“THE LIVES OF WOMEN”

By Raymond Benson

The Group, the 1966 film directed by Sidney Lumet, is based on Mary McCarthy’s 1963 best-selling novel that broke ground by presenting the extraordinary notion that young women graduating from college in the 1930s had liberating thoughts in their heads regarding politics, independence, sex, marriage, career, and motherhood (SARCASM). In all seriousness, the novel did push the envelope, given the time it was published. It challenged the notion of the All-American Girl’s only role in society was to get married, have children, and serve her husband.

The film, which was adapted for the screen and produced by Sidney Buchman, is a reasonably faithful rendition of the novel, and, seeing that it was released in that nebulous in-between period between the demise of the Hollywood Production Code and the institution of the Movie Rating System in America, it is frank and revealing—but perhaps not enough.

What is most fascinating about the picture today are the performances by the eight leading ladies, most of whom were just arriving on the scene and would go on to bigger and better things. For example, The Group is Candice Bergen’s first screen appearance.

The time is 1933 at a fictional women’s college in New England (in the novel it is explicitly Vassar). Eight women who are close friends refer to themselves as “the Group”—there is Lakey (Bergen), the most beautiful and popular one; Dottie (Joan Hackett), the seemingly sensible one who makes some rash choices; Priss (Elizabeth Hartman), politically liberal but too submissive when contested; Polly (Shirley Knight), perhaps the most independent of the bunch; Kay (Joanna Pettet), the most materialistic and the most victimized; Pokey (Mary-Robin Redd), who we don’t get to know as well as the others; Libby (Jessica Walter), who is the most ambitious and competitive; and Helena (Kathleen Widdoes), who is perhaps the smartest one. The story follows the eight women’s lives after graduation over the rest of the decade to the beginning of World War II, mostly in and around New York City, as they date, get jobs, fall in love (or not), marry, and have children (some successfully, others not so).

Aside from a couple of exceptions, the men in their lives are portrayed as selfish, abusive, and cruel. They are played by the likes of Larry Hagman, Richard Mulligan, Hal Holbrook, James Broderick, and James Congdon. We also slightly get to know some of the girls’ parents (one father, played by Robert Emhardt, deemed as having a mental illness, insists on moving in with his daughter) and other friends.

While there is some attempt to give each of the eight ladies their “story,” the movie focuses mostly on Kay (Pettit), whose emotional range is expertly displayed throughout as she works to support her caddy, cheating husband; and Polly (Knight), who approaches her love affairs with an arm’s length attitude and is too attached to her father. On the second tier of screen time are Libby (Walter), Dottie (Hackett), and Priss (Hartman), all of whom deliver fine performances along with Pettet and Knight. Bergen’s character disappears after the first ten minutes, goes to Europe, and doesn’t return until the last act of the movie.

Sidney Lumet’s direction is assured as he moves the complicated and many-faceted storylines along—and yet the picture is too long (at 2-1/2 hours). A lot is packed into it, though, and something like this might have worked better as a three-part television mini-series. (In a way, it is Sex and the City for eight women instead of three, and in quite a different decade from that HBO show.)

Most notable about the movie is its dealing with topics not normally discussed on screen in 1966, the year it was released—birth control, mental illness, adultery, free love, liberal politics (in the 1930s, Left was LEFT!), and even lesbianism.

Kino Lorber’s new Blu-ray restoration looks quite good and comes with English subtitles for the hearing impaired. Unfortunately, there are no supplements other than the theatrical trailers for this and other Kino Lorber releases.

The Group is an interesting time capsule of a specific time in cinema history that shines a light on a particular era in American history that, in turn, examines a distinctive social class of gender-exclusive characters.

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