''Greenwich Village Story'' is a 1963 American feature film written and directed by Jack O'Connell and starring Robert Hogan.

Plot

In the Manhattan section of

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

, Genie , a talented ballet dancer, is pregnant with the child of her underachieving boyfriend Brian, an aspiring novelist. Genie forgoes a professional dancing job to stay with Brian in the apartment that they share. When Brian's novel is rejected by a publisher upon whose patronage he was depending, he spends several days with his ex-girlfriend Anne, a society woman several years older than he who is often accompanied by a young advertising copywriter named George. Not aware that Genie is pregnant, Brian has made their marriage conditional upon his success as a writer. Genie fears that Brian, who is emotionally immature, will reject her when he learns of her pregnancy. Brian is informally mentored in the ways of the world by the cynical and experienced bohemian Norman and is tempted into the world of

Madison Avenue Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, New York, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Stree ...

by George, with whom he has developed a friendship. While away in the Berkshires with Anne, whose advances he gently shuns, Brian, still unaware of Genie's pregnancy, realizes that he loves and wants to marry Genie. He hurriedly returns to Greenwich Village, but Genie is difficult to trace.

Production

The film was shot on location in Greenwich Village and in

the Berkshires The Berkshires () are highlands located in western Massachusetts and northwestern Connecticut in the United States. Generally, "Berkshires" may refer to the range of hills in Massachusetts that lie between the Housatonic and Connecticut River ...

, including a nude swimming scene filmed at Lake Garfield, Massachusetts. According to director Jack O'Connell, the loud sounds of motorboat engines in the sequence were replaced in the final soundtrack by prerecorded crickets. O'Connell had earlier worked as second assistant director for

Michelangelo Antonioni Michelangelo Antonioni ( ; ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and editor. He is best known for his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents", ''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and '' ...

's ''

L'Avventura ''L'Avventura'' () is a 1960 drama film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Developed from a story by Antonioni with co-writers Elio Bartolini and Tonino Guerra, the film is about the disappearance of a young woman ( Lea Massari) during a boat ...

'' (1960), while cinematographer

Baird Bryant Wenzell Baird Bryant (December 12, 1927 – November 13, 2008) was an American filmmaker. He was well known in documentary circles for his hand-held ability to almost instantaneously capture live action as it was happening. Hired as the cameraman o ...

later worked as an uncredited assistant to László Kovács for ''

Easy Rider ''Easy Rider'' is a 1969 American road drama film written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern. It was produced by Fonda and directed by Hopper. Fonda and Hopper play two bikers who travel through the American Southwest and the S ...

'' (1969) and shot that film's

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD (from German ; often referred to as acid or lucy), is a semisynthetic, hallucinogenic compound derived from ergot, known for its powerful psychological effects and serotonergic activity. I ...

trip sequence in a

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

cemetery.

Reception

In a contemporary review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', critic A. H. Weiler praised O'Connell's direction and the film's realism: "Life, Mr. O'Connell apparently has learned, is real and earnest and happy Hollywood endings occur only on the West Coast. His leads and the supporting players, most of whom have had experience in the theater and television, behave, for the most part, naturally and unaffectedly. There are many evidences of amateurism, but these may be forgiven for the obvious sincerity they contribute to their assignments."

References

External links

* * 1963 films 1963 independent films 1963 romantic drama films American black-and-white films American independent films American romantic drama films Films set in Manhattan Films set in Massachusetts Films shot in Massachusetts Films shot in New York City American pregnancy films 1963 directorial debut films 1960s English-language films 1960s American films English-language independent films Berkshires in fiction English-language romantic drama films {{1960s-US-film-stub