SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

rochesternypizzaguy Kim Stanley gives an appropriately over-the-top performance, but the story goes nowhere. The protagonist is nutso crazy from beginning to end. I kept waiting for something to happen, to take the story in a different direction, but it didn't. The movie seemed to be meant to make some point about the corrosive effects of stardom, but instead it just seemed like a slice of life of some nutjob who happened to be a movie star. I also never developed any sympathy for the lead character. It wasn't like, "Geez, I can see how she started out as a basically good person but turned out this way." Instead, I was more like, "Wow, I can see why everybody she comes into contact with wants to stay the hell away from her."

kidboots The one scene I could remember from seeing "The Goddess" just too many years ago was the "cat scene" where Patty Duke as the lonely, unloved little girl whispers to the cat "I got promoted today".She and her mother have come to visit Uncle George, her mother hoping to dump Emily Ann so she can get away and have some fun - "after all I'm only 26". Twelve years later (1942) she is still there - a religious fanatic and Emily Ann (Stanley) is the town "tramp" who desperately dreams of Hollywood fame. When she and some friends run across a drunk who just happens to be the mixed up son of a Hollywood star, she sees her opportunity but it only leads to frustration as the first part ends with Emily, a young mother, voicing the very words her mother said many years before - that she is not ready to be a mother and she just wants to have fun.I also was unfamiliar with Kim Stanley but by the end (on viewing it recently) I was wondering who was this superlative actress. Marilyn Monroe may have been the character's inspiration but as played by Miss Stanley that was unimportant. Her extraordinary performance made the role her own and seemed to encapsulate all the hard luck, unloved actresses - Monroe, Garland etc. I do agree Stanley did look a bit old but the magic in her performance was like a sky rocket, especially in the scene where she is describing her inner most dreams to a boy who has only asked her out because he thinks she is "easy" - "but I think Ann Sheridan is a true beauty, don't you think?". He doesn't care, the same as he doesn't care when she is explaining that the only reason she has that "reputation" is because she wants to be liked. Heart breaking stuff!!That's why I think the film works best in the first half. There was a continuity - the unloved little girl becomes the promiscuous teenager who then marries and becomes her mother all over again. Unlike her mother she does escape to Hollywood and the next part finds her an up and coming starlet contemplating marriage to an over the hill boxer (Lloyd Bridges is very good). The second part falls down a bit, suddenly she is the Goddess, at the top of her profession but already having suffered a severe breakdown and now has her mother living with her. Mother (great performance by Betty Lou Holland) is even more remote and now only has time for God but Emily doesn't care, only knowing that she needs a mother's love and security. When Emily finds religion and her mother leaves, that paves the way for a descent into madness.A very strong film remembered for Kim Stanley's powerhouse performance.

jdmartin61 I saw this most memorable movie on television, late night, when I was about 12 or 13 years old. I was drawn into it from that time. I saw it on only one other occasion.From the start, the story compels the viewer to keep watching to the end. The combination of real acting, directing, cinematography and the riveting story that spans many years is impossible to resist.I saw this fine film about 10 years after I first saw it. I was never given the chance to see it again. I would give anything to own a copy this unique film for my own benefit.John Martin, 46, Texas

bkc1019 As a child growing up in Ellicott City, MD. I was fortunate enough to be in this movie as part of the elementary school class. I remember doing the classroom scene and the school dismissal scene, over and over. But as the years passed, I have searched for a VHS copy of "The Goddess". Now that I have found it, I can obtain it for my children and grandchildren. Lloyd Bridges was one of the great actors of our time, but more importantly, a Hollywood role model as a family man. I guess this was the start of my "showbiz bug". Since that time I have been blessed in the entertainment industry. If you watch the movie "Urban Cowboy" and check out the soundtrack credits at the end, you will see a song called "Hello Texas"(recorded by Jimmy Buffett) which I wrote. Thank you "Goddess" for starting in me at a very young age, the love of the audience and the performance.