You're a Big Boy Now (1966)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Francis Ford Coppola

Writers:

David Benedictus (novel)
Francis Ford Coppola (writer)

Release Date:

31 July 1967 (Denmark)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Wow - It's the Wildest!

Plot:

Post-teen virgin moves to New York City, falls for a cold-hearted beauty, then finds true love with a loyal lass.

Plot Keywords:

New York | New York City | Love | Cult Favorite | Library

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 7 nominations

Cast

Elizabeth Hartman	...	Barbara Darling
Geraldine Page	...	Margery Chanticleer
Peter Kastner	...	Bernard Chanticleer
Rip Torn	...	I. H. Chanticleer
Michael Dunn	...	Richard Mudd
Tony Bill	...	Raef del Grado
Julie Harris	...	Miss Nora Thing
Karen Black	...	Amy Partlett
Dolph Sweet	...	Patrolman Francis Graf
Michael O'Sullivan	...	Kurt Dougherty The Albino Hypnotherpist
Ronald Colby	...	Barbara's Stage Play Crew (as Ron Colby)
Rufus Harley	...	Barbara's Stage Play Crew
Frank Simpson	...	Barbara's Stage Play Crew
Nina Varela	...	Barbara's Stage Play Crew
Len De Carl	...	Barbara's Stage Play Crew

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Pathécolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:12 | West Germany:16 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Seven Arts Pictures

Trivia:

The film shows the final portion of old Pennsylvania Station being demolished. Peter Kastner roller skates down 7th Avenue, right past the partially demolished 7th Ave. facade while the new Madison Square Garden tower rises in the background.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Albino therapist's skin coloring was as tanned as that of non-albino patient Barbara Darling; real albinos lack pigmentation, resulting in flesh that looks nearly white.

Quotes:

[Barbara takes a cigarette out of Bernard's mouth]
Barbara Darling: You like those coffin nails too much. Better watch out. Better not cough.

Movie Connections:

References Hawaii (1966)

how You're a big boy now got made

I wrote the novel upon which this film was based, I worked on the various scripts with Francis, and I was present throughout the filming in New York. An amazing experience. Coppola had been working for a year with MGM writing scripts for them (he had got this job as a result of winning a nationwide literary competition) and had scripted Is Paris Burning? and Patton Lust For Glory, both of which Gore Vidal was supposed to be writing but Coppola travelled to Paris to help get scripts out of him. He had also written the screenplay of This Property Is Condemned, based on a Tennessee Williams short story, and (apart from the magnificent helicopter shot which starts the film) thought very little of it.

For full details of the filming of this first real Coppola movie see my memoirs Dropping Names which is available from my website www.davidbenedictus.com Oh and by the way clips of Dementia 13 which Coppola filmed in a couple of weeks in Ireland (he mentioned to me some nudie films which he may or may not have directed but Dementia 13 is probably his first acknowledged work) are used several times throughout You're A Big Boy Now (I imagine he didn't have to pay copyright on them!) and they look powerful to me.

A sad memory is that Elizabeth Hartman who plays the sexy man-hater with great precision and style was to have a serious nervous breakdown after the end of her marriage and threw herself out of a window to her death. She was some actress and you may have seen her in The group and A Patch Of Blue (opposite Sydney Poitier)