I finally managed to get hold of a copy of 'The Mystery Of Natalie Wood' on DVD. It's OK as biopics go, but is nothing to write home about. Still, at least they steered away from some of the more contentious stuff that was in the Suzanne Finstadt book (on which the movie was largely based).

The 'everything bad that happened to Natalie was someone else's fault' thing did get a bit tedious at times. As did the portrayal of RJ! Where was his wicked sense of humour? His charm? His charisma? His intelligence? There was nothing in the movie's portrayal to indicate what Natalie ever saw in him!

Also, all we got to see was RJ's jealousy of Natalie. Where was Natalie's jealousy of RJ? She was known to occasionally be jealous of RJ, especially in the last few years of her life, yet none of that was portrayed in the movie!

A final point, whose bright idea was it to stick the bit on the end where Natalie is singing 'Let Me Entertain You' over a montage of clips...right after the harrowing scenes of her death/RJ & Maria finding out? Very bizarre and in dubious taste, I thought! The montage of clips was nice, but the song choice seemed a bit off!

Joanne

I know exactly what you mean! RJ is so not appealing to me anyway, but Michael Weatherley and his "baby" this and that drove me up a wall. Who'd want this guy--twice? I did think it was out of place for the Gypsy music, too. Probably Lana's idea!!

Actually, RJ does appeal to me (I've been a fan of his for years) which is why the portrayal of him in 'The Mystery Of Natalie Wood' grated so much with me! I know he's not perfect and I didn't want (or expect) a reverential treatment of him - but I did expect them to at least give a half decent sense of the man!

I suspect that Lana had something to do with the choice of music, which was actually quite good throughout the rest of the film. But that last song choice was ill-judged, to say the least!

Joanne

What I meant by who'd want this guy twice was the guy portrayed by Michael Weatherly. Not his fault, but the part was so one dimensional. The suave, urbane kind of guy that RJ is doesn't appeal to me, but I'm not hating on RJ just because of that. I have never liked that kind of guy, but Natalie obviously went for it in a big way.

yeah, yeah, yeah, blame it all on poor lana. everything's blamed on lana. she wonders what happened to her sister and it gets blamed on lana. she tried to get to the truth and everything gets blamed on lana. blah, blah, blah, everything's lana's fault. grow up, people

Joanne,

How do you know what Natalie saw in RJ? What you described as RJ's charteristics is the making of a total ass, you know the good looking full of himself narcissistic type?

Natalie jelous of RJ? never you better take another look at Natalie, she had to be jelous of nothing she was Natalie Wood.

As far as RJ being jelous of Natalie, he better have been he was with the most beautiful woman in the world Natalie Wood.

Halrego

Let's put it this way! He was the love of her life and she married him twice! She had the choice of eligable men, yet she chose to be with RJ! She chose to marry him, then later on she chose to remarry him! She chose to have a child with him and to allow him to adopt her daughter (not a descision she would have taken lightly). In her will, she specified that she wanted him to raise both girls (again not a descision taken lightly)! What all that tells me is that she saw something special in him. And it was that 'something special' that was missing from the portrayal of RJ in 'The Mystery Of Natalie Wood'.

Actually, the characteristics I described (intelligence, charm, wicked sense of humour) are not characteristics associated with a person who is full of himself or narcissistic! People like that tend to be arrogent and have no sense of humour, especially about themselves, where as RJ was/is known for his keen sense of humour, ability to laugh at himself and a refreshing lack of arrogance!

As for Natalie being jealous, why shouldn't she have felt that way from time to time? She admitted herself that she disliked seeing RJ doing love scenes with other women (I have an article in which she says this - I was just reading it today). She did feel insecure about him spending so much time (14 to 16 hours a day, 6 days a week) with his 'Hart to Hart' co-star, Stefanie Powers. She was worried about ageing and about continuing to be a major player in Hollywood. That doesn't make her a bad person - just a real one, who despite her undeniable beauty and talent sometimes felt insecure.

Joanne

in the article to which you are referring which is from a movie mag natalie said that she was uncomfortable watching rj doing love scenes. she referred to her feelings as "a natural human emotion"...she also said that she felt that her presence during such scenes was unfair to the actress that her husband was working with. now when rj was asked how he felt about watching natalie doing such scenes he said that it depended on the scene. he said that watching his wife being made love to was not his favorite site. both wagners' had the guts to admit this..other less secure couples would never publicly admit to that. i don't see jealousy there. i see don't insecurity there. as far as professional jealousy goes both wagners have said that they never had that problem. i think that was depicted that way in the film because natalie's career always eclipsed rjs. even when she was not working she was more celebrated than he was and always will be and he would be the first one to admit that. he has said that when they met natalie was already more accomplished as an actor that he ever would be. she had done work that will forever be remembered. both wagners have had an unkind critical review but she is the better actor of the two by a long shot. he is more of a personality. he does not even come close to her.he will never have the degree of stardom that she has had. even today he is referred to as the husband of legendary actress natalie wood. both wagners were unfairly depicted in the mystery of natalie wood. they portrayed her as a victim, as weak. that was not the case. she was a strong woman. she was a survivor. she was a woman with enough chutzpah to admit her faults. as far as the end of the film that was a tribute to her. it showed her making that rare transition from child to ingenue to adult actress. i wish they could have used the authentic gypsy soundtrack. the voice in the film was not natalie. i wish that people who don't know and understand her would not make comments about things that they know nothing about. obviously too much time among the tabloids. where else could some of what has been said come from. you don't know her. perhaps you should find an active rj site because you obviously are not here for natalie.

in the article to which you are referring which is from a movie mag natalie said that she was uncomfortable watching rj doing love scenes. she referred to her feelings as "a natural human emotion"...she also said that she felt that her presence during such scenes was unfair to the actress that her husband was working with. now when rj was asked how he felt about watching natalie doing such scenes he said that it depended on the scene. he said that watching his wife being made love to was not his favorite site. both wagners' had the guts to admit this..other less secure couples would never publicly admit to that. i don't see jealousy there. i see don't insecurity there. as far as professional jealousy goes both wagners have said that they never had that problem. i think that was depicted that way in the film because natalie's career always eclipsed rjs. even when she was not working she was more celebrated than he was and always will be and he would be the first one to admit that. he has said that when they met natalie was already more accomplished as an actor that he ever would be. she had done work that will forever be remembered. both wagners have had an unkind critical review but she is the better actor of the two by a long shot. he is more of a personality. he does not even come close to her.he will never have the degree of stardom that she has had. even today he is referred to as the husband of legendary actress natalie wood. both wagners were unfairly depicted in the mystery of natalie wood. they portrayed her as a victim, as weak. that was not the case. she was a strong woman. she was a survivor. she was a woman with enough chutzpah to admit her faults. as far as the end of the film that was a tribute to her. it showed her making that rare transition from child to ingenue to adult actress. i wish they could have used the authentic gypsy soundtrack. the voice in the film was not natalie. i wish that people who don't know and understand her would not make comments about things that they know nothing about. obviously too much time among the tabloids. where else could some of what has been said come from. you don't know her. perhaps you should find an active rj site because you obviously are not here for natalie.

To Anonymous

Well, at least we both agree about the dodgy portrayals in 'The Mystery Of Natalie Wood', though I would take issue with some of your comments about RJ. Of course his career was at times 'eclipsed' by Natalie's and she was considered the 'bigger' star. However, at the time of her death, RJ had become a huge TV star. I actually heard of (and became a fan of) him before I heard of Natalie.

As for who was the 'better' actor - I think that's a silly argument. Both were talented performers in their own right. Natalie was probably deemed more successful because most of her career 'highs' had been in movies and even today, there's a snobbery about movies vs TV. But to compare Natalie's and RJ's 'talents' is pointless and unfair. Both had their own abilities and their own approach to their craft.

As for the jealousy and insecurity, I think it did work both ways, but we only saw it coming from one direction in 'The Mystery Of Natalie Wood'.

Joanne

Is this really the best that Peter Bogdanovich could do?

Wagner is full of himself and narcissistic. It shows in his entire book.

Here's one of her posts

Hey cheap as chips Joanne? Did you actually buy a copy or did you borrow one or wait until you found it at a car boot?