''Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff'' is a 1979 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

directed by

Marvin J. Chomsky Marvin Joseph Chomsky (May 23, 1929 – March 28, 2022) was an American director and producer who worked both in television and film. Early life and career Chomsky born in the Bronx and raised in Brooklyn. He attended Stuyvesant High School i ...

. The screenplay by

Polly Platt Polly is a given name, most often feminine, which originated as a variant of Molly (a diminutive of Mary). Polly may also be a short form of names such as Polina, Polona, Paula or Paulina. People named or nicknamed Polly Female *Caresse Cros ...

is based on the 1970 novel of the same title by

William Inge William Motter Inge (; May 3, 1913 – June 10, 1973) was an American playwright and novelist, whose works typically feature solitary protagonists encumbered with strained sexual relations. In the early 1950s he had a string of memorable Broad ...

. Inge wrote two novels, both set in the fictional town of Freedom, Kansas. In ''Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff'', high-school Latin teacher Evelyn Wyckoff loses her job because she has an affair with the school's black janitor. The novel's themes include spinsterhood, racism, sexual tension and

public humiliation Public humiliation or public shaming is a form of punishment whose main feature is dishonoring or disgracing a person, usually an offender or a prisoner, especially in a public place. It was regularly used as a form of judicially sanctioned puni ...

during the late 1950s. The film version stars Anne Heywood, John Lafayette,

Donald Pleasence Donald Henry Pleasence (; 5 October 1919 – 2 February 1995) was an English actor. He began his career on stage in the West End before transitioning into a screen career, where he played numerous supporting and character roles including RAF ...

Robert Vaughn Robert Francis Vaughn (November 22, 1932 – November 11, 2016) was an American actor noted for his stage, film and television work. His television roles include the spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s series '' The Man from U.N.C.L.E.''; th ...

and, in her final film,

Carolyn Jones Carolyn Sue Jones (April 28, 1930 – August 3, 1983) was an American actress of television and film. Jones began her film career in the early 1950s, and by the end of the decade had achieved recognition with a nomination for an Academy ...

Plot

In 1954 in Freedom, a fictional small

Kansas Kansas () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its Capital city, capital is Topeka, Kansas, Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita, Kansas, Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebras ...

town, Evelyn Wyckoff, a lonely and greatly depressed 35-year-old high-school Latin teacher, no longer finds any satisfaction in her work, in spite of being well-liked by students and colleagues. Attractive but still a virgin, on the verge of

premature menopause Primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) (also called premature ovarian insufficiency, premature menopause, and premature ovarian failure) is the partial or total loss of reproductive and hormonal function of the ovaries before age 40 because of fol ...

, her physician Dr. Neal thinks her problems would be solved if she were to begin a romantic relationship. He directs her to Dr. Steiner, a psychiatrist in Wichita. The talks with Steiner help her, and slowly she acknowledges her craving for love. She starts flirting with Ed Eckles, the friendly bus driver on her trips to Wichita. Ed cares for her and suggests they should have a love affair. She hesitates because Ed is married. When she is finally willing, she finds Ed has left town for good. One day she is accosted by Rafe Collins, a cocky

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

college scholarship student who cleans classrooms at the end of the school day. When the young man boldly makes lewd suggestions and begins to unzip his pants, Evelyn flees in a panic but decides to tell no one what transpired, hoping it was an isolated incident. The following day, Rafe approaches Evelyn again and ruthlessly rapes her on her desk. Ashamed and fearful of the public disgrace she will suffer if she reports being violated by a black man, she chooses to remain silent. A full-fledged

psychopath Psychopathy, sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy, is characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits. Different conceptions of psychopathy have been ...

and sadist, Rafe forces himself upon her on a daily basis. Evelyn, in a mixture of intimidation and sexual craving, submits to the humiliating and abusive relationship, sometimes looking forward to their trysts. When Rafe forces Evelyn's body against a hot radiator during sex, her screams alert two other janitors, who enter her classroom and see what is going on.

Scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way. Th ...

breaks loose and Evelyn faces unrelenting public

ostracism Ostracism ( el, ὀστρακισμός, ''ostrakismos'') was an Athenian democratic procedure in which any citizen could be expelled from the city-state of Athens for ten years. While some instances clearly expressed popular anger at the ci ...

. The friendly principal Havermayer is forced to ask her to resign, referring her to a new job in another town in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

. Everybody turns a cold shoulder on her and she contemplates

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...

. But in the end she regains herself and moves out of town to a new life.

Cast

* Anne Heywood as Evelyn Wyckoff * John Lafayette as Rafe Collins *

as Dr. Steiner *

as Dr. Neal * Earl Holliman as Ed Eckles *

as Beth * Ronee Blakley as Betsy * Dorothy Malone as Mildred *

Doris Roberts Doris May Roberts ( Green; November 4, 1925 – April 17, 2016) was an American actress whose career spanned seven decades of television and film. She received five Emmy Awards and a Screen Actors Guild award during her acting career, which bega ...

as Marie *

Dana Elcar Ibsen Dana Elcar (October 10, 1927 – June 6, 2005) was an American television and film character actor. He appeared in about 40 films as well as on the 1980s and 1990s television series ''MacGyver'' as Peter Thornton, MacGyver's immediate ...

as Principal Havermeyer * Jocelyn Brando as Mrs. Hemmings *

R.G. Armstrong Robert Golden Armstrong Jr. (April 7, 1917 – July 27, 2012) was an American character actor and playwright. A veteran performer who appeared in dozens of Westerns during his 40-year career, he may be best remembered for his work with director ...

as Mr. Hemmings

Reception

Critical response

Kevin Thomas of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' called the film "perfectly dreadful" and added, "In their literalness, Polly Platt's script and Marvin Chomsky's direction compound each other disastrously... ''Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff'' expresses familiar truths about the painful conflict of the individual and society—but with a persistent sense of falseness and an utter lack of style."

Release

''Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff'' was released in April 1979 in theaters in the United States and on October 27, 1979, in theaters in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. The film was released on VHS with these alternate titles: ''The Sin'', ''The Shaming'' and ''Secret Yearnings''. ''Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff'' was released on DVD and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

on August 13, 2013.

References

Sources

External links

* {{Marvin J. Chomsky 1979 films 1979 drama films American drama films Films scored by Ernest Gold Films based on American novels Films set in 1956 Films set in Kansas Films directed by Marvin J. Chomsky Films about virginity 1970s English-language films 1970s American films