When That Girl Met Hawkeye: ‘Jenny’ Reviewed

There’s a reason That Girl wasn’t called “Ann Marie.” Anyone can be “that girl,” but only Marlo Thomas was Ann Marie on That Girl — the sitcom she starred in for five seasons on ABC.

With Jenny, a film Thomas starred in while That Girl was in its fourth season, using the name of her character as the title takes on a different meaning. It’s not that Jenny’s story isn’t relatable, it is. Plenty of women have gotten pregnant out of wedlock, but Jenny isn’t being singled out so much as the use of her name in the title reflects how she’s feeling: isolated.
It’s also not the name she gives to a woman at the park who asks her what her name is. “Mrs. Castle,” Jenny replies, then doubles down: “Mrs. Del Castle.” In her need to let the woman know that she’s married, it’s not until the woman makes her question more specific that Jenny answers with her first name.
Meeting Del (Alan Alda) was supposed to change things, but while Jenny thought marriage would be romantic (like in the movies), that’s not how her actual marriage plays out. It’s not that Del wasn’t up front when he proposed: he has a girlfriend (Marian Hailey). He’s not marrying Jenny for love, but so he can claim he has a child and be excused from the Vietnam War. He intends to be a provider and a father to her child, but there’s agreeing to a marriage of convenience and then there’s living it.
That’s all Jenny has to do, too. In terms of the societal pressure to be married, wedding Del works like a charm and while Jenny spins some serious lies in order to protect herself, she never gets caught. Instead of building up to a confrontation, where somebody learns the truth or the baby daddy shows up (and while the film lets you assume the man Jenny went to the drive-in with (Stephen Strimpell) was the father that’s not necessarily the case), Jenny allows the drama to be internal instead of external and for Jenny’s feelings to be all the reason she needs to change her mind.
Instead of being about what other people think or taking some moral stance, Jenny’s first priority is Jenny, and that prioritization is why the film lives up to its name. The film is filled with amazing daydream sequences (including one that reveals how quickly Del becomes the face of Jenny’s imaginary boyfriend).
Some of her outfits might be Ann Marie-ish, but Jenny is a very different role for Thomas and Jenny premiered two years before M*A*S*H*, so Alda was not yet a household name. George Bloomfield had directed some shorts and TV, but he absolutely crushes directing his first feature film. The shot compositions are fascinating. Bloomfield uses a lot of mirrors and as film historians Lee Gambin and Jarret Gahan point out on their commentary track, Del is often framed so he’s on the outside looking in. Gahan names a lot of the shooting locations and Gambin describes the ending as being upbeat for the 70’s (though I actually find it comparable to the ending of Heroes, where it’s a false happy ending). Other topics that come up in their commentary include the product placement for Coca Cola, Jenny’s role as a cinephile, and the poster that was used in the US versus Australia.
Jenny is available now on Blu-Ray and DVD from Kino Lorber and is great find for sitcom fans who loved watching Thomas on That Girl and Alda on M*A*S*H*.