Dear Heart movie storyline. Harry Mork (Glenn Ford) of Altoona, Pennsylvania and Evie Jackson (Geraldine Page) of Avalon, Pennsylvania are staying at the New Amsterdam Hotel in New York City. Harry, who works for a greeting card company, has just been promoted to a marketing position in the New York City corporate office from his long time job as a travelling salesman, and will soon look for permanent accommodations in the city.
In middle age, Harry sought out this more stable job to lead a more stable life. So instead of a different girl in every city, he will soon be married to Phyllis (Dame Angela Lansbury), also of Altoona. Harry will have an instant family in Phyllis’ early teen son Patrick (Michael Anderson, Jr.), who Harry has not yet met, as Patrick is attending boarding school in New England.
As usual, Evie is attending the annual Postmasters’ Convention, which this year, is being held at this hotel. Within this setting, Evie likes to portray herself as being important, leaving herself messages at the front desk and having herself paged. Most of the conventioneers, with the exception of the more elderly judgmental women, use the opportunity to have the stereotypical convention experience, meaning leaving thoughts of spouses and children at home to cut loose with the other conventioneers. She had in past years whooped it up with the married male conventioneers, but now, in middle age, is more interested in settling down in a real relationship.
A situation related indirectly to Phyllis follows Harry to the hotel which makes Harry question his decision to settle down with an instant family. As such, Harry decides to return, at least temporarily, to his old lifestyle with loose women who just want to have fun. In this mindset, Harry, after some other female companionship, does eventually encounter Evie at the hotel, she who is interested in him until she learns that he is “married”. When Phyllis arrives in New York City to join Harry in their new life, Harry, based partly on the time he spends with Evie over the course of their stay at the hotel, may get a better picture of what both he and Phyllis want in their futures.
Dear Heart is a 1964 American romantic comedy film starring Glenn Ford and Geraldine Page as lonely middle-aged people who fall in love at a hotel convention. It was directed by Delbert Mann, from a screenplay by Tad Mosel. Its theme song, “Dear Heart”, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
About the Production
Dear Heart was written by Tad Mosel, from his own story. He originally wrote it as a teleplay for a May 1957 Westinghouse Studio One episode, “The Out-Of-Towners”, co-starring E.G. Marshall and Eileen Heckart. The film had a budget of about $1.8 million. Principal shooting occurred from October 3 to November 22, 1963. Filming of the opening and closing scenes in Penn Station took advantage of just-commenced demolition process of the above-ground structures.
It was Geraldine Page’s first solo leading lady role. As production commenced, Glenn Ford’s long-term relationship with actress Hope Lange was ending and she married producer Alan Pakula, leaving Ford heartbroken. Although production of Dear Heart was generally a positive one, Ford could not stop brooding over Lange. Angela Lansbury took the role of the materialistic but good-hearted Phyllis because it gave her an opportunity to work with Geraldine Page.
Henry Mancini was hired to compose music for the film. Mancini felt such a gentle romantic film deserved a theme song. He quickly wrote music for the song, but it lacked lyrics. Mancini contacted Johnny Mercer, who was unavailable. So Mancini turned to Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. The lyricists read the script, and came up with the lyrics and title for the song based on their reading of Geraldine Page’s character. The film’s original title was The Out-of-Towners. But Jay Livingston said that when Martin Manulis heard the theme song, he changed the title to Dear Heart.
Warner Brothers was uncertain about when to release the film. Mancini, who had a 50 percent interest in the film’s theme song with Larry Shayne, asked studio head Jack L. Warner to release the film so that it would qualify for the March 1965 Academy Awards. Warner agreed to release it for a week in Los Angeles (which, under Academy rules, would qualify it for the Oscars), if Mancini and Shayne would pay for the local advertising. Since this would cost just $10,000, Mancini and Shayne agreed to do so.
The film premiered on December 3, 1964, in Los Angeles, California, to qualify it for the 1964 awards season. It made its general release premiere at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on March 8, 1965.
Dear Heart (1964)
Directed by: Delbert Mann
Starring: Glenn Ford, Geraldine Page, Angela Lansbury, Michael Anderson Jr, Charles Drake, Richard Deacon, Barbara Nichols, Mary Wickes, Ruth McDevitt, Alice Pearce, Joanna Crawford, Patricia Barry, Neva Patterson, Ken Lynch
Screenplay by: Tad Mosel
Cinematography by: Russell Harlan
Film Editing by: Folmar Blangsted
Costume Design by: Donfeld
Set Decoration by: Howard Bristol
Art Direction by: Joseph C. Wright
Music by: Henry Mancini
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: December 3, 1964 (United States)
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