The Miracle Worker (1962 film): Difference between revisions

{{Short description|1962 filmFilm by Arthur Penn}}

The film went on to be an instant critical success and a moderate commercial success. The film was nominated for five [[Academy Awards]], including [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]] for [[Arthur Penn]], and won two awards, [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]] for [[Anne Bancroft]] and [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]] for [[Patty Duke]], the latter of whom, at age 16, became the youngest competitive Oscar winner at the time. ''{{efn|The Miraclerecord Worker''was alsosurpassed holdsby a[[Tatum 96%O'Neal]] scorein from1974, thewho moviewon critics sitethe [[RottenAcademy Award for Best Supporting TomatoesActress]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1013973-miracle_worker/|titleat =the Theage Miracleof Worker10 (1962)for |publisher=Rotten''[[Paper TomatoesMoon (film)|accessdate=SeptemberPaper 7, 2021Moon]]''.}}</ref>

==SynopsisPlot==

Young Helen Keller ([[Patty Duke]]), [[blindness|blind]] and [[Hearing impairment|deaf]] since infancy due to a severe case of [[scarlet fever]]illness, is frustrated and angry by her inability to communicate and subject to frequent violent and uncontrollable outbursts. Unable to deal with her, her terrified and helpless parents contact the [[Perkins School for the Blind]] for assistance. In response, they send [[Anne Sullivan]] ([[Anne Bancroft]]), a former student, to the Keller home as a tutor. A battle of wills ensues as Anne breaks down Helen's walls of silence and darkness through persistence, love, and sheer stubbornness, starting by teaching Helen to make a connection between her hand signs and the objects in Helen's world for which they stand.

In addition, despite the fact that [[Patty Duke]] had played Helen Keller in the play, she almost did not get the part. The reason was that at 15 she was considered too old to portray a seven-year-old girl., Butbut after Bancroft had been cast as Anne, Duke was chosen to play Helen in the film.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lu |first=Yuyan |last2=Nguyen |first2=Hanh |date=2022-07-30 |title=15 facts you didn't know about the Helen Keller movie, "The Miracle Worker" |url=https://www.salon.com/2022/07/30/15-facts-you-didnt-know-about-the-helen-keller-movie-the-miracle-worker/ |access-date=2024-03-12 |website=Salon |language=en}}</ref>

For the dining room battle scene, in which Anne tries to teach Helen proper table manners, both Bancroft and Duke wore padding beneath their costumes to prevent serious bruising during the intense physical skirmish. The nine-minute sequence required three cameras and took five days to film.<ref>[{{Cite web |title=The Miracle Worker |url=http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=/19300&category=Articles/the-miracle-worker "The Miracle Worker"].|access-date= |website=[[Turner Classic Movies.]] |language=en}}</ref>

In his review in ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[Bosley Crowther]] wrote: <blockquote>The absolutely tremendous and unforgettable display of physically powerful acting that Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke put on in William Gibson's stage play ''The Miracle Worker'' is repeated by them in the film ... But because the physical encounters between the two ... seem to be more frequent and prolonged than they were in the play and are shown in close-ups, which dump the passion and violence right into your lap, the sheer rough-and-tumble of the drama becomes more dominant than it was on the stage ... The bruising encounters between the two ... are intensely significant of the drama and do excite strong emotional response. But the very intensity of them and the fact that it is hard to see the difference between the violent struggle to force the child to obey ... and the violent struggle to make her comprehend words makes for sameness in these encounters and eventually an exhausting monotony. This is the disadvantage of so much energy. However, Miss Bancroft's performance does bring to life and reveal a wondrous woman with great humor and compassion as well as athletic skill. And little Miss Duke, in those moments when she frantically pantomimes her bewilderment and desperate groping, is both gruesome and pitiable.<ref>{{cite news |last=Bosley |first=Crowther |date=May 24, 1962 |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B04E6D91038E63ABC4C51DFB3668389679EDE |title=Screen: 'The Miracle Worker' Opens |work=The New York Times}}</ref></blockquote>

''[[TV Guide (magazine)|TV Guide]]'' rates the film 4{{frac|1|2}} out of a possible five stars and calls it "a harrowing, painfully honest, sometimes violent journey, astonishingly acted and rendered.".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tvguide.com/movies/miracle-worker/review/106332 |title=The Miracle Worker Reviews |work=TV Guide |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090203200845/http://movies.tvguide.com/miracle-worker/review/106332 |archivedate=February 3, 2009}}</ref>

''[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out London]]'' wrote: <blockquote>It's a stunningly impressive piece of work ... deriving much of its power from the performances. Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft spark off each other with a violence and emotional honesty rarely seen in the cinema, lighting up each other's loneliness, vulnerability, and plain fear. What is in fact astonishing is the way that, while constructing a piece of very carefully directed and intelligently written melodrama, Penn manages to avoid sentimentality or even undue optimism about the value of Helen's education, and the way he achieves such a feeling of raw spontaneity in the acting.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/73246/The_Miracle_Worker.html |title=The Miracle Worker |work=Time Out London |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090203100644/http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/73246/The_Miracle_Worker.html |archivedate=February 3, 2009}}</ref></blockquote>On review aggregate website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], ''The Miracle Worker'' has a score of 96% based on 26 reviews, with an average of 7.9/10.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Miracle Worker (1962) |url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1013973-miracle_worker/ |accessdate=March 12, 2024 |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]}}</ref>

* 2006: [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers]] – #15<ref>{{cite web|url=https://devaficalmjediwestussa.blob.core.windows.net/images/2019/08/cheers100.pdf |title=AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers |url=https://www.afi.com/afis-100-years-100-cheers/ |accessdate=March 12, 2024 |publisherwebsite=[[American Film Institute]] |accessdate=August 14, 2016}}</ref>

* {{amgallMovie movietitle|32810}}

* {{tcmdbTCMDb title|id=19300}}

[[Category:19621960s American films]]

[[Category:American1960s English-language films]]

[[Category:FilmsAmerican aboutfilms blindbased peopleon plays]]

[[Category:AmericanFilms filmsdirected basedby onArthur playsPenn]]

[[Category:1962Films dramaset filmsin Alabama]]