User reviews

Since I found out today that Pete Seeger died, I have been watching much of his work here on the internet. Earlier today, I watched a couple of his short films on Internet Archive. Now, I just watched this obscure major studio feature film from 1970 in which he appeared at the beginning and end singing the film's theme, "Old Devil Time". Those were his only appearances. The movie proper concerns the title character (Liza Minnelli) whose face is scarred and her friendship with a paraplegic (Robert Moore) and an epileptic (Ken Howard). I admit to being partially confused by much of the beginning especially when they did flashbacks and dream sequences. But, by the time they went on vacation, I was glad I stayed in viewing this. There are quite some funny and touching moments in those vacation scenes. It's too bad it's not available on DVD. I managed to watch this on YouTube. Directed by Otto Preminger and written by Marjorie Kellogg from her novel. So on that note, I recommend Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon. R.I.P. Mr. Seeger

This offbeat drama uses quirkiness to offset the horrifically depressing storyline. If the audience couldn't chuckle every once in a while, they might leave the theater or turn the movie off. In Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon, three misfits rent a house together and try to get a fresh start in life. While they all have outer handicaps, their insides are even more vulnerable and need nurturing the most. Liza Minnelli used to be a confident party girl, but a one-night stand went terribly wrong and the man threw battery acid on her face. Ken Howard has debilitating epileptic fits, and Robert Moore is in a wheelchair. They all meet while recovering in the hospital, and decide that, since they probably can't make it on their own, they'll keep house together. Can anything be more depressing?

Actually, yes. As the movie continues, you'll see just how much of a downer it can be. Trust me, folks. This is a very sad movie. If you just think it's another Liza Minnelli kooky character who will end up singing "Cabaret" to wild applause, think again. It was very tough to award the Best Actress trophy to someone else that year at the Hot Toasty Rag awards, as Liza couldn't have been any better in this movie. But before you start writing angry letters to the members of the board, rent Sunflower first to see why Sophia Loren won.

Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to violence, I wouldn't let my kids watch it. In fact, if you want to fast forward the battery acid scene, it might be a good idea for the adults, too.

Three patients live together after leaving the hospital. Junie Moon (Liza Minnelli) is disfigured after her date burns her with acid. Arthur (Ken Howard) is epileptic. Warren (Robert Moore) is a gay paraplegic.

Arthur's dream/flashback sequence is too weird to be intercut with the real world. His epileptic fits look a bit fake. I don't know what he has. I get that director Otto Preminger is trying put the audience into Arthur's shoes but it could be done better. The movie meanders around and has some questionable scenes. The climax has real problems. Despite all that, I like the actors, the characters, and their friendships. To me, that's half the battle. It's a more enjoyable experience if the characters are enjoyable.

Three hurting people -- facially disfigured Liza Minnelli, paraplegic Robert Moore, and epileptic Ken Howard in his movie debut -- set up housekeeping.

Otto Preminger's well-meaning movie suffers from the same problems that afflicted his other late movies: a bit bloated, a bit clumsily edited (Kay Thompson shows up early, has an interesting couple of scenes, then disappears; Pete Seeger intermittently wanders around redwood trees singing "Old Devil Time"). Like D. W. Griffith and Cecil B. Demille before him, Preminger was not about to make small, intimate pictures -- not that he seemed to have any taste for those -- and that appears to be what Marjorie Kellogg's source novel called for. Instead, the audience is confronted with perfectly executed sequences that offer a cold, impatient and dispirited view of these three.

This movie may not be on a list somewhere of Liza Minnelli's best films or Otto Preminger's or one of Kay Thompson(Liza's Godmom)or James Coco's best efforts. I do think it ranks high on a list of one of the best movies about introverts ever made. That it wasn't a box office or critical success doesn't matter. Nor that it did nothing to advance the careers of anyone connected to it.

But I think TELL ME THAT YOU LOVE ME, JUNIE MOON deserves a special place with audiences who love quirky movies that go where other movies dare not go. Think of Altman's BREWSTER McCLOUD or Hal Ashby's HAROLD AND MAUD, for instance. Movies that deal with characters most others would call misfits because they are different or eccentric.

One, for example, is a gay man. For a 1970 film, this is rare to say the least. But to make him a disabled gay man trapped in a wheel chair due to an accident is a revelation. I can't imagine another such character either before or since this film came along. Another revelation is a disfigured woman, played by Minnelli, and not seen on the screen in a leading role since Joan Crawford in Cukor's A WOMAN'S FACE. Both of these characters completely dominate JUNIE MOON. They are truly amusing in using their wit to cope with an unkind world. The third eccentric is an epileptic, played by Ken Howard. His performance is the weakest of the three and this, unfortunately, weakens the overall impact. Had this part been cast better, honors would have come its way to be sure. The scene where the handicapped guy can't negotiate the smallness of his bathroom is a gem. Another is the vacation scene where these three descend on a hapless hotel staff. Another where a naive woman is seduced by three hunky members of an art colony is captivating.

This movie sparked controversy because of a scene where two people are having sex in a cemetery. A real graveyard is used and relatives of the dead buried there balked and so a lawsuit ensued. But knowing this to be an Otto Preminger film...that is not so strange(recall THE MOON IS BLUE and MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM). Preminger ate up such controversy. No doubt such headlines added to his film's box office. JUNIE MOON is his weirdest movie, but far from his worst. None of the films after this one are even half as good. Even Saul Bass, whose title drawings are a trade mark for Preminger films, excels in it.

Judy Garland died while Liza was filming her part in this. A year later she began work on her greatest role, that of Sally Bowles in Fosse's CABARET. While both her roles in these films are about introverted and unstable vulnerable women...CABARET is the first where she gets to show her strongest suit: that of a musical performer whose star power is as good as her mother's. Her work in CABARET solidified her image as a singer and dancer the way FUNNY GIRL did it for Streisand. While TELL ME THAT YOU LOVE ME, JUNIE MOON may not be legendary, it still boasts having a legend in it.

I never got to see the end and have been looking for this movie ever since. I am a BIG Liza fan. How can I let Paramount know that I would buy this if available on video? I recall it as sad and funny, with very quirky characters.

Unless you enjoy exhuming the bodies of once great directors to examine the worms (i.e. Attempt to discern a connection between Pete Seeger and Ben Piazza) I would avoid this Late Preminger disaster zone.

Moving film about three quirky characters (an epileptic, a paraplegic homosexual, and a facially-scarred party girl) living together in Massachusetts and the fish-market salesman who comes to love them. Otto Preminger directed, and he shows unexpected sensitivity towards just about everyone here, especially epileptic Ken Howard, a little boy in a man's body who gets great care by the filmmaker. Liza Minnelli is the film's star, and if she occasionally falls back on her trademark razzmatazz (with a little Broadway inflection), that's OK because Junie Moon is supposed to be wild and goosey, and Liza's theatrics are suitable. A sweet, slowly-paced story with humor and pathos picks up when the gang vacations at the beach and the gay man (celebrated stage director Robert Moore) falls for a stunning black beach boy (Fred Williamson, making a strong impression)--and yet ends up making love to an equally stunning black woman?? It doesn't all come together, but it does feature superb performances, melancholy folk music (which grows on you) and some extremely well-written and well-directed moments. Marjorie Kellogg penned the script from her own novel, and it is nearly verbatim (if you like one, try the other). An interesting attempt at something a little different--and it works. ***1/2 from ****

I have been for some time a great fan of Otto Preminger's work and cinematic career. From "Laura" (1944) to "Advise & Consent" (1962), the Austrian director has demonstrated that he is capable of indisputable Hollywood masterpieces. Yet, the later work of Preminger finds me puzzled and bewildered. "Tell me that you love me, Junie Moon" is certainly not a good film. On the contrary, it is a clear sign of the director's fatigue and decadence. The plot is full of outworn clichés and Marjorie Kellogg's screenplay is often weak and naive - from Arthur's ridiculous hallucinations to the vacation, there's nothing veritable. Moreover, Preminger doesn't seem to be interested to add his characteristic style in the direction. Some scenes are clumsily set and the film generally has the form of an unimaginative b-movie melodrama. The only two scenes that we can distinguish are the one in the cemetery and the visit to the rich landlady's house - Preminger successfully outlines the baroque atmosphere of these scenes. Liza Minelli gives a decent performance, Robert Moore is more interesting and Ken Howard typically mediocre. Finally, there is nothing special about the soundtrack - "Old Devil Time" is a dull and pretentious ballad and there's nothing memorable about the rest - which is very disappointing, as well as Saul Bass's opening title.

Junie Moon is an interesting friendship movie. Great unusual characters that band together and help each other. Junie becomes terribly disfigured from a mean man. She finds herself relying on other people with there own special problems. The characters will grow on you. Good acting, directing, and decent sets. It has been years since I saw it at the theater. I still have never forgot it because of the types of people and how they dealt with their personal problems. I would definitely buy it if it was available on DVD. Not appropriate for young children. Some adult situations. To bad it isn't out on video of any kind. Until it is check out "The Station Manager", another great unusual friendship movie.

Having portrayed Arthur in the play, the movie extraordinarily helped me out. The three freaks, one a female, struggle to live outside of the hospital life. Junie, Arthur, and Warren. Junie, a sweet-hearted kind person, struggles with the deformity of her face. Arthur, the big kid at heart, is brave, despite his failing health. And, Warren, an "all about beauty" kind of guy, tries to be the most elegant person he can, using "high type" words. This is the most unusual love story I have ever heard of, better yet, acted in.

I highly recommend this movie, it shows that there is, "Maybe something the rest of us don't take time to look for."

I'm a big Liza fan, and this is certainly an unusual departure for her, but I find "Junie Moon" hard to take seriously. My first exposure to it was on The Late Show; I thought then it was a camp classic right up there with "Valley of the Dolls". It has not aged well; Preminger's direction is ham-handed and obvious, and most of the performances are waaay over-the-top. Still, there are delights: Kay Thompson (way waaaaaaaay over-the-top in her last movie), Fred Williamson as a gigolo, Julie Bovasso "pantsing" Ken Howard and of course, Miss Minnelli, probably miscast but giving it her all. Here's another potential cult item languishing in Paramount's vaults that really should be released on video--my video store guy told me this is one of the most requested titles of movies not yet available. Who knew?

Junie Moon is a great movie - way before it's time as was Valley of the Dolls which is a classic. Maybe Capboy watched Junie Moon too Late into the night and missed the whole point!!!! Junie Moon will always be one my favorite movie of all time!

And I'm lapping from a deep Liza Renaissance trough right now ... having screened NEW YORK, NEW YORK & CABARET with a friend in the past couple weeks, caught LUCKY LADY & TELL ME THAT YOU LOVE ME, JUNIE MOON on cable in the past 48 hours, with THE STERILE CUCKOO coming on within the next 24 ... Even dug into boxes during the wee hours this morning to recover the almost forgotten Pet Shop Boys produced RESULTS album ... this is scaring me! No scarier I dare say than Otto Preminger's scatter shot continuity on this picture, its stunning relentlessness at bleeding a tender hearted menagerie of social outcasts dry, Ms. Minnelli's rubbery lattice work of a facial scar... all quite hard to believe yet unforgettable.

This flick, based on Marjorie Kelloggs' obscure novel, is a dated yet poignant character study of three misfits who rent a house and live together: a young woman whose face has been disfigured by a psychotic date, a crippled homosexual, and a boy-next-door looking epileptic. Coming at the end of the 60s, this flick is full of various stylistic flourishes that were considered avant-garde then but look anacronistic and pretentious(as well as strange)now. Otto Preminger had a solid reputation, but this film shows that his skills were on decline. The film jumps back and forth from the present lives of the three, first in the hospital where they all are being treated and then in their run-down communal house, to bizarre flashbacks to their pasts(the flashback of the paraplegic when he remembers his upbringing by a gay fashion photographer is near camp). The epileptic's memories of being placed in an institution by his parents are truly weird: he is the age he is in the movie, and everyone else is in BLACK AND WHITE! A good ten years before MTV, these technical shenanigans just looked weird(and still do now). These weird flashbacks and other freaky devices distract from what should be a simple story about three people with limited emotional resources relying on each other and trying to survive with dignity in an uncaring world. Which is not to say that that doesn't come through in part, but it would have been more effective without the arty flashbacks. Liza Minnelli's stint as a dramatic actress was probably squashed by this film--after JUNIE MOON, what else is there? Supposedly, this one isn't available on video. This one might have a shot at being some kind of cult film, at least among Liza Fans, or connoisseurs of sixties cinema, or something.