Rent The Group (1966)
3.4 of 5 from 59 ratings
2h 30min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
From visionary director Sidney Lumet (12 Angry Men, Network) comes an ensemble masterpiece about female friendship, taboo and affection based on the sparkling novel by Mary McCarthy. Starring Candice Bergman, Joan Hackett, Elizabeth Hartman, Lucille Bluth and Joanna Pettet in her film debut. Sex and the City writer Candace Bushnell said, 'The Group reminds us that not much has really changed', and it's not hard to see why as the film covers such wide-ranging topics as free love, contraception, Trotskyism, abortion, lesbianism, alcoholism, abuse and mental illness. Filmed in New York and Manhattan, the story charts the lives of eight young women who graduate from an exclusive college in the middle of the Depression. There's Lakey, who returns from her travels with a girlfriend, Dottie, a repressed socialite Kay who marries a playwright and the wealthy Kathleen who insists on proving her value in the workplace. Also in tow are the perpetually pregnant Pokey, gossiping Libby, wannabe doctor Polly and darling of the Manhattan literary set, Priss. Sumptuously filmed by Oscar winning cinematographer Boris Kaufman (12 Angry Men) with gorgeous costumes from Anna Hill Johnstone (The Godfather) this treat is delightful to the eyes and warming to the heart. - Actors:
- Candice Bergen, Joan Hackett, Elizabeth Hartman, Shirley Knight, Joanna Pettet, Mary-Robin Redd, Jessica Walter, Kathleen Widdoes, James Broderick, James Congdon, Larry Hagman, Hal Holbrook, Richard Mulligan, Robert Emhardt, Carrie Nye
- Directors:
- Sidney Lumet
- Producers:
- Sidney Buchman
- Writers:
- Mary McCarthy, Sidney Buchman
- Studio:
- Simply Media
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama
- Collections:
- The Instant Expert's Guide, The Instant Expert's Guide to Sidney Lumet
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Reviews (1) of The Group
Period Drama. - The Group review by Steve
Attractive sixties proto-feminist drama based on Mary McCarthy's popular novel about eight privileged female friends who graduate from a prestigious girls' school in 1933, and their experiences from the depression up until WWII.
The focus is on gender issues such as contraception, free love, childbirth and inequality in the workplace. Of course these are as pertinent to the sixties as the thirties. The women are intellectuals, but this isn't an academic film. It's a melodrama about their social experiences.
Sidney Lumet and screenwriter Sidney Buchman do a fine job in telling a coherent story with so many lead characters, particularly as the actors were all relatively unknown at the time. There are a lot of debuting female performers here and they give sensitive, sincere interpretations.
What seems groundbreaking, is that it was a story about women which wasn't patronising or satirical. It also began a sub-genre of films about the experiences of a clique of graduate friends. In '33 the group left college in search of an opportunity to play a full part in society. By '66, they were still waiting.
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