Penelope (1966)

Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Pretty dumb comedy about neglected wife Natalie Wood becoming a kleptomaniac to get her husband's (Ian Bannen's) attention. She even sees a psychiatrist (a very annoying Dick Shawn) to try to be cured. Then she robs her husband's bank and things just get sillier...This isn't a total bomb. It's beautifully photographed--I've never seen NYC look like this; the settings and costumes are incredible; Wood is just gorgeous and Bannen is handsome and actually quite amusing as her husband. But two things destroy this--the script and Shawn. Shawn is WAY over the top in his performance--he's not funny just annoying. The script is pretty poor--there are a few good parts here and there but most of the comedy is just BAD!!! Wood and Bannen give it their all but the material just isn't there. The rest of the cast just overacts (horribly). It leads to a "happy" ending which had me rolling my eyes.So it's worth seeing for Wood, Bannen, the cinematography (letter boxing is a must) and some mildly humorous material. Otherwise--forget it. I give it a 6.

Alright so it's not the greatest film in the world BUT I must recommend it anyway especially to those fans of the fabulously fun era of the late 60's. That 60's vibe is evident throughout the film. And I was surprised to hear "Johnny" Williams aprapos and quality score complete with Penelope theme song. Natalie Wood as Penelope is stunning and is also featured on a vocal number at the local "beatnik" club (now you don't want to miss that do you?) Peter Falk is the detective on Penelope's trail previewing his future role as Columbo and there are also many recognizable actors of that era in the film as well. Natalie Wood was very depressed over the lack of appreciation for this film but regained her career momentum with the success of "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" 3 years later.

If nothing else "Penelope" helps to explain the attraction the French have for Jerry Lewis movies, as unlike these "Penelope" type comedies the Lewis stuff actually contains a fair amount of humor. During the ten years before the arrival of Woody Allen and Mel Brooks, Hollywood had virtually ceded comedy over to television and concentrated on epics and overwrought melodrama. Disney did funny stuff for children like "The Shaggy Dog" and Disney alumni did beach movies for teenagers, but only Lewis was doing comedy features. Hollywood did try to pass off a few very mild titillation films (for adults) as old style screwball comedies and "Penelope" is as good an example of this mislabeled genre as any other. "Penelope" was Natalie Wood's last big starring role. She looks great but had no business being cast in this role because "The Great Race" had already revealed an almost complete absence of comedic talent and timing.Technically it is a well-made production with a decent if not particularly witty script. You get a sense that the set was full of underutilized creative and production talent, constrained from making the film into more than its producers wanted. It is interesting to see a very young Peter Falk playing (big surprise) a detective and perhaps even more interesting to see Dick Shawn as a relatively straight laced psychiatrist (why did director Arthur Hiller keep Shawn's manic talents in check?). Jonathan Winters makes a brief appearance as Penelope's lecherous college professor (in the film's main titillation scene). There is even an appearance by the ubiquitous Fritz Feld, playing his standard pompous Frenchman, and (another big surprise) making popping noises by slapping his mouth with the palm of his hand to indicate his superiority and impatience. If you just want to "look" at "Natalie" you could do worse than "Penelope". If you want actual comedy from the 1960's you will do a lot better with Jerry or with Frankie and Annette. Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

This weren't as bad as some people say. There's three reasons to watch it: (3) There is actually some funny and witty material here, (2) the photography is gorgeous--both the interior shots and the glamorous locales of mid-1960's New York, and (1) Natalie is stunningly beautiful.