You won't be disappointed!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

In my opinion, this 1962 film, based upon the 1957 book "Gypsy: A Memoir" written by Gypsy Rose Lee, herself, would have faired so much better had it been presented as a straight drama. I certainly found that both the musical numbers and the frequent lapses into comedy really weakened the overall punch that this film undoubtedly could've produced had these unnecessary elements not dominated a good part of the story.I also thought that Rosalind Russell's character as Rose Hovick, the ultimate, overbearing stage-mother-from-hell (who tyrannized the entire story) was given way-way too much attention and screen-time for my liking.From start to finish Russell's willful, one-note character literally chewed-up every bit of scenery with her loud, controlling and bossy histrionics. I found that this decidedly annoying character lost the novelty of her appeal within the first 30 minutes of the story.I also found that "Gypsy's" 143-minute running time to be almost unendurable to sit through. If a good 30 minutes had been carefully edited from this production I think that it would've been so much easier to enjoy.This movie just went on and on and on. (Ho-hum!) And its story just seemed to be going around and around in a vicious circle that ended up, in the long run, going absolutely nowhere at all.Another serious problem with "Gypsy" was the miscasting of Natalie Wood as the title character. From my point of view, Wood (though undeniably attractive) just didn't seem to possess the crucial dramatic resources to draw upon for this very demanding part. Wood simply played her part sweet & simple and this inevitably reduced her "Gypsy" to being nothing but an unambitious square - In other words, she was an accidental success.Yes. I fully understand that this film was clearly a product of early-1960's movie-making and that strict censorship was still in full swing back then - But, with that said, I really thought that it was completely laughable that Gypsy Rose Lee's meteoric rise to becoming a very hot burlesque queen was depicted as though just a sly wink, a sexy wiggle, and the revealing of a naked shoulder (and nothing else) was all that was required of her to achieve this special status of "striptease" royalty.Even though "Gypsy" was obviously a big-budget production that might have worked its intended magic as a stage play, on screen it was a truly disappointing let-down that certainly left a whole helluva lot to be desired.All-in-all - I would never recommend this film to anyone.

'Gypsy' starts off simple enough. A mother barrels down the stage to yell 'sing out, Louise!' as her two 'daughters' fervently act, sing and dance. This is the beginning of a long and harrowing psychological journey through the minds of people who all have a dream. Louise, the blossoming wallflower - always in her sister's shadow wants to be part of a dance team with Tulsa, who wants to create it. Little Dainty June wants to finally be a Broadway star. The beleaguered Herbie wants to simply settle down and have a home of his home with a wife and children. The heart of the show however, is Rose Hovick. Her drives and ambitions are what moves the plot along, causing the drives and ambitions of her 'proxy-star' troupe to grow more rapidly - specifically..to get away from her. No matter who plays Rose, the character is up for great interpretation. The first time you watch Gypsy, you may think that she's just some lovable, wacky mother who's a bit goofy and just likes to travel and help her kids become stars...even when you find out or already knew the reason she did it. Repeated viewings give a deep psychological glimpse into the inner-workings of how a person who lives through others acts. Rose is very quick, but not quick enough. Whether or not she did it all for herself is up for interpretation, but Rose continues to endear the hearts and minds of musical afficianados because she speaks for a generation. A generation of the lonely, the depressed, the left in the background. That's why Gypsy endures.

Gypsy is one of the greatest musicals of all time. In fact, I, personally, think the book for Gypsy is the finest of all time. Take away the score to most musicals and a tedious and usually hardly serviceable book is left behind. However, even if you took out all the songs from Gypsy, you'd still be left with a terrific play with great characters, humor, terror, suspense, and heartache. It's everything one would ever want in a musical.How they managed to screw up such wonderful material is beyond me! The orchestrations are lush, the sets and costumes look great, most of the actors are solid and game, but the screenplay and direction are pedestrian at best. Once the screenplay finally decides to get faithful to the source material half way in, the pace tightens up immensely. The direction, however, remains equally as dull from frame one to the last frame of the movie. There's simply no imagination put into the staging of the musical numbers at all. In fact, most of the time, I was hoping they'd just skip past most of the musical numbers and get to the book scenes.This is also, in no small part, due to the fact that no one in the cast can really handle the vocal demands of the score. Natalie Wood sounds just fine in her numbers, even charming, but poor Rosalind Russell had to be almost completely dubbed for her numbers. Strangely, Russell got rave reviews for her performance in the Broadway musical Wonderful Town. Karl Malden has so little to sing that it doesn't really make a big difference.The only numbers that pop a little bit are "You Gotta Get A Gimmick" and Louise's transformation into sexpot stripper Gypsy Rose Lee in "Let Me Entertain You". The rest fall flat. Thankfully, even if they can't handle all the vocals with the best of 'em, they certainly act the hell out of their roles. Russell, while far from perfect, at least doesn't embarrass herself like Bette Midler did in the 1993 TV movie version. Her monologue right before "Rose's Turn" is subtle and well delivered, even if the number that comes directly after it is horrendously executed. Malden is warm and charming as Herbie, Rose's poor bumbling love interest and Wood shines as timid and naive Louise. The final dressing room scene between her and Russell is quite good. This version is really only marginally better than the TV movie version and that's really only for the acting.

This is an unusual musical film, loosely based on (not directly copied from) the Broadway musical of the same name, using the music by Sondheim & Stein. (Among its better known songs are: "Everything's Coming Up Roses," "Let Me Entertain You"). The Broadway play was loosely based on Gypsy Rose Lee's fairy tale version of growing up under the strong hand of her mother (Rose Hovick) along with her younger sister, June Havoc, who earlier escaped Momma Rose's clutches and much later became a stage, movie, & TV star.Rosalind Russell's performance (Momma Rose) has often been criticized as being inferior to Ethel Merman's although Russell (IMO) delivers a very strong performance. Much of the difference is that in the stage version, most of Momma Rose's dark side is not shown; in Russell's version, one sees a slightly more realistic version of Momma Rose.Russell's Momma Rose increasingly becomes (IMO) an unlikeable character rather than one brassy, funny, and larger than life. This is a bit closer to the real Momma Rose (read Noralee Frankel's "Stripping Gypsy" for an excellent biography). Momma was an extremely demanding woman, more than a bit psychopathic, who not only pressed both of her daughters to earn money for her but also drove them emotionally away. Karl Malden as Momma Rose's put-upon lover-in-waiting stands in for the many men Momma Rose actually conned and he brings enough sympathy to his role that it adds more fuel to disliking the Momma Rose that Russell brings to life. Natalie Wood is a very believable Gypsy.An interesting film, both for its presentations of family relationships and for an era. If the film was less detailed, shorter, possibly its emotional impact would have been closer to that of the stage version. As it is, Momma's selfishness, her determination to get whatever she wanted at any cost, becomes dominant and one is thankful her two daughters escaped.The difference between the versions of Momma Rose presented in this film and that of the stage musical stimulated me to read Frankel's excellent biography ("Stripping Gypsy"), Preminger's (Gypsy's son) "Gypsy & Me" AKA "My G-String Mother," plus June Havoc's "Early Havoc" & "More Havoc." (Plus Abbot's less helpful biography of Gypsy: "American Rose.")Fascinating family to explore! I also read Gypsy's fantasy, "Gypsy, a Memoir," the foundation on which the musical was built. It's interesting storytelling but a fairy tale. Momma Rose died a few years before "Gypsy," her book, was published. On her death bed, Momma Rose died putting a curse on Gypsy as Gypsy was trying to comfort her. But a great story is more acceptable than the truth and, besides, Gypsy had learned quite well from her mother the marketable advantage of spinning interesting stories!