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Inside Daisy Clover (1965)
In director Robert Mulligan's strange and satirical,
rags-to-riches melodrama (and musical show-business drama) of the
perils of an adolescent Hollywood star seeking recognition, fame,
and fortune:
- the character of tomboyish, rebellious, angry,
expressive 15-year old ragamuffin-urchin, Angel Beach boardwalk/pier-dwelling
Daisy Clover (Natalie Wood at age 26) in Santa Monica, CA with
her eccentric and senile Solitaire card-playing mother Mrs. Clover
(Ruth Gordon), aka The Dealer, where Daisy sold movie-star pictures
with forged autographs in 1936
- Daisy's rise to teenaged stardom (she declared: "I'm
gonna make a noise in the world") after she submitted a recording
and was driven by limousine to an audition/screen test for manipulative,
Svengali-like studio head Raymond Swan (Christopher Plummer), known
as "The Prince of Darkness" - with her singing the memorable
song: "You're Gonna Hear From Me"
- her debut appearance after she was put on contract
for five years, when she was heralded by Swan in 1936 Hollywood as
"America's Little Valentine" - with a bow in her hair
- the scene of Daisy left stranded at a Jawbone, Arizona
motel after being deserted by honeymooning, self-absorbed, narcissistic
groom and fellow actor Wade Lewis (Robert Redford) [Note: Swan's
wife Melora (Katharine Bard) had at one time been Wade's lover as
well, and almost committed suicide over him.]
- Swan's drunken and neglected wife Melora's revelation
to Daisy that Wade Lewis was a closeted homosexual: "Your husband
never could resist a charming boy"
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Daisy with Wade
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After Break-Up - Wade to Daisy: "You see?
Everything's wiped away"
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The Start of Daisy's Affair with Studio Head Raymond
Swan
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- Daisy's costuming as a rag-doll - when Wade gave
her all the postcards that he had sent to her after leaving her,
and told her: ("I came back"), and then removed her blonde
wig and wiped away white grease-paint on her face, metaphorically
asking for her to forget his "sins": ("You see?
Everything's wiped away")
- Raymond Swan's tender soliloquy/speech to Daisy by
his pool following her quick breakup with Wade - and the beginning
of his own affair with her; he told her: ("It's over Daisy.
All over. I've got you the best divorce lawyer in town -- so sleep
it off. Take a long deep sleep. Sandman's orders. (She stood up and
cradled her head in his chest.) At least you know all about love.
Hmm? (He picked her up in his arms.) All about love. Just nothing.
Lost cause. Just like your husband. Who needs it? (He passionately
kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck)
- Daisy's big pink-colored production number - the performance
of "The Circus is a Wacky World"
- Daisy's histrionic-rich, nervous breakdown/crack-up
in a sound-recording booth as she was dubbing in her voice to a film
track
- the concluding scene of her aborted efforts to suicidally
gas herself to death by sticking her head inside her beachhouse kitchen's
oven when she was interrupted by the phone - and her triumphant strut
down the shoreline drinking coffee as she blew up the beach-house
behind her (and her explanation to a passer-by on the beach of what
happened: "Someone declared war" - the film's last line)
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Daisy Clover
(Natalie Wood)
"You're Gonna Hear From Me"
"America's Little Valentine"
"The Circus is a Wacky World"
Daisy's Hysteria in Recording Booth
Daisy's Unsuccessful Suicide Attempt
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