There isn't a lot that I can add to what the other reviewers have said about this powerful film - I didn't see one negative review - but just a few of my thoughts on casting.
The Trivia info on the film says that Patty Duke turned the role - or her managers turned it down for her - because of fear of typecasting having just come from "Helen Keller" with a similar storyline. For that reason, she probably did make the right choice. Ms. Duke with her incredible acting ability could have very well pulled it off, but in spite of her own troubled childhood there is a bit of a brashness about her that wouldn't have fit the role nearly as well as Elizabeth Hartman's fragileness. Contrary to Ms. Duke's insistence she was more of "Patty Lane" than a "Cathy Lane."
The Trivia info also mentions Haley Mills turning down the role. Maybe Haley Mills suffered from her own typecasting, and it would have been interesting to have seen her at the time in a serious role, but it is hard to imagine her perky personality in this sensitive film. Seeing the too familiar to us Haley Mills in the rape scene would have been unbearable.
How do you not totally love Sidney Poitier? In every film he is almost too perfect, but in spite of that it comes off as absolutely believable. I was raised to believe that it is best to marry within my culture - at least my faith, but in every film I've seen Poitier because of his kindness and intelligence and yes attractiveness I have wished for him to be 30 years younger. At 21, I remember falling hard for someone who was completely out of my league because of his kindness to me. The attraction belied facts. It happens.
Like another reviewer mentions the film does leave us with wanting to know what happens next for Selena. Does she become able to live alone and support herself? Does she ever see Gordon again? Like most stories we have to hope.
The Trivia info on the film says that Patty Duke turned the role - or her managers turned it down for her - because of fear of typecasting having just come from "Helen Keller" with a similar storyline. For that reason, she probably did make the right choice. Ms. Duke with her incredible acting ability could have very well pulled it off, but in spite of her own troubled childhood there is a bit of a brashness about her that wouldn't have fit the role nearly as well as Elizabeth Hartman's fragileness. Contrary to Ms. Duke's insistence she was more of "Patty Lane" than a "Cathy Lane."
The Trivia info also mentions Haley Mills turning down the role. Maybe Haley Mills suffered from her own typecasting, and it would have been interesting to have seen her at the time in a serious role, but it is hard to imagine her perky personality in this sensitive film. Seeing the too familiar to us Haley Mills in the rape scene would have been unbearable.
How do you not totally love Sidney Poitier? In every film he is almost too perfect, but in spite of that it comes off as absolutely believable. I was raised to believe that it is best to marry within my culture - at least my faith, but in every film I've seen Poitier because of his kindness and intelligence and yes attractiveness I have wished for him to be 30 years younger. At 21, I remember falling hard for someone who was completely out of my league because of his kindness to me. The attraction belied facts. It happens.
Like another reviewer mentions the film does leave us with wanting to know what happens next for Selena. Does she become able to live alone and support herself? Does she ever see Gordon again? Like most stories we have to hope.