Review of Inside Daisy Clover

INSIDE DAISY CLOVER is an oft-maligned, oft-misunderstood, but still fascinating drama from the 1960's that definitely began to earn second looks after the passing of its leading lady. Curiously, this is a film that every young actress in Hollywood in 1965 wanted to do and screen tested for, including Elizabeth Hartman and Patty Duke. The role of a 15 year old tomboy who dreams of and eventually becomes a movie star finally went to Natalie Wood, who works very hard to lose herself in the role. Wood never quite pulls off the tomboy thing, but she doesn't shy away from it either, delivering a gutsy performance as a young dreamer who is reminded of reality on a daily basis through the responsibility of taking care of her senile mother, beautifully played by Ruth Gordon. After achieving movie stardom with the help of a Svengali-type producer (Christopher Plummer), she does find romance with a charismatic young movie star (Robert Redford); however, this romance is short-lived. This movie is so 1960's...the promotional film within a film to introduce Daisy to Hollywood is absolutely hilarious...it's just something you never see anymore and Daisy's meltdown in a sound booth in the movie studio borders on laughable, but if you're fan of Wood, or the 60's or old fashioned Hollywood glamor, you can get your fill with this one.