Amy in Times Square, the lighted signs all say BARBARA. Karen Black’s role in YOU’RE A BIG BOY NOW was her first in a major movie. She would go on to work with other major figures of the New Hollywood movement, appearing in Dennis Hopper’s EASY RIDER, Bob Rafelson’s FIVE EASY PIECES and Robert Altman’s NASHVILLE Although Amy is the “good girl” compared to the toxic Barbara Darling, she lets Bernard know that she wants him to take her to his apartment. But Miss Thing’s rooster is standing guard!

The songs in the movie were written by John Sebastian and were performed by his band the Lovin’ Spoonful. “Girl, Beautiful Girl (Barbara’s Theme)” is heard during the opening credits. The title song underscores Bernard happily roller skating through Manhattan after he receives a response to his letter to Barbara. “Darling, Be Home Soon,” my favorite song from the soundtrack, is playing on a record player in Barbara’s apartment the first night that Bernard visits her.

Coppola’s screenplay was adapted from a novel by British writer David Benedictus. Coppola moved the setting from London to New York City. I could see Julie Christie as Barbara Darling if John Schlesinger had adapted Benedictus’s book into a London-set movie. Benedictus’s Bernard worked in the shoe department of a department store, but Coppola’s Bernard works in the New York Public Library. Tony Bill brought the book to Coppola with the hope of playing Bernard. Coppola, however, cast Peter Kastner in the title role and Tony Bill as Bernard’s co-worker at the library.

The movie has so many fun moments. Some of my favorites:
• The reaction of Miss Thing (Julie Harris) to I.H. Chanticleers "private collection" of erotica in his secret room in the NYPL
• Bernard’s names for people’s faces (“Bobby Benzadream,” “Lonely Lozenges”)
• Bernard’s tie getting caught in the Times Square arcade peep show (Fortunately Amy arrives with a pair of scissors.)
• The chase sequence with the Gutenberg Bible that culminates in Mays Department Store.* Was that really Geraldine Page running down the streets of Manhattan with a sheep dog or a stand-in?

Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image


*The first time I saw the movie I thought it was Macy’s but later learned it was the Manhattan location of the now defunct Mays. If I listen carefully, I hear an announcer say, “Please be sure to visit Mays boutique department” at one point.

Last edited by HoldenIsHere on May 14th, 2023, 9:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Swithin
Posts: 1732
Joined: October 22nd, 2022, 5:25 pm

Re: YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW (1966)

Post by Swithin »

I love this film which, as you say, preserves the New York City of the 1960s. I identify with a lot in the film. I was an NYC teenager in the 1960s.

Of course the dark side of New York City in the 1960s can be found in Who Killed Teddy Bear (1965).
User avatar
Intrepid37
Posts: 870
Joined: March 5th, 2023, 5:05 pm

Re: YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW (1966)

Post by Intrepid37 »

Best Movie Coppola ever made.

I've seen it at least 25 times.
User avatar
HoldenIsHere
Posts: 641
Joined: October 22nd, 2022, 7:07 pm

Re: YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW (1966)

Post by HoldenIsHere »

Swithin wrote: May 14th, 2023, 8:26 pm I love this film which, as you say, preserves the New York City of the 1960s. I identify with a lot in the film. I was an NYC teenager in the 1960s.

Of course the dark side of New York City in the 1960s can be found in Who Killed Teddy Bear (1965).
I saw WHO KILLED TEDDY BEAR recently. I liked it, but, yes, it's definitely much darker than YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW.
User avatar
monsieur_sniffles
Posts: 19
Joined: January 17th, 2023, 6:59 am

Re: YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW (1966)

Post by monsieur_sniffles »

Sorta related: A couple years ago a friend was doing the 'special guest instructor' thing at a school in Pittsburgh. The school put her up in one of those mid-century apartment buildings that she dubbed the 'Doris Day Apartment' because it seemed like a place they would have Doris Day residing in one of the Rock Hudson comedies.

One day, she got into an elevator conversation with a long-time resident. Upon the resident learning what unit my friend was in, she responded "Oh, the Elizabeth Hartman apartment"

"That's odd, I always called it the 'Doris Day apartment'. Why Elizabeth Hartman??"
"Because she used to live there. She threw herself from the window and died on the front sidewalk"

From that point on, it was the 'Elizabeth Hartman apartment'
User avatar
BagelOnAPlate
Posts: 223
Joined: March 2nd, 2023, 12:41 am

Re: YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW (1966)

Post by BagelOnAPlate »

Elizabeth Hartman's life ended so tragically. She struggled with depression for much of her life.

I love her as the voice of Mrs. Brisby in Don Bluth's animated feature The Secret of NIMH, which was her last movie. Her voice is so soothing and full of emotion.
The way she says "Jeremy, you're stepping on my tail" in the second clip below always makes me smile.






User avatar
Swithin
Posts: 1732
Joined: October 22nd, 2022, 5:25 pm

Re: YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW (1966)

Post by Swithin »

I love Elizabeth Hartman as Priss in The Group (1966). She's the political one, and perhaps the most introspective of the group. Four of the group are gone now.

Image
User avatar
monsieur_sniffles
Posts: 19
Joined: January 17th, 2023, 6:59 am

Re: YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW (1966)

Post by monsieur_sniffles »

BagelOnAPlate wrote: May 21st, 2023, 9:30 pm Elizabeth Hartman's life ended so tragically. She struggled with depression for much of her life.
Probably should have reconsidered settling down in Pittsburgh...

(apologies to anyone from there. It's just that my friend stated it was hands-down the most depressing place she ever spent any amount of time in. The reasons being various--but, primarily--due to it's geographic situation in a valley. Because of this, one very rarely experienced sunlight between November and March. I guess the school was able to extend her contract another year, and she celebrated when they didn't)
User avatar
BagelOnAPlate
Posts: 223
Joined: March 2nd, 2023, 12:41 am

Re: YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW (1966)

Post by BagelOnAPlate »

monsieur_sniffles wrote: May 23rd, 2023, 11:11 am
BagelOnAPlate wrote: May 21st, 2023, 9:30 pm Elizabeth Hartman's life ended so tragically. She struggled with depression for much of her life.
Probably should have reconsidered settling down in Pittsburgh...

(apologies to anyone from there. It's just that my friend stated it was hands-down the most depressing place she ever spent any amount of time in. The reasons being various--but, primarily--due to it's geographic situation in a valley. Because of this, one very rarely experienced sunlight between November and March. I guess the school was able to extend her contract another year, and she celebrated when they didn't)
Elizabeth Hartman was working in a museum in Pittsburgh at the time of her death.

Here's her obituary that was published in the New York Times:

June 12, 1987

Elizabeth Hartman, who was nominated for an Academy Award for best actress in 1966 for her role in ''A Patch of Blue,'' died in a fall from her fifth-floor apartment in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

According to the Pittsburgh police, Miss Hartman, who was 45 years old, had called her doctor a short time earlier, saying she was depressed. They listed her death as a possible suicide.

Miss Hartman enjoyed sudden success as a film actress following her ''Patch'' role and Academy Award nomination, but her career declined in succeeding years.

''That initial success beat me down,'' Miss Hartman, a tense, fragile-looking redhead, said in a 1969 interview. ''It spiraled me into a position where I didn't belong. I was not ready for that. I suddenly found myself failing.'

She said she sat around her East 68th Street apartment for two years doing nothing but reading and brooding. Her mood finally lifted with her debut on Broadway in the role of Emily in a revival of Thornton Wilder's ''Our Town.''

She had major roles in ''The Group,'' ''You're a Big Boy Now'' and ''The Fixer.'' She co-starred with Clint Eastwood in ''The Beguiled'' in 1971 and was in ''Walking Tall'' in 1973.
Cinemaspeak59
Posts: 197
Joined: November 29th, 2022, 2:17 pm

Re: YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW (1966)

Post by Cinemaspeak59 »

About a year or two ago, Coppola was on TCM with Ben, talking about this movie. Coppola mentioned the team behind The Graduate were worried You're a Big Boy Now would steal their thunder. You're a Big Boy Now, in spite of its madcap elements, I find succeeds more so at capturing the 1960s zeitgeist.
User avatar
Intrepid37
Posts: 870
Joined: March 5th, 2023, 5:05 pm

Re: YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW (1966)

Post by Intrepid37 »

My girlfriend at the time was quite the mischievous vixen and she absolutely worshipped Barbara Darling. Wanted to be her.
User avatar
TikiSoo
Posts: 704
Joined: March 9th, 2009, 8:37 am
Location: Upstate NY
Contact:

Re: YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW (1966)

Post by TikiSoo »

Well I borrowed this from the library based on this thread- THANKS Holden for bringing it to my attention! It was not disappointing, I loved it.

The only thing I can add is the Barbara charactor was really perfectly played by Elizabeth Hartman. The difficult scene where she desired/rejected Bernard was particularly deftly played.
I was reminded of myself as a teen and how boys were always so confused about my "signals of interest" when I thought it should be perfectly obvious.
User avatar
HoldenIsHere
Posts: 641
Joined: October 22nd, 2022, 7:07 pm

Re: YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW (1966)

Post by HoldenIsHere »

TikiSoo wrote: June 28th, 2023, 5:34 am Well I borrowed this from the library based on this thread- THANKS Holden for bringing it to my attention! It was not disappointing, I loved it.

The only thing I can add is the Barbara charactor was really perfectly played by Elizabeth Hartman. The difficult scene where she desired/rejected Bernard was particularly deftly played.
I was reminded of myself as a teen and how boys were always so confused about my "signals of interest" when I thought it should be perfectly obvious.
Yes, Barbara Darling is such an interesting mix of egotism and vulnerability. The part you mention where where she throws Bernard out of her apartment and then immediately begs him to come back is a good example.
Barbara says she hates the guts of every male she’s ever met except for her “confidant” (who’s implied to be gay) so we wonder if the sweet side of Barbara is all an act. Elizabeth Hartman does a great job of portraying this ambiguity.

One of my favorite Barbara Darling lines:
"Now Easter Bunny will pour you a little glass of milk. It will be warm and nice and you-know-what."

Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Post Reply