The Affair

Rating:
Summary: NATALIE WOOD sings but Film hits a Sour Note
Review: In this TV-movie made in the early 1970's Natalie Wood plays a Singer/Songwriter who falls in love with Robert Wagner. It is not generally well known, but Natalie always wanted to sing in her previous films. Her own voice was not quite up to the demands of WEST SIDE STORYand when she played a young Singer on the rise in INSIDE DAISY CLOVER most of her Vocals were also dubbed in by a studio vocalist. However, in this film she sings "I Can't See You Anymore" which for certain did not win any Grammy Awards for Best Song. She gave it her best shot,and you can judge for yourself. The film itself is uneven and to some degree, pointless, and the picture quality looks like you are watching it through a fish bowl, but it is a rare opportunity to see Natalie and RJ act together. They may have had tremendous chemistry together in person, however it did not often translate that well to the screen. Still, this movie is worth a look if just to see the beautiful Natalie Wood in what was to be one of her last film ventures.

Rating:
Summary: The Affair
Review: If you're a die-hard Wagner or Wood fan you MIGHT be able to sit all the way through this movie, but otherwise, you'll turn it off within the first half hour. The acting is atrocious - not even close to the caliber that these two actors were capable of. The plot is weak and the characters grossly underdeveloped. It was unbelievable that I was looking at the same woman that played "Maria" in "Westside Story" so beautifully. Don't waste your time, or your money with this one...

Rating:
Summary: A Sensitive "Made for Television" Movie
Review: Most of the reviews of this film have been rather harsh. I remember watching this movie as a teenager in the 1970s on a black and white television, so I found watching this movie in color without commercial interruption a delightful experience. I think that Wood and Wagner handled a delicate relationship carefully. One must remember that the disability rights movement was in its infancy in the early 1970s, so persons with physical challenges and the social dimensions of living with a disability were not part of mainstream discourse. Wood and Wagner did an excellent job of portraying a number of emotional and social issues regarding the navigation of sexual relationships for a woman with a physical challenge. Many young viewers may also not clearly understand the impact that polio had on our whole society with many people dying from the disease or being left with a severe level of physical impairment. Time has marched on, many people who lived with the aftermath of polio have died, and some may have forgotten the impact that polio had on the everyday reality of people's lives. In all fairness to this film, I thought that the subject was handled with sensitivity by one of Hollywood's most beloved couples. If one is to judge art, the historic context, level of technology, and the target audience must be considered. "The Affair" was produced as a made for television film that enabled this couple to appear publicly, for a rare treat, on screen together during her pregnancy. 1970s technology was not superb and digitalized. Some of us still prefer records, too. As for criticism of fashion in the movie, well, styles do change... However, Ms. Wood's pants were not "bellbottoms." Anyone who has ever worn calipers or known someone who has...realizes that getting clothing to fit over braces does not provide a sleek and slender look. Pants are often baggy by necessity to fit over braces, and the metal often times still wears through the sides of slacks at the knee joint. That "look" was not retro...It was realism. Lastly, Wagner's character was not atypical of the times as men and women were struggling more over issues such as independence, sexual expression, commitment, and the accelerating divorce rate. I am certain that the notion of a man "stalking" a woman was not verbage typical of the period, nor was the gentility he displayed typical of "stalking" as it would now be defined. See "Ghostworld" and "High Fidelity" for a greater appreciation of works of art that can be appreciated for what they were meant to be. Classics are by nature supposed to be retro!

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat Blurry DVD, Definitely Flat Dialogue
Review: Sometimes a movie makes you take notice, ponder at the first-rate acting talent, and force you to wonder why anyone went to all the trouble to make it. Affair, starring Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood, the real-life couple-in-matrimony, have really strange on-screen 'chemistry.' Wagner comes across as Mr. Silent Stalker to Wood's character, almost forcing himself into her life. Wood's character, legs paralyzed from illness as a child, finally gives into his advances, and before you know it, he's proclaiming his love for her.

Spelling must have financed this movie by the word --- and with a really tight budget.... I've never heard such abstract, unbelievable, and unnatural dialogue in my life.

The DVD itself has clear menus, and great packaging, however the film transfer looks like soemthing out of a high-school science class: grainy, dark, inconsistant coloring between reels, and flat sound.

This movie is straight from the 70s, and it shows. Bell bottoms, shag carpeting, and Elton John eyewear is shared by all in this completely forgettable and pointless anti-romance.... And I'm a huge Natalie Wood fan. Stick with Splendor In The Grass if you want to see Wood in a real romance; watch Wagner in Austin Powers (at least he's supposed to be funny in that flick).

Rating:
Summary: Made in 1973, and it shows
Review: Sometimes a movie makes you take notice, ponder at the first-rate acting talent, and force you to wonder why anyone went to all the trouble to make it. Affair, starring Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood, the real-life couple-in-matrimony, have really strange on-screen 'chemistry.' Wagner comes across as Mr. Silent Stalker to Wood's character, almost forcing himself into her life. Wood's character, legs paralyzed from illness as a child, finally gives into his advances, and before you know it, he's proclaiming his love for her. Spelling must have financed this movie by the word --- and with a really tight budget.... I've never heard such abstract, unbelievable, and unnatural dialogue in my life.

The DVD itself has clear menus, and great packaging, however the film transfer looks like soemthing out of a high-school science class: grainy, dark, inconsistant coloring between reels, and flat sound.

This movie is straight from the 70s, and it shows. Bell bottoms, shag carpeting, and Elton John eyewear is shared by all in this completely forgettable and pointless anti-romance.... And I'm a huge Natalie Wood fan. Stick with Splendor In The Grass if you want to see Wood in a real romance; watch Wagner in Austin Powers (at least he's supposed to be funny in that flick).