A Child Is Waiting (1963): John Cassavetes’ Only Mainstream Hollywood, Starring Burt Lancaster, Judy Garland, Gena Rowlands, Steven Hill

John Cassavetes’s A Child is Waiting, his only effort at a more mainstream cinema, is artistically one of his weakest film, a result of a series of clashes and compromises, especially in post-production, in the editing room.

Grade: C+ (**1/2* out of *****)

A Child Is Waiting
Theatrical release poster

Produced by Stanley Kramer, A Child is Waiting is a liberal film, like all of Kramer’s works, with its heart in the right place, but it’s also sentimental and conventional.

Released after Cassavetes’s “Shadows” and “Faces,” which had announced the arrival of a new, visionary director, “A Child is Waiting” is particularly disappointing.

Set in an institution for the mentally handicapped (in the film they are described as “retarded”), the cast includes some actual residents playing supporting and bit roles.

The melodrama revolves about the differing treatment philosophies of the psychologist, Dr. Matthew Clark (Burt Lancaster), and the new instructor, Jean Hansen (Judy Garland), who often find themselves at odds over teaching strategies.

Garland’s Jean, a sensitive woman who studied music and wanted to be a concert pianist, favors personal and intimate one-on-one approach with her students.

Bruce Ritchey, a non-developmentally challenged youth, plays Reuben Widdimock, the retarded son of Gena Rowlands (Cassavetes’ real wife, who would assume major roles in his future work) and Steven Hill.

Ruben’s intellectual and social progress serves as the film’s dramatic focus (and battlefield). There’s strong rapport between the child, who keeps waiting every Wednesday for his absent mother to visit, and Jean, who becomes his supporter and sort of a surrogate mother.

One of the tale’s uplifting sequences takes place during a play, which is staged by the handicapped children for their parents, who are earnest, engaging, and devoid of self-pity.

However, director Cassavetes, hampered by demands for a more schmaltzy commercial, can’t elevate the material above the routine.

According to producer Kramer, for one reason or another, Garland’s most emotional scenes were excised in the editing room.