''Me, Natalie'' is a 1969 American

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film directed by Fred Coe about a young woman from

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

who moves to

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

and finds romance with an aspiring artistic painter. The

screenplay A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...

by A. Martin Zweiback is based on an original story by Stanley Shapiro.

Patty Duke Anna Marie Duke (December 14, 1946 – March 29, 2016), known professionally as Patty Duke, was an American actress. Over the course of her acting career, she was the recipient of an Academy Awards, Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, three ...

, who stars in the title role, won a

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Janua ...

for her performance. The film also features James Farentino, Salome Jens,

Elsa Lanchester Elsa Sullivan Lanchester (28 October 1902 – 26 December 1986) was a British actress with a long career in theatre, film and television.Obituary '' Variety'', 31 December 1986. Lanchester studied dance as a child and after the First World ...

Martin Balsam Martin Henry Balsam (November 4, 1919 – February 13, 1996) was an American actor. He had a prolific career in character roles in film, in theatre, and on television. An early member of the Actors Studio, he began his career on the New ...

and Nancy Marchand. It marks

Al Pacino Alfredo James Pacino ( ; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Known for his intense performances on stage and screen, Pacino is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. His career spans more than five decades, duri ...

's film debut.

Plot

From childhood,

teenager Natalie Miller, who has a slight

overbite Overbite is the extent of vertical ( superior-inferior) overlap of the maxillary central incisors over the mandibular central incisors, measured relative to the incisal ridges. The term overbite does not refer to a specific condition, nor is ...

and a somewhat large nose, considers herself to be homely, and has never subscribed to her mother's determined belief that she will grow up to be pretty. By contrast, her best friend Betty is a popular and beautiful blonde cheerleader who has been going steady with the handsome Stanley since junior high school. Natalie's efforts to become a cheerleader, impress a blind date, and attend her graduation dance all fail. She is briefly cheered up by her beloved Uncle Harold, who tells her that someday a man will look beyond her face and see her good inner qualities, but she becomes disillusioned after Harold becomes engaged to sexy, voluptuous

go-go dancer Go-go dancers are dancers who are employed to entertain crowds at nightclubs or other venues where music is played. Go-go dancing originated in the early 1960s at the French bar Whisky a Gogo, located in the town of Juan-les-Pins. The bar's ...

Shirley. Believing that Harold chose Shirley based on her looks, Natalie regards Shirley with contempt, and when Harold unexpectedly dies, avoids attending his funeral. A year later, Natalie encounters Shirley, who has turned to drugs in her grief over Harold. Natalie sees that Shirley and Harold really did love each other, and that Shirley's physical attractiveness has not brought her happiness. Natalie's parents worry because she has been expelled from college, has not found a job, and has no boyfriends nor marital prospects. They try to arrange dates for her, and her father attempts to bribe Morris, an awkward aspiring

optometrist Optometry is the healthcare practice concerned with examining the eyes for visual defects, prescribing corrective lenses, and detecting eye abnormalities. In the United States and Canada, optometrists are those that hold a post-baccalaureate f ...

, to marry her. After learning of the bribery scheme, an incensed Natalie moves out of her parents' apartment, planning to move in with Shirley in Manhattan. On arriving at Shirley's bohemian apartment building in

, Natalie learns that Shirley has died by drug overdose. Natalie rents and fixes up Shirley's vacant apartment, and is hired as a cocktail waitress at the "Topless Bottomless Club". Natalie is attracted to her downstairs neighbor David Harris, an architect who has left his job for three months to pursue his dream of becoming an artistic painter. Having dismissed David as a "sex pervert" because he is usually using beautiful nude female models, she is taken aback when David finds her face "interesting" and asks her to model for him. Their friendship gradually grows into romance, with Natalie encouraging his painting aspirations and David building her self-confidence. However, after Natalie sees her old friend Betty enter into an unhappy marriage due to an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, Natalie, who is overcome with love for David, discovers that he is actually married to a wealthy, beautiful woman and has two young sons. After a confrontation, David reassures Natalie that he really loves her, and that he will go back to his family home, end his marriage, and return to her. At first, Natalie eagerly waits in his apartment for his return, but as time goes by, she feels guilty about separating him from his family. Finally, she writes David a farewell letter, saying that she will always love him, but expressing the wish to take responsibility for her own happiness, and leaves.

Cast

as Natalie Miller * James Farentino as David Harris * Salome Jens as Shirley Norton *

as Miss Dennison *

as Harold Miller * Nancy Marchand as Edna Miller * Philip Sterling as Sidney Miller * Deborah Winters as Betty Simon * Ron Hale as Stanley Dexter * Bob Balaban as Morris *

as Tony * Catherine Burns as Hester * Ann Thomas as Mrs. Schroder * Matthew Cowles as Harvey Belman * Milt Kamen as Plastic Surgeon * Robert Frink as Freddie * Dennis Allen as Max * Robyn Morgan as Natalie Miller (age 7)

Production

Works by Nathan Wasserberger were used in the film as the paintings produced by David Harris.

Critical reception

In his review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'',

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. ...

called the film "an artificial mess of wisecracks and sentimentality", and added, "Locales and a gummy musical score by Henry Mancini and

Rod McKuen Rodney Marvin McKuen ( ; ; April 29, 1933 – January 29, 2015) was an American poet, singer-songwriter, and composer. He was one of the best-selling poets in the United States during the late 1960s. Throughout his career, McKuen produced a wide ...

are among the things constantly impinging on ''Me, Natalie''. Another is Coe's apparent indecision as to whether the movie is a character study or a gag comedy. Mostly it's just gags, delivered abrasively by Miss Duke, who is even less effective when registering

pathos Pathos appeals to the emotions and ideals of the audience and elicits feelings that already reside in them. ''Pathos'' is a term most often used in rhetoric (in which it is considered one of the three modes of persuasion, alongside ethos and ...

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' found it to be "as conventional and corny as warmed-over '' Young at Heart''... a pleasant film, very funny at times... Patty Duke, as Natalie, supplies a wonderful performance". ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' considered the film to be "somewhat bland", but calls Duke "a wonder", and adds, "Handled by a lesser actress, the results might have seemed more stereotypical, but Duke is convincing."

Awards and nominations

* Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Patty Duke, winner) * Grammy Award for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Show (nominee) *

Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility Th ...

for Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen (nominee)

Home media

Under license from

CBS Studios CBS Studios, Inc. is an American television production company which is a subsidiary of the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. It was formed on January 17, 2006, by CBS Corporation as CBS Paramount (Network) Television, as a re ...

, ''Me, Natalie'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

by Via Vision Entertainment on July 22, 2016, and to

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

by Kino Lorber Studio Classics on May 5, 2020.

References

External links

* * * {{TCMDb title, 23919 1969 films 1960s coming-of-age comedy-drama films 1960s romantic comedy-drama films American coming-of-age comedy-drama films American romantic comedy-drama films Cinema Center Films films Films directed by Fred Coe Films featuring a Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe winning performance Films scored by Henry Mancini Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City 1969 comedy-drama films 1960s English-language films 1960s American films National General Pictures films Nob Hill Productions films English-language romantic comedy-drama films