by Stephen Vagg
Did it work? Read on and find out…
The Americanisation of Emily (1964)
Andrews became a star on stage first with a trio of big hits: The Boyfriend, Camelot and My Fair Lady… all of which were turned into movies, none of them starring Andrews (she turned down Camelot, was overlooked for Lady, was too old for Boyfriend when it was made). She was launched on to the big screen in Mary Poppins, which established a screen persona that has never gone away: cheery, bright, positive, relatively sexless (yes, yes, allowing for different definitions of what “sexy” is). Andrews, to her credit, tried to debunk this with her very second movie – The Americanisation of Emily, where she played an English ambulance driver in World War Two who has lost her husband, brother and father to the war, leading to her shagging soldiers on their last night of leave. At one stage, she says “I couldn’t say no to them, could I? I had just lost my husband at Tobruk, and I was overwhelmed with tenderness for all dying men.”
Racy!
The film was a hit by the way – though not as big as Mary Poppins or Andrews’ next film, The Sound of Music. But audiences clearly didn’t mind her as a sex positive widow – just as they didn’t mind her as an adulteress on stage in Camelot. She was still Julie Andrews. She’s actually excellent in Emily and the film is great. Her persona perhaps made the character’s behaviour easier for a mass audience to take in 1964.
Torn Curtain (1966)
Alfred Hitchcock liked to “mess up” his female leads, having them handcuffed, stabbed in showers, attacked by birds, and so on… In Torn Curtain, we meet Julie Andrews in bed under the sheets with Paul Newman. Steamy!
Well, steamy in theory.
The public liked the movie enough, but we’re not sure that Andrews fits into Hitchcock’s world that well – the whole time you watch this film you really want Grace Kelly playing Andrews’ role (and Cary Grant playing Paul Newman). Still, she’s great in the murder scene and the movie was a hit. It’s not considered top level Hitchcock, but it’s better than its reputation.
Star (1968)
After some more good girl parts on screen – Hawaii, Thoroughly Modern Millie – Andrews played famous stage star Gertrude Lawrence, legendary for her exciting off-stage life that included taking lovers of both sexes including Douglas Fairbanks Jr and Daphne du Maurier. You won’t be shocked that little of this comes across on screen in the 1968 biopic. This movie lost a lot of money – maybe it needed more sexiness. More likely though, the Gertrude Lawrence story simply wasn’t that interesting, especially if you don’t have her dying tragically young on screen.
Darling Lili (1970)
Julie tries to mix up her image once more by playing a Mata Hari-style spy for the Germans who turned to the Allies via love for Rock Hudson. Andrews and Hudson share a shower scene together and Andrews does a strip tease. The film has good things about it and is a must for Andrews completionists but should not have cost the money it did (like Star!), and though the basic story is fine, its execution is weak. This was her first film for Blake Edwards, who she married.
We feel obliged to add though, that the films Andrews turned down around this time weren’t amazing (Camelot, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Lost Horizon, Mame) or were cancelled at the last minute (She Loves Me, Say It With Music). We would furthermore add that it’s a shame that she wasn’t in Camelot, and that they didn’t film She Loves Me.
The Tamarind Seed (1974)
A thriller with Julie Andrews as a British secretary with a track record of running off with married men – racy! – who hooks up with Russian Omar Sharif. This film is actually quite fun, though Julie is out-sexed by Sylvia Syms.
10 (1979)
Would this film have been a hit if George Segal had played the lead, as originally intended? Would it have been as big a hit if Dudley Moore had gone through with having sex with Bo Derek at the end of the movie instead of having him declare “oh no, I thought I was special” and backing out (the sort of cop out that does seem to turn sex movies into a hit… it worked in American Beauty)? It does end with Dudley shagging Julie Andrews on the carpet in view of his neighbour. Julie and Dudley are a great screen team, incidentally (she can sing, he plays the piano) – and her presence in the movie was an underrated factor in its popularity, even if Dudley and Bo got all the credit.
SOB (1981)
Andrews’ most conscious attempt to shock – this time, she goes topless, at age 45 too! Got a lot of publicity. The scene is utterly in context. She’s still Julie Andrews. SOB is a remarkable movie in many ways: one of the great payback films of all time, Blake Edwards getting his revenge on Hollywood for the way that he felt the community treated him.
Victor/Victoria (1982)
Blake Edwards makes up for Darling Lili with a musical suited for his wife (though we’re not sure where this piece sits today). She’s cast as a struggling singer who pretends to be a man to get work at a drag club, and is lusted after by James Garner. Lots of gender politics, this was progressive for its day.
Duet for One (1986)
Never heard of it, right? An attempt by Cannon Films to go classy, this is based on a stage play and has Julie as a violinist who gets MS, says the “f” word and shags young Liam Neeson, who in his pre-Schindler’s List days specialised in playing love/sex interests for female stars (Helen Mirren, Justine Bateman, Miranda Richardson, Beverly d’Angelo, Diane Keaton, Judy Davis, Laura San Giacomo, Debra Winger, Mia Farrow).
Despite all of the above attempts to change her wholesome image, we feel that the overwhelming image of Julie Andrews is that of being wholesome.
Still, one of the reasons she remains iconic is that she wasn’t afraid to take risks. On ya, Jules.
