A few other movies have been made since this one that have skydiving as a small to major component of the film. But, "The Gypsy Moths" is the only one with the substance of the plot built around skydiving. It's jump scenes take up a good portion of the film and are superbly filmed and entertaining. No other film since has provided as good a show of the stunts, aerial acrobatics and routines that the sport can provide. And, in spite of a stellar cast of the day, the skydiving is the best and only reason to see this film.
That's not a reflection on Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr for their acting, because the plot is weak and weird to begin with, and the screenplay is shaky. The film is based on a 1955 novel of the same title by James Drought. If anything, the subplot of this film plays like a soap opera. The premise of the unhappily married woman who lusts for another man has been done many times, and judging from the promotion of this film and some reviewers, that's how many people saw it. But I think Kerr's Elizabeth Brandon is a little more than that. At one point, Lancaster's Mike Rettig asks her if this has happened before - her having sex with another man. She replies, not often, but occasionally. So, she's a woman who every now and then commits adultery when the right man comes along. And her husband, who says very few words in the entire film, just sits by knowingly condoning her occasional "discrepancies."
It's a picture of a considerably dysfunctional relationship. And, one of the further ridiculous aspects is that Mike Rettig assumes or thinks that Mrs. Bandon has fallen for him and will go away with him. As she and her husband say at the end, she was terrified at the thought of leaving her secure situation. And husband John (played by William Windom) acknowledged that the thought terrified him as well.
The acting overall seems stinted, and that may be because of the script. The best performance of the whole thing and what gives this film one extra star in my book, is Gene Hackman's Joe Browdy.
Again, the best part of and reason to see this film is the skydiving. All of this was handled by a young skydiver, Carl Boenish, a freefall cinematographer and his team of skydivers. Boenish would become known as the founder of BASE jumping - skydiving from fixed grounded structures and heights. Indeed, he coined the phrase which reflects jumping from buildings, antennas, spans (bridges) and earth (cliffs). Boenish and his wife, Jean, made thousands of jumps before he met his death on a jump from a mountain in Norway in 1984 - at age 43.
Oh, and one last point to be clarified - Deborah Kerr did not do the nude scene in this film. It was made by her double. Although there are some Internet sites and occasional movie reviewers who think and say otherwise, I know of no credible news source that makes such a claim. Following Kerr's death, The Associated Press article of Oct. 18, 2007 by Jill Lawless, stated that "She refused to play a nude scene in 'The Gypsy Moths,' released in 1968." In a Washington Post article the next day, Adam Bernstein wrote that Kerr "voiced disdain for the public appetite for gratuitous on-screen nudity. A stand-in did her nude scene with Lancaster in John Frankenheimer's skydiving drama 'The Gypsy Moths'". And, in "Deborah Kerr: A Biography," by Michelangelo Capua (Sept. 9, 2010), the author wrote about the skydiving movie. "It was not an easy assignment for Deborah due to a controversy which immediately reached the media as to a nude scene, performed by her double. However, the idea made her feel very uncomfortable."
And, neither Kerr nor Lancaster thought this movie was very good - due mostly to the characters and their development in the plot. The movie bombed at the box office - not even covering its budget. As Kerr's biographer, Capua, wrote, "Most reviewers were lukewarm, only praising the fantastic aerial stunts."
Here are the best lines in this film.
Elizabeth Brandon, "Do you always offer more than you're asked for?" Mike Rettig, "Only to those who ask so much less than they want." Mrs. Brandon, "But if it was what I want, do you think I could accept it?" Rettig, "There's always another choice. Don't you see that?" Mrs. Brandon, "Not for everyone." Rettig, "For everyone."
Elizabeth Brandon, "How do you come to have this wonderful freedom of choice?" Mike Rettig, "You take it." Mrs. Brandon, "From whom?" Rettig, "From anyone who says it isn't yours to take it." Mrs. Brandon, "Oh, I envy you." Rettig, "Don't envy me - join me."
Joe Browdy, "You just describe what you see and add a little color. Use your imagination." Dick Donford, from the local radio station, "All right. I've done a lot of sports events, you know, basketball games - that sort of stuff." Browdy, "That's right, just call it like a basketball game."
Joe Browdy, over the public address system, "Oh, uh, incidentally, there's a reward for that, uh, jump suit. Anybody finding that jump suit gets a free parachute jump." (Groans and chuckles from the crowd.)
Elizabeth Brandon, "He wanted me to go with him." John Brandon, "Did he, now?" Mrs. Brandon, "The thought terrified me." John Brandon, "And me."
That's not a reflection on Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr for their acting, because the plot is weak and weird to begin with, and the screenplay is shaky. The film is based on a 1955 novel of the same title by James Drought. If anything, the subplot of this film plays like a soap opera. The premise of the unhappily married woman who lusts for another man has been done many times, and judging from the promotion of this film and some reviewers, that's how many people saw it. But I think Kerr's Elizabeth Brandon is a little more than that. At one point, Lancaster's Mike Rettig asks her if this has happened before - her having sex with another man. She replies, not often, but occasionally. So, she's a woman who every now and then commits adultery when the right man comes along. And her husband, who says very few words in the entire film, just sits by knowingly condoning her occasional "discrepancies."
It's a picture of a considerably dysfunctional relationship. And, one of the further ridiculous aspects is that Mike Rettig assumes or thinks that Mrs. Bandon has fallen for him and will go away with him. As she and her husband say at the end, she was terrified at the thought of leaving her secure situation. And husband John (played by William Windom) acknowledged that the thought terrified him as well.
The acting overall seems stinted, and that may be because of the script. The best performance of the whole thing and what gives this film one extra star in my book, is Gene Hackman's Joe Browdy.
Again, the best part of and reason to see this film is the skydiving. All of this was handled by a young skydiver, Carl Boenish, a freefall cinematographer and his team of skydivers. Boenish would become known as the founder of BASE jumping - skydiving from fixed grounded structures and heights. Indeed, he coined the phrase which reflects jumping from buildings, antennas, spans (bridges) and earth (cliffs). Boenish and his wife, Jean, made thousands of jumps before he met his death on a jump from a mountain in Norway in 1984 - at age 43.
Oh, and one last point to be clarified - Deborah Kerr did not do the nude scene in this film. It was made by her double. Although there are some Internet sites and occasional movie reviewers who think and say otherwise, I know of no credible news source that makes such a claim. Following Kerr's death, The Associated Press article of Oct. 18, 2007 by Jill Lawless, stated that "She refused to play a nude scene in 'The Gypsy Moths,' released in 1968." In a Washington Post article the next day, Adam Bernstein wrote that Kerr "voiced disdain for the public appetite for gratuitous on-screen nudity. A stand-in did her nude scene with Lancaster in John Frankenheimer's skydiving drama 'The Gypsy Moths'". And, in "Deborah Kerr: A Biography," by Michelangelo Capua (Sept. 9, 2010), the author wrote about the skydiving movie. "It was not an easy assignment for Deborah due to a controversy which immediately reached the media as to a nude scene, performed by her double. However, the idea made her feel very uncomfortable."
And, neither Kerr nor Lancaster thought this movie was very good - due mostly to the characters and their development in the plot. The movie bombed at the box office - not even covering its budget. As Kerr's biographer, Capua, wrote, "Most reviewers were lukewarm, only praising the fantastic aerial stunts."
Here are the best lines in this film.
Elizabeth Brandon, "Do you always offer more than you're asked for?" Mike Rettig, "Only to those who ask so much less than they want." Mrs. Brandon, "But if it was what I want, do you think I could accept it?" Rettig, "There's always another choice. Don't you see that?" Mrs. Brandon, "Not for everyone." Rettig, "For everyone."
Elizabeth Brandon, "How do you come to have this wonderful freedom of choice?" Mike Rettig, "You take it." Mrs. Brandon, "From whom?" Rettig, "From anyone who says it isn't yours to take it." Mrs. Brandon, "Oh, I envy you." Rettig, "Don't envy me - join me."
Joe Browdy, "You just describe what you see and add a little color. Use your imagination." Dick Donford, from the local radio station, "All right. I've done a lot of sports events, you know, basketball games - that sort of stuff." Browdy, "That's right, just call it like a basketball game."
Joe Browdy, over the public address system, "Oh, uh, incidentally, there's a reward for that, uh, jump suit. Anybody finding that jump suit gets a free parachute jump." (Groans and chuckles from the crowd.)
Elizabeth Brandon, "He wanted me to go with him." John Brandon, "Did he, now?" Mrs. Brandon, "The thought terrified me." John Brandon, "And me."