The hooker with a heart of gold is a stock character as old as the Bible and Sanskrit drama and as enduring in cinema as Marlene Dietrich's Shanghai Lily in Shanghai Express(1932), Shirley MacLaine's Irma la Douce (1963), and Julia Roberts' Pretty Woman (1990). Marsha Mason, with her broad, warm smile and apple-cheeked wholesomeness, makes an effective stab at it here in Cinderella Liberty in her first of four Oscar-nominated roles.

Mason's character isn't the only old chestnut in this story adapted by Darryl Ponicsan from his 1973 novel of the same name and directed by Mark Rydell (The Rose, 1979; On Golden Pond, 1981). She has a troubled 11-year-old mixed-race son badly in need of firm guidance (presumably from a father figure) and meets a lonely, adrift sailor on shore leave ready to fall in love with her and act as a surrogate parent.

The title of the picture is derived from the Navy term for a shore pass allowing a sailor to leave base or his ship and roam around freely as long as he's back by a specified curfew. As the sailor, James Caan, fresh off his successes in the TV movie Brian's Song (1971) and as Sonny Corleone in The Godfather (1972), wanders the streets of Seattle where location production took place. At one point, he's approached by a real panhandler, who didn't realize shooting was taking place. The moment was kept in the film.

The release of Cinderella Liberty in December 1973 was a double boost for Ponicsan's reputation, coming as it did less than a week after the debut of The Last Detail (1973) another Navy-centric picture based on his 1970 novel. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association thought well enough of Ponicsan's work here to nominate him for a Best Screenplay Golden Globe, along with nods for Best Motion Picture, Best Original Score, and Most Promising Newcomer (Kirk Calloway, who plays Mason's son). Mason received a Best Actress - Drama award.

Besides Mason, the Academy gave nods to the music, both the original score and the song "Nice to Be Around," with lyrics by Paul Williams. The music was composed by John Williams, still relatively early in his career but already with six Oscar nominations to his credit, including from Rydell's The Reivers (1969) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972), and a win for adapting the score of Fiddler on the Roof (1971) when the Broadway hit was brought to the screen. Now, of course, Williams is one of the most respected composers in screen history, with five Oscars and 31 additional nominations plus a host of Golden Globe, BAFTA, Emmy and other accolades, as well as a 2016 AFI Life Achievement award.

The picture's distinctively 1970s look is due to one of the period's key cinematographers, Vilmos Zsigmond, here a few years before his Oscar win for Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) but already with sterling credits for McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), Deliverance (1972) and The Long Goodbye (1973) under his belt by the time of this movie's release.

The film had enough talent in front of and behind the camera to avoid the usual clichés of the plot set-up. Many reviewers, however, while praising some of the work, thought the potential was rather wasted.

The supporting cast, including Eli Wallach, Burt Young, Bruno Kirby, Allyn Ann McLerie, Dabney Coleman, and Sally Kirkland, did much to sell the story and gain what praise critics could muster for the drama. But Mason was the player who received the most attention. Roger Ebert, while lamenting the "fictional clichés" inherent in such stereotypical characters, noted that Mason "is able to make us see the almost paralyzing feelings of inadequacy beneath her character's spunky surface." Vincent Canby of the New York Times called the picture "an aggressively false and sentimental comedy" but said Mason was "so good that you wish the script were equal to the complicated feelings that the actors every now and then manage to project." And Judith Crist, writing in New York magazine said the actress "is that rare creature who not only makes being over 25 seems something less than senility but also makes her whore-with-heart-of-gold role perfectly acceptable."

Although he wasn't as acclaimed as his co-star, Caan later said that he liked the film a lot and that it was one of the exceptions to the regrets he had about his choices in roles immediately following The Godfather.

Director/Producer: Mark Rydell
Screenplay: Darryl Ponicsan, based on his novel
Cinematography: Vilmos Zsigmond
Editing: Patrick Kennedy
Production Design: Leon Ericksen
Original Music: John Williams
Cast: James Caan (John Baggs Jr.), Marsha Mason (Maggie Paul), Kirk Calloway (Doug), Eli Wallach (Lynn Forshay), Burt Young (Master at Arms)

By Rob Nixon