User Reviews

I can't believe that this is a (TV) movie made by Peter Bogdanovich whom I admire for his delicious "Cat's Meow", "The Last Picture Show", "Paper Moon" and not to forget the medicore but joyable "The Thing Called Love". Natalie Wood's life and stories - I believe has to be much better than it. Especially, in Bogdanovich's hand, and the good choice actress : Justine Waddell, who's surprisingly playing Natalie so well, and also very very much look alike. To be honest, Waddell is the only thing that's good in this TV movie. (And I really hope she can find another good role for her talent and beauty).

while the rest of the cast are not so good, (maybe Alice Kridge's not that bad for her role of the crazy ambitious mother from hell, though) and they made this worse. I can't even really find the "Joan Collins" and much different Christopher Walken (not after the famous scene came out) , the one who plays James Dean also looked so different and can't capture Dean's spirit.

the plot also should've been better than it. Anyway, it's still pretty enjoyable to watch, but I still hope if only it's better than this.

Yes, it is a biography and it is also extremely lengthy, a good combination for disaster movie, but not this movie. It is so good and more educational than I ever thought.

Tell the truth I don't know who she was before watching this movie. I watch it because I have nothing to do. And it really hooked me from the start. It is far more interesting than I could imagine.

I think, a bit this and that that actually make this movie so enjoyable to watch and very insightful about the rising of this Hollywood legend. The casting is without doubt really good especially Waddell which look really a-like to Natalie.

The real footage adds a little life to the story and makes it more convincing. And the story tells me what I need to know about Natalie's life. Though in the end the story about her and her family was a bit too brief.

Recommendation: Anyway, I really enjoy watching this movie and so I highly recommend everyone especially the one who doesn't her to watch this movie. This movie makes you want to watch her works.

Rating: 7.5/10 (Grade: B+)

This movie was shown in Hallmark and at first I didn't mind it since I don't know who is Natalie Wood herself (considering my non-interest to old US movies). Since my mom watch the movie and there was nothing to do on that day, I sat next to her and then... I was in awe.

I usually didn't care much about this A-child-growing-to-be-a-teenage-to-be- mother-and-then-die kind of story but I spend the hours till the end with tears. (seriously) I was intrigue with the actresses like Justine Wadell and Alice Krige, they are such great actresses to portray their character with all their might.

Overall, the movie was a great recollection of the days of Natalie Wood for her fans and also non-fan (like me). After that, I bought most of her old movies like West Side Story, Rebel Without a Cause and etc (which is, solely for my English Lit revision as I was studying Shakespeare for Romeo and Juliet)

At the start, we see what happened when Natalie Wood drowned, including footage of CBS anchors Charles Osgood and Dan Rather (ironic considering ABC aired this movie). Then comes the first of many comments by real people (a nice touch), followed by a flashback to when Natalie's mother was told by a fortune teller that Natalie would drown. From that point, Natalie's mother was overprotective, though she cared more about her daughter having an acting career than she did about what that career might do to the little girl, and her treatment of Natalie bordered on cruel.

At age 5, little Natasha (as she was known then) was very persistent with a movie director who thought acting was a terrible career for a child. Still, Natalie (as she was soon called) turned out to be quite talented and charming, and she soon became a big star.

As a teenager, Natalie began to wonder what it would be like to be 'normal'. She went through ups and downs not only in her career but in her relationships. She met many people whose names viewers might recognize. And some of those people met with tragedy. Natalie had many reasons to be sad, and over time drugs became a big part of her life. Would she ever find happiness? Would she give up her career and become a mother, as she longed to do?

I thought Justine Waddell did a wonderful job. She especially shined in one scene where Natalie had to convince a director to let her take an adult role, even though she was best known as a child star. Another scene where a terrible event occurred showed Natalie absolutely paralyzed. I also thought Waddell did quite well in a scene where Natalie talked with two girls in a restaurant just as if they were her own.

The little girl who played Natalie at 5 was also quite good. I thought it was a letdown when Natalie became a teenager played by Elizabeth Rice.

Alice Krige made quite an evil mother, though she could come across as tender and almost make one want to forgive her for everything. Sophie Monk captured Marilyn Monroe quite well, at least to me. She seemed cartoonish, but then that's my impression of Monroe.

It was hard to watch all the terrible things that Natalie Wood went through, but she was such a charming person who could give others the appearance of being happy even when she was really miserable. It was a worthwhile effort, and real footage and interviews with real people helped a lot.

...then I'll have to take this movie's word for it. "The Mystery of Natalie Wood" did actually do a pretty good job showing her life and death. Justine Waddell, as Natalie Wood, does look almost exactly like her. As for some aspects, I never knew that her mother Maria (Alice Krige) pushed her so hard to be famous (or pushed her at all), or that Ms. Wood got raped when she was young. As for the death scene...well, I guess that Natalie Wood's death will remain a mystery, and they had to choose something to portray. Probably taking a cue from "Reds", director Peter Bogdanovich interviews some people who knew her (most notably "West Side Story" co-star George Chakiris). A well-done biography, if nothing else.

The vocal inflections and mannerisms on RJ and Natalie were picture-perfect! The actors must have studied hours of video to get those! The production used lots of stills of the actors, but I would have liked to have seen some live clips, as I had forgotten some of the very good movies she had done. I particularly would have liked to have seen some of her work as a child before "Miracle on 34th Street" made her a star. I also would have liked more clues as to who some of the people were in her professional life. Some of the main characters were identified, but many others were left up to the viewers imagination to fill in the blanks. At times the actors did not that closely resemble their real-life counterparts, and I had to wonder who they were. I really had no idea who the actor was suppossed to be that raped her, for instance. His full face was shown, as if to give the viewer a clue, but I couldn't figure it out.

The story of Natalie Wood takes the audience from before she was born (when her mother was told by a gypsy that her second daughter would be famous and beautiful, but that she should be weary of water) to the last days of her life (until her mysterious drowning death off of Catalina Island).

Justine Waddell does a wonderful job bringing the adult Natalie back to life. She looks like her and attempts to talk like her. Her role in the movie is more important and brings so much more life to the performance than any of the other characters combined. Her twice husband, Robert Wagner, was portrayed by Michael Weatherly, whose performance was just okay.

The big question of the movie is just how authentic it is. It was produced by Natalie's sister, Lana Wood, but after watching it one wonders just how true it all is, specifically the relationship between Natalie and her mother, Maria.

Many people have complained about the length of the movie (3 hours) but I don't find anything wrong with it. The time is well spent telling in detail all of the events of Natalie's dramatic life. Overall 9/10 for the story and the performance of Justine Waddell.

'The Mystery Of Natalie Wood' isn't in the same league as some of the more recent big screen biopics - e.g. 'Ray' (Ray Charles bio), 'The Aviator' (Howard Hughes) and 'Walk The Line' (Johnny Cash). I suspect that this is, in part, due to the restraints of a TV budget and also to the portrayal of Natalie. Unlike the aforementioned bios, 'The Mystery Of Natalie Wood' made no attempt to show her 'dark side', ignoring examples of jealousy, pettiness and 'drama queen' behaviour. Instead, she was portrayed in this movie as something of a hapless victim, to whom things happened because of everyone else - nothing was her fault. It would have been interesting to see a much more rounded, realistic, 'warts and all' portrayal of Natalie.

The opposite seems to have been the case with the portrayal of Natalie's husband, Robert 'RJ' Wagner. He was portrayed as a thoroughly dislikable character - boring, self-centred and light-weight. Where was the charm, intelligence and wicked sense of humour (Mike Myers has described him as "Very, very silly...a combination of great old Hollywood stories and...er...potty mouth!") which he was/is known to have? There was nothing about him in the biopic that showed us what Natalie actually saw in him - and she must have seen something, because she married him twice!

I think that the odd biases (for Natalie, against RJ) probably can be accounted for by the script of the biopic being based largely on Suzanne Finstadt's biography of Natalie, in which these biases clearly existed.

Another thing that slightly niggled was sloppy research (again, I suspect the result of relying on Finstadt's bio as source material). In one scene, Natalie and RJ are discussing going to England to make 'Cat On A Hot Tin Roof'. Natalie indicates that she might want to take on other work after completing 'Cat...' and tells RJ "It's alright for you, you have 'Hart to Hart' to work on when we get back!" As 'Cat...' was made in 1976 and work began on the pilot episode of 'Hart to Hart' in 1978/9, then they couldn't have been discussing 'Hart to Hart' before going to England to work on 'Cat...'.

I also thought it was odd that no mention was made (in the latter part of the movie - set in the late 70s/early 80s) of Natalie's insecurity about RJ's working relationship with his 'Hart to Hart' co-star Stefanie Powers. There was one reference to Stefanie (Natalie's mother mentions her in a conversation with RJ) - and that was it. No mention of the rumours (whether true or not) about RJ being involved off-screen with Stefanie - which were doing the rounds at the time. No mention either of the effect of these rumours on Natalie. A glaring omission, I thought.

I also have a 'niggle' concerning Natalie and RJ's yacht, 'Splendour'. In the movie the yacht is shown with wood panelling on the exterior - but in actual photos/footage of 'Splendor', there is no exterior panelling. If they can get something as straightforward as this wrong, what else did they get wrong?

I also felt that the music at the end was ill-judged. We'd just had harrowing scenes of RJ and Maria being told the news of Natalie's death. These were followed by a montage of Natalie photos/clips (a nice and moving touch), accompanied by Natalie singing cheerfully 'Let Me Entertain You' - which clashed horribly with the montage!

Having said all that, I thought Justine Waddall (Natalie), Alice Krige (Maria - Natalie's mother) and Michael Weatherly (RJ Wagner) did well with the material they were given. Alice Krige in particular gave a stunningly chilling performance as the 'stage mother from hell'!

Incidentally, it might have been an idea to have had another actor playing the 'older' (1970s/80s) RJ, rather than just giving Michael Weatherly a dodgy wig and body padding.

To sum up, this is an entertaining biopic, but if you know anything about the 'true' story, be prepared to nit-pick!

Joanne

I've always been interested in Natalie Wood, but didn't know much about her except that she was a very glamorous Hollywood star and that she died tragically. This great film showcases Natalie's life, which came across just as tragic as her saddening death.

"The Mystery of Natalie Wood" is a long film and it is at times very hard to watch. As the film is set across her entire life, there is lots of time changes, which are established with a little caption, or a voice over from Lana Wood or someone else who are giving some insight into certain events in the film.

The cast are terrific. Justine Waddell seems like she was born to play the part of Natalie Wood. She does it with so much grace. Michael Weatherly and Matthew Settle are both a pleasure to watch in their respective roles as Robert Wagner and Warren Beatty, each helping to carry the film alongside Justine Waddell. Colin Friels is good as Natalie Wood's long suffering father, while Nathalie Roy didn't get enough screen playing Lana Wood, but when she was on screen, she was fabulous. It is Alice Krige, as Maria Gurdin, Natalie's dominant and overbearing mother, who portrays so well why Natalie's life was so tragic. Alice Krige is in top form here. Grace Fulton is of particular note as the young Natalie Wood also, and watch out for Australian celebrities Sophie Monk and Natalie Bassingwaighte as Marilyn Munroe and Marion Murchall.

This is really one of those films that you have to be in the mood to watch, have the time to watch, and be prepared to learn a lot about one of Hollywood's most iconic women. You may like to bring some tissues also - it's tremendously sad, and not only for Natalie Wood, but for those also who were part of her life.

There seems to have been nigh-on two decade's of speculation about the pseudonymous identity of Natalie's abuser in this film - but if you know where to look, it is easy to find something: Take the letters of Kirk Douglas's personal favourite of his own films - Lonely Are The Brave - discard a few, and rearrange the remainder, and you have ... 'I'm Roy Treane' (the 'I'm' being the absent two letters from 'Tremaine').

Superficial "clippings" of a life. Attempts to provide credibility to the story that is acted out by adding "eye witness" statements of some "friends", fellow actors and even Nathalie's sister Lana cannot take away the aftertaste that this is just another "movie of the week". Nobody in the movie, not even the leads, has the chance to go very deep in their performances as the script is too poor and the scenes are too short. What we're left with is caricatures of what the people and situations really must have been like. The title role is best cast, with the role of Wagner as a good second. The small roles in the rest of the cast (Nathalie's co-stars), however, and of actor-friends and directors, are painfully inadequately filled in. Beatty, short and rather stocky compared to the real thing, is laughable, as are Dean and Joan Collins, whose physical resemblance is so bad that the viewers would never know who they are supposed to be if they weren't addressed by their character's names. None of the actors for these parts resemble their real life counterparts anywhere near. Verdict: disappointingly average, unconvincing and lacking warmth, especially if one considers that "those who were there" were involved in the making of this production.

As far as I am concerned, Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood were the perfect Hollywood couple, who had their ups and downs like any other marriage. Michael Weatherly (Robert Wagner),"Trigger Happy",'01, did a fantastic job of acting like Bob Wagner and was able to show great emotions when Natalie had her first child and it was not his child, which he wanted it to be. Later on in their second marriage they were able to have a child from their "Second Time Around Marriage". Matthew Settle( Warren Beatty),"The In Crowd",'2000, portrayed a great role when he was asking Natalie to appear in his film "Bonnie & Clyde", in which she declined. Justine Waddell(Natalie Wood),"Anna Karenina",'97 was outstanding in her performance and was radiant in every scene. I never realized what a horrible effect Natalie's mother had in her life and the evil control she had over everything she did. In this TV film, you really have to draw your own conclusions as to what really happened to Natalie Wood and READ BETWEEN THE LINES! in order to come to an honest Ending to this story!

A hacked off bit of goofiness. More interested in impersonations than actual acting, for all the supporting roles. No time invested in developing any parts but the immediate family, yet time wasted in mentioning each star who ever crossed Natalie's path. Hard to believe Bogdanovich directed this rather than some high school kids. Natalie Wood was an interesting actress and lived an interesting life. I look forward to someday seeing a film of that, rather than this simplistic media gossip version of what was important about it. I guess I should have expected that from the title. The mystery is why we accept stuff like this. (Yes, I DID watch it after all.)

The actress who played Natalie Wood is a twin. There were parts in the movie where I wasn't sure if they were using footage of the real Natalie Wood. Case in point when she was playing Maria in West Side Story. The camera was showing her singing and I thought it was really Natalie Wood. Not only does she was very good in the part. Many a time they find a actor who looks like the person they are portraying but they can't act. This actress even had her walk down pat. I liked the movie it was no worse then some biops. Her mother was a nutcase. I would of liked to see more of her older sister Olga who I hear is still alive and who she was very close to. The actor who played Warren Beatty was very good, BUT I was not crazy about Michael Weatherly's portrayal of Wagner. I remember Wagner being very cute, thin and boyish even when he was in his 30's. Weatherly looked more like someone from Baywatch. I like Weatherly I watched him since he was on Loving. But not in this role. Also I would love to see what RJ has to say about this movie because he was not seen in a good light IMHO. God I remember when she died. I have been a fan of hers since I saw her in Miracle or 34th St. I felt on screen she really was able to transpire herself from a child actor to a adult very smoothly, like Elizabeth Taylor. Splendor in the Grass and WSS are my two of my favorite movies. I like the way the movie didn't try to smooth out the details of what might of happened the night she died. Try and clean it up. Natalie Wood was a drinker and RJ was a jerk who anyone probably would of tried to get away from. I myself of would of swam to shore in a hale storm to get away for RJ if he truly acted the way the movie showed. I remember hearing about her having a affair with Walken. But why would Walken go on a boating trip with them if it was true and knowing how much a jerk RJ was. And why would RJ have him on his boat. I always thought that was strange, the movie really didn't clear that up. But over all I like the reality footage mixed up with the movie footage. I enjoyed it enough to keep me watching for 3 hours.

I have always been a fan of Natalie Wood ever since I first saw Inside Daisy Clover and I was entranced by her big brown eyes and effortless joy in what was a sad movie. This is an interesting bioflic which tries to tackle her whole life and a littany of people,friends and lovers plus a good half hour devoted to a reasonable speculation of what may have occurred in her final moments. It is neither an in depth study nor is it big budget drama but it held my interest throughout in spite of being aware of most of the events that unfolded. However,at the end of the film (like some of your other commentators), I was more interested in working out who is "Roy Tremaine"?,the HUGE star who raped Natalie in 1955 or 1956.Hence, I have done some research and I think I know who.The film implies he was a reward recipient at the 1957 golden globes, and at the 1962 Academy award after-party we know Natalie firmly indicates she wouldn't be working with him again in this lifetime. The unwillingness of the film to more strongly imply his identity probably means he is still alive.Can you guess? As far as I know there was only one actor Natalie refused to work with for "personal" reasons .Are they one and the same? Anyway, I enjoyed the detective work.Justine Waddell;Well done!

I loved watching this on cable. I'm astounded by Justine Waddell's performance. Not only is she a Brit coping with a flawless American accent but she brings such warmth and charisma to the late, great star. There are times when you're watching the movie when you don't know if its her or the late Natalie Wood on screen. In particular there is a scene in West Side Story that's eerie. And a moving scene when she calls her mother that seems to come straight from Inside Daisy Clover. The script certainly isn't the best and the direction is hackneyed. Great actors like Alice Krige come off as ghoulish stereotypes. But watch it for Justine, her beauty, her talent and her ability to deal delicately with dark subject matter are totally apparent.

A well made production, although I'd have preferred there to be more drama than docu. There were some very good aspects to the production. Colin Friels as Natalie's father was excellent,and I particularly enjoyed the characterisation of Robert Wagner by Michael Weatherly.

I saw this film a day on TV and i just loved it !

The distribution was SUPERBE and the scenes was well-done The actress who has played Nathalie Wood was for me a revelation. The actors in this film were very intense and so handsome.

Michael Weatherly was so gentle and carrying; My vote to his film is dedicated to him because i found him very intense and subtle. Natalie Wood was a very good actress and i think that it was very gentle and special to dedicate it.

As a conclusion The Mystery of Natalie Wood is a successful film and merit the award that it was discerned (Sorry for the fault, I do all my best!

There are several really good things about this TV biopic and a few not-so-good things. On the plus side, director Bogdanovich has given the standard approach a bit of a spin with snippets of interviews from actual people who knew the subject and inserts of photos and clips of the actual star to help move the story along. Also, Waddell (as Natalie Wood) gives a very strong performance in a challenging role. Almost (but not quite) matching her is Weatherly as the love of her life Robert Wagner. Both of these actors have obviously spent a great deal of time studying their subjects and perfecting their body language, mannerisms and voices (particularly Weatherly.) The film also has a generous running time to help keep the story from being rushed and hacked to death in order to squeeze it in to the usual two-hour TV-movie slot. On the negative side, Wood's mother has been presented like something out of a Hans Christian Anderson horror story. Her portrayal is so unrelentingly domineering and menacing that it borders on cartoonish and ridiculous....not balanced much at all. Also, the hair and make-up people have sorely let down Waddell's accomplished performance. Years go by and Waddell has the exact same length of hair and basic style, yet Wood was a chameleon with her hair and the pictures that are continuously flashed on the screen confirm this. Also, Wood ALWAYS, even swimming, had thick black eyeliner on her lower lids. Waddell is never made up this way. The eyes are all wrong throughout the movie. So this detracts somewhat from what could have been a downright eerie resemblance because she manages it several times anyway. More than once, it's hard to believe that it isn't Natalie Wood (and Robert Wagner) on the screen. Several other star impersonations crop up. Some are really pretty good (Marilyn Monroe, Warren Beatty, Sal Mineo, James Dean), others are completely, utterly WRONG (Joan Collins - Attention hair and make-up! - Her engagement picture to Warren Beatty is right in the middle of her autobiography. Look it up!) Enough decent moments occur in the film to warrant seeing it and there's a right-on portrayal of Wood's younger sister Lana (the actress bears a strong resemblance to the real lady.) After all is said and done, though, the audience has only learned a little of what made Wood tick and there's only fabrication about how she died.

This was a very believable and very well done biographical movie. Reading that Mr. Bogdanovich, the movie's director, personally knew many of the real-life characters I assume the actors chosen for "The Mystery of Natalie Wood" must have been hand picked. Each portrayal was like watching and hearing the real person, I've never come across that before. To me this is what brought the story powerfully to life. Using the technique of having a family member or friend tell part of the story of the life of the celebrity, that the cable show "Biography" uses, was a very nice touch indeed. I grew up with the image of Miss Wood everywhere in my life...movies, TV, magazines, talk shows, and always loved how she carried herself. How she looked. I was 12 years younger...but as a teenager I so wanted to look like her. And now I see how truly strong she was in a life that must have been so much hell at times.

I have just watched this TV-movie in a cable channel yesterday night, as matter of fact, I did not plan to see it, because I was changing channel sand suddenly I was seeing an actress playing Natalie Wood, she was so alike to her, I am really glad to know another side of her life-story, she was a great actress and a woman with a complex personality, but interesting. I have also read some biographies, about her possessive and selfish mother who felt identified with Natalie and wanted to fulfill her lost dreams of success through Natalie, when she was ten years old and said she would going to marry Robert Wagner. etc... Thanks to Lana Wood to share her memories about her sister.

This is as amateurish a production as I've ever seen; it strains credulity that Peter Bogdanovich ('What's Up, Doc?', 'Nickelodeon', and the exquisite 'Paper Moon') directed it.

Someone made the decision that clips of the real Natalie Wood were to set the scene for the newly filmed screenplay. The result is that any willing suspension of disbelief goes right out the window- one spends an entire viewing noticing how little the actors resemble their real-life counterparts, instead of being drawn into their performances.

That might have been excusable if the acting was top-notch, but it isn't. While Justine Waddell acquits herself decently well as Natalie Wood, the male performers aren't up to her level. I won't name names, but one male actor who has to do a lot of crying turns in a performance that would disgrace an old episode of 'The Lucy Show'- stock sobbing with hands over the face, to conceal the inept histrionics.

If you want to enjoy a movie that tells you all about Natalie Wood, watch 'Gypsy', not this. 'Gypsy' is as much the story of Wood's life as it is Gypsy Rose Lee's, and it's much better acted than this thing, even with steamroller Roz Russell in it.

If you want to enjoy something by Peter Bogdanovich, try anything else, even 'At Long Last Love'. In 1975, we thought that was a pretty bad movie. We didn't have a clue what bad was.

I just watched "The Mystery of Natalie Wood" which, all things considered, was much better than I had expected it to be. As a long-time fan of Natalie Wood, I had dreaded something that would do her a great injustice.

Done docu-drama style and directed quite effectively by Peter Bogdanovich, who looks like he's back on form with this, it was shot on locations in New South Wales and in the Fox studios in Sydney, Australia, with a cast chosen, as carefully as possible, I guess, for their resemblances to Natalie and her sister, Lana, Wood; Robert ("R.J.") Wagner; Warren Beatty; and Christopher Walken. The men were the best matched, with the actress playing Natalie occasionally catching her spirit from time to time but looking very much like her only in certain scenes and, often, only from certain angles. (Her face was a bit too narrow, in my opinion.) The actors playing Wagner and Beatty really "nailed" it, with the actor, Matthew Settle, bearing an uncanny resemblance to the young Warren. The actress playing Natalie's scary mother, Alice Krige, was made up and coifed to be quite ghoulish-looking (Great fake Russian accent, by the way!) and gave you the feeling that Natalie's mother was, indeed the true nemesis in her tragically cut-short life. Her father, apparently a browbeaten sort, was very effectively played by Colin Friels. The final sequence was particularly well-done and the recreation of Natalie's drowning, guess work but quite credible, was very effective, I thought. Photos of Natalie from her movies and public appearances, with some clips of her arriving at premieres, etc., were interspersed, not too distractingly, but unfortunately highlighting Justine Waddell's lack of a close resemblance to the lovely Ms. Wood. Music by Richard Marvin and cinematography by John Stokes were of a fairly high order and the production values, for a teleplay, were on the deluxe end of the scale.

Natalie is still sorely missed and her film legacy, which many feel contains some gems that are very much worth preserving, is testimony to how very difficult it is for a beautiful woman with real talent to gain recognition in Hollywood. May she be looking down on today's benighted world from a much happier place than was her lot while she was with us.