Girl With Green Eyes (1964)

OscarÂ(r) winner* "Peter Finch is excellent" (Judith Crist) and Golden GlobeÂ(r) winner** Rita Tushingham is "entirely captivating" (The Hollywood Reporter) in this bittersweetstory of an extraordinary romance. Beautifully scripted, brilliantly directed and superbly acted, this "charming and rueful movie" (The New Yorker) "goes straight to the heart" (The Herald Examiner)! He barely noticed her the first time they met but with one glance, this naïve Irish farm girl drew him to her side. She's not beautiful, not sophisticated, and far too young for a man of his years, but she has torn him from his solitude and set his soul on fire. Yet now, even as she moves into his Dublin home and he commits to her, he knows he can never fulfill her girlishnotions of love nor satisfy the yearning in those haunting, hungry eyes. *1976: Actor, Network **1962: New Star of the Year, A Taste of Honey

Coming of age

Girl with Green Eyes is very much a part of its era, a decade when mores, sexual and other, were rapidly changing. Kate Brady is a 20-ish farm lass just come to big city Dublin, eager for life and a first taste of love. Gawky as a colt, her greatest wish is to experience grand passion, hopefully in a "sophisticated" love affair. Enter Eugene, nearly twice her age, who finds Kate charming but hopelessly naive. Winsome, shy Kate finds ways of beguiling her way into his affections, and although Eugene makes no secret of intending nothing permanent, to Kate, this budding relationship means everything.

Rita Tushingham as Kate is natural and charming, and a very young Lynn Redgrave, in her first role, provides much needed splashes of humor in her roommate role. The scenes in which Kate's father bulls his way into a resuce attempt are priceless. Peter Finch as Eugene is convincingly worldy and jaded.

Though set in the swinging sixties, the themes of this film are timeless. March 14, 2008

it gave me a headache

I did not like this movie because it was very dull. All it was was kissing, books and dramatic music. I like some black and white movies but not this one. Peter finch is better in kidnapped! by walt disney. November 10, 2004

One of the best Films-Ever!

I saw this first in 1975 and still remember the haunting scenes with Rita Tushingham. She plays sensitively yet without maudlin excess as the young single woman pregnant with her Jamaican boyfriend's baby, supported by her local friends including a Gay neighbor. An honest view of life in 60's Manchester,as well as the film debut of an excellent actress. December 4, 2003

Kitchen Sink, Glistening and Brilliant

GIRL WITH GREEN EYES is a Woodfall film, one of those slice-of-life-in-the-UK pictures produced by Tony Richardson in the 60's, Britain's answer to the French New Wave. All are generally worthwhile views; this one is marvelous, with wonderful dialogue by Edna O'Brien from her novel, THE LONELY GIRL. Frequently laugh-out-loud funny and also quietly touching, not the easiest combination to pull off, but managed beautifully here. Rita Tushingham and Lynn Redgrave are simple and simply perfect as the country girls trying to make a go of life in Dublin, while Peter Finch strikes the proper note of bruised, reluctant romanticism as the object of Rita's pursuit. Almost forty years old, GIRL's as fresh as paint, could have been made yesterday. Tonic, rich and rewarding. November 27, 2002

Wonderful artifact from the mid-Sixties

This is a very stylish story of a young Irish girl's affair with an older man. Part sad, part whimsical, and all around very refreshing, the film winds up being more light and fun than dark and tragic, as one might expect.

The film is wonderfully photographed in glorious black and white, both in a documentary format and a dash of a somewhat "New Wave" style. It's an interesting mixture, anyway. In fact, the entire film appears to have been shot on location in Dublin and the surrounding countryside, lending even further creditbility to the documentray styling.

The well-written dialogue is full of engaging double-meanings, and may remind one of "The Prisoner", as the lines can be both cryptic, yet very deep and telling. The actors all deliver, too.

The film is very much a product of its time, and captures the feeling of what it must have been like to be a youth in 1963 Dublin. It very much conveys the atmosphere of a "slice of life" during the era, as the young girl comes of age.

This is a little-known gem that aspiring film students may find inspirational. Lynn Redgrave's debut film. February 16, 2002

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