Pauline Kael

I only recall she really trashed Candice Bergen. Kael pointed out that the others were hard-working actress but found Bergen lackadaisical and getting by on a pass because her beauty eclipsed the others workaday prettiness. (Though newcomer Bergen agrees she didn't take it all as seriously as the other girls, I feel she gave a very creditable performance nonetheless).

I would be interested in seeing the article Bergen herself wrote at the same time. In her autobiography, Ms. Bergen wrote that one of her fellow actresses in The Group stole her notes for the article she was writing and then threatened Candice with serious problems if she pursued writing it. I would love to know which actress that might have been !

<< The film critic Pauline Kael worked behind the scenes in this film to study how a film gets made. She then wrote about it. Very fascinating stuff. Does anyone remember what she wrote about each actress in the film? >>

She does not comment on each performer.

But Kael points out that as the most established actress (with two Academy Award nomination behind her), Shirley Knight was offered her choice between the two largest roles, Kay and Polly. Kael thought the film would have been better had Knight played Kay, as she had "the strength" to make the "impossible" role work, while she also thought Joanna Pettet was a giddy-type blonde better suited to light romantic comedy. So she considered the film off-balance from the start.

Beyond that, as I recall Kael doesn't single out anyone specifically for discussion, except for commenting on Bergen's physical beauty ("a goddess upstages the girls") and blasé attitude.

Pauline Kael's essay, "The Making of 'The Group,'" can be found in her book Kiss Kiss Bang Bang published in April 1968 in hardcover by Little, Brown & Co. The mass market paperback edition was published by Bantam Books in April 1969. There was also a book club edition issued by the now defunct Film & Television Book Club in September 1968. These books are readily available today on sites such as eBay and abebooks.com.

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