PENELOPE (1966) **1/2 In which Natalie Wood desperately tries to get people to believe that she's a bank robber, by robbing banks. As an attention-grabbing stunt it somewhat works as they all figure that she's nuts, except for that prince of detectives Peter Falk. It goes on like that, and Ian Bannen isn't even all that irritating as the husband more interested in his bank than precious little Natalie. Can't help wishing that she'd end up with someone better, though. Anyway, a star vehicle in every sense of the term, in fact the closing credits show us how Natalie looked in outfits from scenes that got cut out of the film. Always vivacious, perky, inclined to generate a good mood and amusement in that intently detached manner that was so appealing. It's all so '66...Natalie's number incarnates everything innocent and wonderful and classically elegant about the Greenwich Village folk scene, the following act demonstrates why it's still a subject of mockery in many quarters.
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