As a Natalie Wood fan, I'm glad that I've finally been able to see this film but now that I have, I'm not really sure if it was worth the wait. Sure, it's super dated but some lines are truly brilliant while the whole plot seems problematic and at times, just plain unrealistic.
Angie Rossini (Wood) is the only daughter of a large, loud and beyond overprotective Italian family in New York. She's a clerk at Macy's and is pregnant. She manages to track down the father, Rocky (Steve McQueen) and asks him for a doctor.
Now, Rocky isn't exactly a catch, a struggling New York musician whose relationship with Barb (Edie Adams) is never fully explained, but it appears by modern standards that they are an unmarried couple living together but are not yet married, mainly because Rocky has a typical male opinion of marriage, he thinks its a trap.
Still, he helps her find a doctor which begins their journey together, and it is a journey. First, they need more money so he finds his parents and visits them for the first time in months and they have to run away because Angie's brother has found them which leads them to an abandoned apartment that somehow has pictures of Rocky when he was younger. And he starts Angie from having the illegal and certainly unsafe abortion, but goes about it the wrong way. She's hysterical and he slaps her before wrapping his arms around her. He fesses up to her brothers and offers to marry her but she refuses his proposal, not wanting to trap him. Instead, Angie gets over being scared and gets her own little apartment and decides to marry the cook, Anthony (Tom Boseley) whose crazy about her. Sure, she doesn't love him but at least he wants to. Naturally, this doesn't sit well with Rocky and eventually he comes around, in a grand romantic gesture sort of way, so they get their happy ending, though I hardly call it happy, as I find Rocky to be deeply flawed and certainly dated romantic hero and his character would not hold up by today standards.
That all being said, Angie deserved more screen time, being the far more interesting character who also goes through tons of development, deciding to give up on the fairy tale dream of true love and be more realistic. However, the steps her brothers go to keep on tabs on her is just insane, paying a kid to call them from a pay phone with her location. Still, the acting is solid, with great performances from Wood and even McQueen, which was a surprise, both are trying not to fall in love with each other or do them any favors but they drawn together anyway. That being said, the film doesn't hold up well, and romance is supposed to be timeless, which is just a shame. Grade: B
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