"Two For The Seesaw" (1962)

Robert Mitchum & Shirley MacLaine
Directed by Robert Wise

OK, more of my current early Shirley MacLaine obsession.

The story of two misfits managing a bumpy doomed romance in early 1960s New York, photographed in moody black and white. The film is a tad dated but does offer a kernel of truth about the complications of two very flawed people trying to connect.

Adapted from a stage play, the film version suffers from overlong dialogue and the bad casting of Mitchum, who is too taciturn and disaffected to be remotely engaging. He usually plays tough guys, and while he has his appeal, he just doesn’t work here as a romantic lead. In the mouth of someone like Richard Burton or Jack Lemmon, Jerry Ryan’s lines might sound clever or charming, but Mitchum sounds like a grim, depressive, controlling abuser (and he does manipulate and smack Gittel a few times – and in those politically incorrect times, she just takes it). MacLaine, who is excellent as usual, affects some New Yawk Jewish girl quirks as Gittel Mosca, a free-spirited but struggling former dancer who calls ‘em like she sees ‘em but still gives, gives, gives.

It’s hard to understand how she and displaced Nebraska lawyer Jerry get together in the first place, considering that WASPYy Jerry—in Big Apple self-exile while his wife divorces him-- only reaches out because he has no other options. Gittel is merely curious. For her, Jerry is just the latest in a string of bad relationships that she kills by being way too accommodating (something I can relate to). And Jerry is slumming, trying to make up through easy-breezy Gittel for everything he failed to do in his marriage. There is no way this is going to last. Not only are they culturally miles apart, Jerry is in his 40s and Gittel is just 29; further, Jerry has a law degree while Gittel – though no dummy – only finished high school. Once they throw in together, they try to make it work by shoring each other up through thick and thin, but it’s no use. Gittel knows she can’t hold him, and sabotages the relationship by sleeping with someone else. They both know he’s still in love with his wife. They end it, and manage to stay friends.

I think that’s what I like about the film, finally, though I’m not sure I would sit through it again: Some relationships are only meant to last for a season, and once we understand that, there’s no need for recriminations. Breaking up is never easy, fun, or happy. But Jerry and Gittel are very clear that though it didn’t last, they are both far better people for the experience.