I've waited TOO long to write a few words on this film. I think I first saw it about eight years ago or so, and fell in love with it. I had then preceded to watch this film almost every night for a couple of years...it sort of became my going-to-bed movie (much like the man in "Kate and Leopold" who puts on "Moon River" every night before he goes to bed..but for me, it was a whole movie).
It's a very simple story about a Nebraskan attorney named Jerry Ryan, played by Robert Mitchum, and a single, slightly kooky dancer and dance instructor named Gittel Mosca, played by MacLaine, who meet at a party, and eventually have an affair. He's from Nebraska, but taking some to think in New York, away from his wife, from whom he's separated. Jerry and Gittel have very little in common, but manage to help each other a bit during this very transitional period in predominantly his life. The one line that sums up their union is "what I have to give, you don't want, and what I want, you can't give".
I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the score, by Andre Previn, and have looked and looked for it (I think it's called "Second Chances")...but I haven't been able to track it down anywhere. The score/musical theme of the movie, however, is used IN the movie, as background music in one of the scenes...maybe the party scene in which Mitchum and MacLaine meet. I hate when movies do this....they take the musical theme of the movie, which is played during the credits, and insert it as if it's a current song in the middle of the movie. But, I still love the melody, just the same. The story is so simple, and probably not exactly plausible. But, we've all heard of strange, short-lived unions. So, I guess it is plausible. I've often read that MacLaine is not necessarily convincing as a Jewish New Yorker. I agree, to a degree, but she is still charming in it, as is this entire movie. There's also a brief cameo by the actress who played Millie Helper from the wonderful Dick Van Dyke Show, as the landlord (forget the actress' name!!! and she's been on Seinfeld and other shows much more recently).
All in all, I LOVED the tone of this film, and the acting was fine. It's perfect for a rainy day...PERFECT. I would have loved to have seen Anne Bancroft and Henry Fonday play these roles on stage. I read that Anne Bancroft really wanted to do this film, but had to turn it down, because she was in the middle of filming "The Miracle Worker". I heard, however, that she was fantastic in it. And, if you've ever seen the film "The Turning Point", with both MacLaine and Bancroft (LOVE THIS FILM AS WELL), in the scene in which their two characters have a fight on the rooftop, and then settle down, Bancroft's character Emma then chimes in that she would have done anything to get that part..she just had to have it (in talking about the role of "Anna Karenina"). When she utters that piece of dialog, I often wonder if a part of the actress Anne Bancroft didn't think concurrently about her longing to have played the film version of "Two for the Seesaw", but losing it to Shirley MacLaine.
Anyway, check out "Two for the Seesaw"...it's a charming little movie.
It's a very simple story about a Nebraskan attorney named Jerry Ryan, played by Robert Mitchum, and a single, slightly kooky dancer and dance instructor named Gittel Mosca, played by MacLaine, who meet at a party, and eventually have an affair. He's from Nebraska, but taking some to think in New York, away from his wife, from whom he's separated. Jerry and Gittel have very little in common, but manage to help each other a bit during this very transitional period in predominantly his life. The one line that sums up their union is "what I have to give, you don't want, and what I want, you can't give".
I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the score, by Andre Previn, and have looked and looked for it (I think it's called "Second Chances")...but I haven't been able to track it down anywhere. The score/musical theme of the movie, however, is used IN the movie, as background music in one of the scenes...maybe the party scene in which Mitchum and MacLaine meet. I hate when movies do this....they take the musical theme of the movie, which is played during the credits, and insert it as if it's a current song in the middle of the movie. But, I still love the melody, just the same. The story is so simple, and probably not exactly plausible. But, we've all heard of strange, short-lived unions. So, I guess it is plausible. I've often read that MacLaine is not necessarily convincing as a Jewish New Yorker. I agree, to a degree, but she is still charming in it, as is this entire movie. There's also a brief cameo by the actress who played Millie Helper from the wonderful Dick Van Dyke Show, as the landlord (forget the actress' name!!! and she's been on Seinfeld and other shows much more recently).
All in all, I LOVED the tone of this film, and the acting was fine. It's perfect for a rainy day...PERFECT. I would have loved to have seen Anne Bancroft and Henry Fonday play these roles on stage. I read that Anne Bancroft really wanted to do this film, but had to turn it down, because she was in the middle of filming "The Miracle Worker". I heard, however, that she was fantastic in it. And, if you've ever seen the film "The Turning Point", with both MacLaine and Bancroft (LOVE THIS FILM AS WELL), in the scene in which their two characters have a fight on the rooftop, and then settle down, Bancroft's character Emma then chimes in that she would have done anything to get that part..she just had to have it (in talking about the role of "Anna Karenina"). When she utters that piece of dialog, I often wonder if a part of the actress Anne Bancroft didn't think concurrently about her longing to have played the film version of "Two for the Seesaw", but losing it to Shirley MacLaine.
Anyway, check out "Two for the Seesaw"...it's a charming little movie.