Rating: - Right cast in the Wrong script
I decided to watch "Two for the Seesaw" because it starred Robert Mitchum and I must say that this is one of his better movies. His strong, forceful "man in control" persona comes through very well. Unfortunately, that's the major problem I had with "Two for the Seesaw" because the lead male role calls, in my opinion, for a more bewildered man. Consider the plot's premise; A middle-aged lawyer from Nebraska comes to New York City to escape his marital problems at home. He meets a Greenich Village-type woman who's his complete oppostite and they attempt to have a normal relationship. I looked ... Read More
Rating: - Mitchum+MacLaine on the marquee, Music+Cinematography are the substance
The William Gibson play-cum-film Two for the Seesaw was on TCM recently, and being a Robert Mitchum fan I wanted to see it. Not to mention Shirley MacLaine (yes, she's been around forever!), Robert Wise (his first post-West Side Story direction) and Andre Previn doing the music.
But little did I know that the music and the cinematography (by Ted D. McCord) would be the best part of this film. Both were nominated for Academy Awards, they stand out so much-not that Mitchum and MacLaine, who dominate this two-hander almost totally, were terrible, to the contrary-that the movie became more of a ... Read More
Rating: - For those who like film noir
For every exigent situation in life that ends in happiness, another ends in tragedy... Life IS a zero sum game. Only two pictures in my life, have moved me to tears....Two for the Seesaw is the second one. The other moved me on a more superficial level, for a death of a young love is almost unthinkable. That movie was LOVE STORY, and at that time I was young and in love, when death is imponderable. This movie leaves both protagonists alive, but both of them with a hurt inside, that will never heal. It would have been easy to let MacLaine and Mitchum live happily ever after. But, that would not be real ... Read More
Rating: - Contains film greatness
Like Helen Morgan's "Applause", the film version of "Two For the Seesaw" gives its viewers a seldom seen look at the real theatre world of New York City in the 20th Century. This is a gritty, realistic love story on the cold, hard streets of New York that somehow is still able to show the real romance of the giant city. Not unlike the neo-realism of Fellini, Viscounti and Pausolini, "Two for the Seesaw" shows how actors and artists romatically collide with everyday people as they barely hang onto their dreams. Shirlely MacLaine lived this life before "The Pajama Game" and probably had friends like Gittel ... Read More
Rating: - A Bad Adaption
Unfortunately for viewers, this is a bad adaption of a brilliant play. This two-character relationship drama, William Gibson's first play, works extraordinarily well on the stage, with the two characters originally performed by Henry Fonda and Anne Bancroft on Broadway. However, the drama onstage is lost onscreen; it flounders, and leaves the audience with a bad taste in their mouth. The theatrical "trick" of a two character play is that it brings the audience close to the characters in a way that many larger plays cannot and most films do. As a film, then, the two character drama seem an artistic ... Read More
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