A Rage to Live (1965)

Director:

Walter Grauman

Writers:

John T. Kelley (writer)
John O'Hara (novel)

Release Date:

3 December 1965 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The names and places didn't matter . . . only when!

Plot:

A woman's sexual compulsions threaten to destroy her marriage.

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Cuckold | Based On Novel | Independent Film

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Suzanne Pleshette	...	Grace Caldwell Tate
Bradford Dillman	...	Sidney Tate
Ben Gazzara	...	Roger Bannon
Peter Graves	...	Jack Hollister
Bethel Leslie	...	Amy Hollister
Carmen Mathews	...	Emily Caldwell
Linden Chiles	...	Brock Caldwell
James Gregory	...	Dr. O'Brien
Ruth White	...	Mrs. Bannon
Mark Goddard	...	Charlie Jay
Sarah Marshall	...	Connie
George Furth	...	Paul Rutherford
Virginia Christine	...	Emma

Also Known As:

John O'Hara's A Rage to Live (USA) (complete title)
En kvindes begær (Denmark) [da]
Kiihko elää (Finland) [fi]
Nymphomania (West Germany) [de]
Smania di vita (Italy) [it]

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16

Company:

Mirisch Corporation, The

Trivia:

According to pre-production publicity, Anne Bancroft was originally sought for role eventually played by Suzanne Pleshette.

Quotes:

Grace Caldwell: All right, you win. You get your dull little story off your big manly chest, but you make it fast, huh?
Roger Bannon: Right.
[pause]
Roger Bannon: From the first time I saw you -- and that was five years ago, when I worked for Lanigan and Doyle -- I haven't been able to stop looking. Not that I wanted to stop. Looking at you became one of the big pleasures of my life. Maybe the biggest. It got so I had you memorized...

Soundtrack:

Rage To Live

Wonderful Performance by Susanne Pleshette

"A Rage to Live" had beautiful, haunting theme music which crept in at just the right moments. The story of Grace Caldwell, a beautiful young girl with a "problem," not unlike most men, everywhere, she loved sex and had no control over her actions. She was a nympho.

Women like Grace are scorned and hated by other women, because men are so drawn to her type -- women who crave sex just like men. There wasn't a lot of "dating and cat and mouse" with a girl like Grace. A brief look into her eyes and the next stop was the bedroom.

Personally, I felt sorry for Grace after her marriage to Bradford Dillman and the birth of her child. She seemed truly happy. Into her life walks Ben Gazzara, with a bulging crotch and sexy Italian bravado. Much too much for Grace to resist, especially when he tells her that he has the hots for her. Obviously, Grace is not getting the KIND of sex she craves: cheap, tawdry, motel sex with strange men. Well, that's what she got with Ben, but he was mentally "off" and easily fell in love with Caldwell. Trying to break off the affair with Gazarra, she tells him, "You knew what this was. I have a husband and child that I love." His response, of course, is to call her a "dirty slut" and a "rotten, filthy whore!"

Ben is not the only man that is after Grace. Every man she comes across "knows" her and "her kind." Unfortunately, it's difficult for her to say "no." Even on a vacation with her mother, who has a bad heart, Grace sneaks out in the middle of the night to have tawdry sex with a hotel worker. She copulates with a college buddy of her brother's, plus, it was insinuated that she had "entertained" other men.

The ending is sad, especially because her husband deserts her after a drunken, jealous wife accuses Grace of "sleeping" with her husband (Peter Graves.) After calling Grace a "tramp," the woman breaks down in tears and tells Bradford that her husband "admitted it!!!"

Susanne Pleshette was wonderful. Her performance was as good as any other actress's in 1965, certainly better than Liz Taylor's in 1960's "Butterfield 8." Perhaps if Grace had been a prostitute, the role would have been more appealing to the Academy. They just LOVE giving Oscars to actresses who play ladies of the evening. Nymphomania, obviously, is too strong for their coffee.

Too bad Susanne didn't become a major movie star -- she certainly had the looks and the talent.

I'd love to have this on DVD. And, that THEME music was lovely.