Nobody could switch from playing dowdy characters to glamorous vixens in the 1950's and '60s better than Joanne Woodward. Even her sultry seductresses had more dimension than was revealed on the surface, and playing someone who is mistaken for Jayne Mansfield in the opening scene, she quickly reveals herself to be much more than a Monroe knockoff. Desperately trying to find her way by searching through her past, Woodward visits the places of her younger days and reconnects with nurse Claire Trevor whom she lived with as a teen girl, rebuilding a friendship with a handsome Richard Beymer yet desperately stuck in her unfortunately necessary profession since nothing else has seemed to come along.
Among others she encounters are Gypsy Rose Lee as a veteran stripper who now runs her own business, Robert Webber as a lascivious customer who romances her on the surface but wants something more sinister, Michael J. Pollard as a friend of Beymer's and Susan Brown as the kind woman who now owns the house where Woodward was raised. More a series of incidents surrounding Woodward's past and where those situations have led her and how she tries to deal with all of the traumas of that existence while desperately trying to find love, this is well acted (especially by Woodward and Trevor, with a surprisingly better than average performance by Gypsy) but depressing, showing the life of a woman with little hope. Strong direction by Franklin J. Schaffner makes this a powerful character study, with Woodward giving one of her strongest if least known performances.
Among others she encounters are Gypsy Rose Lee as a veteran stripper who now runs her own business, Robert Webber as a lascivious customer who romances her on the surface but wants something more sinister, Michael J. Pollard as a friend of Beymer's and Susan Brown as the kind woman who now owns the house where Woodward was raised. More a series of incidents surrounding Woodward's past and where those situations have led her and how she tries to deal with all of the traumas of that existence while desperately trying to find love, this is well acted (especially by Woodward and Trevor, with a surprisingly better than average performance by Gypsy) but depressing, showing the life of a woman with little hope. Strong direction by Franklin J. Schaffner makes this a powerful character study, with Woodward giving one of her strongest if least known performances.