STARTING OVER (1979) Early draft screenplay ca. 1974

Vintage original film script, quarto, 122 pp., pictorial wrappers, brad bound, NEAR FINE. Beverly Hills: Bart-Palefsky, [ca. 1974]. Early draft of this romantic comedy, eventually released in 1979.

As the 1970s proceeded, feminism began to show up in Hollywood cinema. This film is about a divorced man who falls in love but is unable to get over his ex-wife.

“Burt Reynolds is an attractive middle-aged man who suffers a crisis of confidence when ditched by his ambitious singer wife (Candice Bergen), until he begins to forge a new relationship with an equally insecure teacher (Jill Clayburgh). But when the wife attempts a reconciliation – seduction followed by a truly excruciating song she has composed for him – he realizes where his loyalty lies. ”

Jill Clayburgh and Candice Bergen, in different ways, were both part of a new breed of Hollywood actresses, who gravitated toward roles that represented an emerging feminist self-awareness.