The Goddess

Released Jun 24, 1958

1h 45m

Drama

List

57%

Tomatometer

7 Reviews

52%

Audience Score

250+ Ratings

As a child, she was Emily Ann, a poor girl in the South with no friends and an ineffective mother. But as an adult, she's Rita Shawn (Kim Stanley), an actress loved the world over. Still, all the money and fame in the world can't buy happiness, and Rita is plagued with depression over her broken relationships -- first to a handsome soldier (Steve Hill) and then to a boxing promoter (Lloyd Bridges) -- and her lack of any emotional connections to anyone outside of her professional life.

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Geoffrey Macnab

Time Out

Just as he later ridiculed the inanities of American TV in Network, writer Paddy Chayevsky took the Hollywood star system to task in this equally savage satire.

Apr 8, 2006

Full Review

Bosley Crowther

New York Times

Here's a shattering but truly potent film, in which a lot of characters are groping for the fulfillment they cannot seem to find.

Mar 25, 2006

Full Review

André Bazin

Cahiers du Cinéma

The method in Chayefsky's scripted films is transcendent; it's the essence of the human condition that is being examined and questioned in the context of American civilization.

Oct 13, 2022

Full Review

Zee Newell

The Ladder

Any picture dealing with lesbianism is, of course, of special interest to us; but aside from that, this is such an excellent adult picture you shouldn't miss it. The Broadway actress, Kim Stanley, gives a performance that is great.

Apr 15, 2022

Full Review

Clyde Gilmour

Maclean's Magazine

Paddy Chayefsky, the author of Marty, seems to have bitten off more than he can chew in this synthetic and overdrawn melodrama about a slum girl who attains stardom but is crippled emotionally in Hollywood.

Nov 6, 2019

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 2/5

Jun 16, 2005

Full Review

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Steve D

Stanley's great work makes it memorable.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

04/09/24

Full Review

Alec B

A great showcase for Kim Stanley but the script features a lot of Chayefsky's worst writing tendencies.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/27/24

Full Review

Aldo G

It's heresy for me to criticize a fabulous screenwriter like Paddy Chafesky, but his script feels better for the stage than the screen. Long monologues aren't new to the writer and there's plenty here. Plus, director John Cromwell had not done a film in seven years, working in theatre instead. Adding to the misery of the project Cromwell and Chafesky disagreed on the edit leading the director to leave the project. And, as great an actress as Kim Stanley is, she's just miscast here. Disappointing results.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

12/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

It is not the best biopic I have seen but not the worst either, What I like about it is that it is not so glamorous as biopics often are. The actress WHO plays The Godess is to old to play her. Patty Duke plays a moving portrait of her as a girl.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Overdone performance by Kim Stanley detracts from an otherwise excellently crafted 50s-noir about a love-starved and self-destructive Hollywood starlet. The film was written by Paddy Chayefsky, and some of the monologues in the film are top-notch. Nice, albeit all-too-brief performances by Patty Duke (in her first big-screen appearance) and Steven Hill as Stanley's first husband.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A masterpiece on Religion and Sexuality

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/16/23

Full Review

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John Cromwell

Director

Kim Stanley

Emily Ann Faulkner

Lloyd Bridges

Dutch Seymour

Steven Hill

John Tower

Betty Lou Holland

Mrs. Laureen Faulkner

Joan Copeland

Alice Marie

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Synopsis

As a child, she was Emily Ann, a poor girl in the South with no friends and an ineffective mother. But as an adult, she's Rita Shawn (Kim Stanley), an actress loved the world over. Still, all the money and fame in the world can't buy happiness, and Rita is plagued with depression over her broken relationships -- first to a handsome soldier (Steve Hill) and then to a boxing promoter (Lloyd Bridges) -- and her lack of any emotional connections to anyone outside of her professional life.

Director: John Cromwell
Screenwriter: Paddy Chayefsky
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Production Co: Columbia Pictures Corporation
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 24, 1958, Original
Runtime: 1h 45m