Tag Archives: Entertainment

The Drowning Pool (1975)

Posted on July 27, 2012 | 1 comment

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 7 out of 10

4-Word Review: Way too much water.

            Detective Lew Harper (Paul Newman) travels to New Orleans in order to help Iris (Joanne Woodward) an old love of his who has now married and living in a large southern mansion that is controlled by her husband’s domineering mother Olivia (Coral Browne). Iris asks Harper to track down a former servant who she has fired and is now sending notes to her husband threatening to describe one of her elicit affairs. Initially Harper thinks it will be a simple straightforward case, but finds many twists and turns including the presence of an oil company looking to buy the land the mansion sits on for drilling. There is also Iris’s over-sexed teen daughter Schuyler (Melanie Griffith) who is always present when there is any trouble as well as the town’s sheriff Broussard (Tony Franciosa) who takes an unusual interest in the well fare of Iris and her daughter.

By itself this is an okay mystery although it takes a while getting there and there are too many characters popping in out of nowhere threatening harm to Harper to point that almost becomes formulaic. Compared to the first Harper this film pales in comparison. It lacks the snappy dialogue that made the first one so fun. The supporting characters are not as well defined, or as interesting and the overall production values are not as slick. I was amazed that with a script written by Tracy Keenan Wynn, Walter Hill, and Lorenzo Semple Jr. that it could be so overall ordinary, but it is. That doesn’t mean it is not passable, or entertaining, but it lacks the zing from the first.

I also didn’t like the change of location. Harper with his very detached approach worked better with the jaded Hollywood types. Here he just seems out-of-place. The mansion setting is boring and predictable. However, the scene where Harper is taken by boat along a swamp and to a pit bull farm where the animals are trained for dog fighting is special.

As for the supporting characters Richard Jaeckel, who has appeared with Newman before in several good scenes including the drowning one in Sometimes a Great Notion, is good as ‘bullet head’ a corrupt policeman who is constantly harassing Harper. Harper later turns the tables playing a game of Russian roulette with him that is great. Murray Hamilton is also quite good as the evil oil baron Kilbourne and the all red jumpsuit that he appears in is something else.

On the female end you have to love Melanie Griffith as the devious, nympho teen. She plays that type of part so well that I don’t think there is any other actress that could ever do it better. I did not like Gail Strickland as Mavis who is Kilbourne’s wife.  When we first see her she is a conniving, cocky, flirtatious woman, but then in a later scene turns into a whimpering, whiny mess begging Harper for help when she barely knows him. This extreme contrast didn’t work with me and I thought that a woman who marries a rich, but shady businessman and has been involved in some underhanded maneuverings herself should have a little better ‘plan B’ in place and not sink to such a pathetic helpless level the minute things unravel. Woodward is wasted in a boring role that allows for very little range. I wished she had played Strickland’s part as I think she would’ve made it more interesting.

The one scene that really stands out and makes this movie special is the part where Harper and Mavis are trapped in a hypo-therapy room in an old, abandoned asylum. Newman does most of his stunts here including being sprayed by a fire hose while locked in a strait jacket. The sequence where they plug up all the drains and then turn on all the showers in an attempt to float up the pool of water and escape out the skylight is amazing as is the moment where the gallons of water comes rushing through the door toppling furniture and people. This scene is incredible on many levels and should make it into the top twenty of best movie moments ever.

My Rating: 7 out of 10

Released: June 25, 1975

Runtime: 1Hour 48Minutes

Rated PG

Director: Stuart Rosenberg

Studio: Warner Brothers

Available: VHS, DVD, Amazon Instant Video

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Posted in 70's Movies, Action/Adventure, Movies Based on Novels, Movies that take place in the South, Mystery, Sequels

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Goodbye Pork Pie (1981)

Posted on July 23, 2012 | 1 comment

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 8 out of 10

4-Word Review: Minis are very durable.

A middle aged man named John (Tony Barry) whose wife has just left him and an unemployed nineteen year old named Gerry (Kelly Johnson) come together through circumstance and trek across New Zealand in a yellow mini while desperately trying to elude the police.

The film has a wonderfully carefree approach and anyone who has ever wanted to ‘drop out’ or stick it to authority will most assuredly enjoy this. There are some clever chase sequences involving the mini with the best coming at a Wellington shopping center. There are also a couple of good running bits including a stressed out vacationing couple dealing with their noisy kids and police officer doing a sexual role playing game with his wife while on duty. The vast age difference between the two main characters is refreshingly different from most ‘buddy’ movies and Johnson, as the younger one of the pair, is excellent. He shows a lot of star making appeal and it is amazing that his film career never flourished. Claire Olberman is gorgeous as a hitch-hiker that they pick up along the way and she closely resembles 80’s adult film star Stacey Donovan and it is a real shame that she doesn’t stay with them throughout the entire film. I also must mention the music score, which has a nice distinct quality to it.

On the negative side I felt Barry in the role of the middle aged man was a little too laid back in his performance. He needed to show more stress and tension, especially when he is put into such crazy and hectic scenarios. I felt his mellowness hurt the film’s believability and even to some extent the excitement. The ending is not very satisfying and seems like the screenwriter wrote himself into a hole that he didn’t know how to get out of. The police are made to look too hopeless and helpless and the film goes overboard in its attempts to mock them.

Despite some flaws this is a road movie the way all road movies should be. It is fun and engaging and will bring out the free spirit in anyone. Although small the minis are a durable and fast car and this film makes prime use of their abilities almost as well as the original The Italian Job did. It also features some great stunt work that most viewers should find impressive.

My Rating: 8 out of 10

Released: February 6, 1981

Runtime: 1Hour 45Minutes

Rated R

Director: Geoff Murphy

Studio: Greg Lynch Film Distributors

Available: VHS, DVD

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Posted in 80's Movies, Action/Adventure, Buddy Movies, Comedy, Cult, Fast Cars/Car Chase, Foreign Films, Offbeat, Road Movies

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Luv (1967)

Posted on July 21, 2012 | 2 comments

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 4 out of 10

4-Word Review: Jump off the bridge.

            Based on the play by Murray Schisgal the film follows the exploits of Harry Berlin (Jack Lemmon) a hopeless neurotic who tries to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge only to be saved by his long lost friend Milt (Peter Falk). Milt wants to use Harry to have him fall in love with his wife Ellen, so that way she will agree to a divorce and free him up to get with a hot young blonde named Linda (Nina Wayne).  Things initially work as planned. Harry and Ellen fall in love and marry and Milt does the same with Linda, but then Milt and Ellen find that they are not compatible with their new mates and long to get back together. The problem is that Harry refuses to grant a divorce forcing them to try and coax him back out on the bridge, so he will finally jump off it and get out of their way.

Lemmon’s performance is the best thing about this otherwise strange experiment. He is like his Felix Unger character put on speed. His weird quirks and idiosyncrasies help propel the story to newer and more absurd heights. In his more straight comedies Lemmon has always seemed a bit benign and showing a nervous energy that is more annoying than funny. Here though he falls into his comic niche bringing out the bizarreness of his character with an almost creepy clarity. I thought it was interesting that although he was a leading man he chose to do an ensemble comedy. Although this film can be deemed a failure I still found it commendable that he was willing to test his acting range and image by taking on an unusual role.

Falk doesn’t fare as well. I thought it was great that he reteamed with Lemmon after performing with him in The Great Race, but his character really isn’t all that funny. May is usually great with sardonic material and has made a career out of performing and writing this kind of stuff, but she really isn’t given all that much to say that is amusing. I liked her charts that she creates for both Milt and Harry measuring all the hours they have been married with all the hours that they have had sex, which has a nice goofy element. Wayne is attractive, but her high, squeaky voice can quickly become annoying. Her acting abilities are limited and she clearly seems outclassed by her supporting counterparts. Had a stronger more established actress been cast in the role it certainly would have helped.

Director Clive Donner doesn’t show a good feel for the material. There are certain parts that are funny like when Ellen and Harry spend their honeymoon at Niagara Falls attacking and physically hurting each other just to see if the other will still love them afterwards. I also liked some of the potshots at modern day suburbia, but other than that this thing falls flat. There are too many scenes that go on forever with jokes and comic bits that are more stupid than clever. The opening sequence has a nice distinctive jazz score along with a montage of kitschy artwork and there is interesting camera work and editing during a sequence at an amusement park, but the rest of it becomes a filmed stage play. The pacing is slow and devoid of the unique directorial flair that could make an offbeat thing like this work. The climactic scene at the bridge is particularly strained and helps cement this as a hopeless misfire.

This movie is probably best known for being the film debut of Harrison Ford who has one word of dialogue and appears as an irate motorist who punches Harry in the face. I wished there had been more of him as although it is very brief he is one of the best things in it.

My Rating: 4 out of 10

Released: July 26, 1967

Runtime: 1Hour 33Minutes

Rated NR (Not Rated)

Director: Clive Donner

Studio: Columbia

Available: VHS, DVD

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Posted in 60's Movies, Black Comedy, Movies Based on Stageplays, Obscure Movies, Quirky

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The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974)

Posted on July 20, 2012 | 1 comment

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 8 out of 10

4-Word Review: Anything to get ahead.

            Duddy Kravitz (Richard Dreyfuss) is a young Jewish man looking to make a name for himself and escape the working class existence of his father. He comes up with several schemes many of which aren’t legal and don’t work, but his aggressive nature drives him even as it alienates those around him.

I loved the Duddy character and I liked him because of his unlikableness. Yes, he is obnoxious, deceitful, conniving, brash, arrogant, crude, and aggressive to the point of running down anyone who might get in his way, but you are shown why he is that way. How the desperate world around him has brought out the ugliness and the allure of money and social prestige only makes it worse. Duddy is more of a victim of a capitalistic culture that promises with money comes happiness, but fails to mention all the sacrifices and compromises that must come with it.  The script by Mordecai Richler, which is based on his novel, does a terrific job on analyzing the idea of success on how the end doesn’t always justify the means and how a man who is poor but true to his values can be far richer than one who may have a fortune, but is hollow.

Dreyfuss does a terrific job and I consider this one of his best performances even though apparently he was dissatisfied with it personally. I liked the nervous energy and ticks that he gives the character that easily reveals the desperation and drive that he has inside. He manages to bring out the human side of his character making him relatable despite his many flaws. What is interesting is the way Duddy will display a certain sensitive side in brief and surprising moments.

Jack Warden is wonderful as the father a man who is well aware of his son’s faults, but remains loyal to his strive for success. The film’s final image, which features Warden is a gem especially when taken into effect everything that came before it. Joe Silver, a deep, gravelly voiced character actor has his best performance of his career as Farber. This is a man who shows deep devotion and respect to religion and spirituality, but then openly boasts to Duddy at how he cheated and back-stabbed a business partner.

Denhom Elliot is great in comic relief playing an alcoholic has-been filmmaker who makes a movie involving the bar mitzvah of Farber’s son that ends up showing everything from Adolf Hitler, to a naked woman’s breast, and even a man eating glass. He exhibits this to everyone in the synagogue and the facial reactions of Farber while he is watching it is hilarious.

The on-locations shooting in Montreal is well done. I felt like I was right there back in the 1950’s. The inside of Duddy’s home had a nice lived-in look and feel. There are images that stay with you long after it is over including the gorgeous forest and lake that Duddy hopes to one day own.

This is a perfect example of a compelling drama. Each scene works seamlessly with the others and the film continues to reveal more insight as it goes on. It also an excellent character detailing someone who is all too real and facing many difficult life decisions that we all face.

My Rating: 8 out of 10

Released: April 11, 1974

Runtime: 2 Hours

Rated PG

Director: Ted Kotcheff

Studio: Paramount

Available: VHS, DVD, Amazon Instant Video

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Posted in 70's Movies, Comedy/Drama, Foreign Films, Movies Based on Novels

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The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)

Posted on July 16, 2012 | Leave a comment

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 5 out of 10

4-Word Review: Experiencing life in Indonesia.

      Guy Hamilton (Mel Gibson) is a reporter who travels to Indonesia in 1965 just as the government is ready to be toppled. He experiences all the chaos as well as the poverty of the people and apathy from his fellow newsmen. He falls in love with a beautiful diplomat Jill Bryant (Sigourney Weaver) who works with a dwarf photographer named Billy Squires (Linda Hunt in her Academy Award winning performance), and eventually finds himself reluctantly thrust into the middle of the turmoil.

     The film is great at recreating the environment and atmosphere of that period. One gets a very good understanding and feeling at just how poverty stricken and desperate the Indonesian people where. Linda Hunt is unique and memorable as the male dwarf. She also has a great line when a fellow photographer asks her opinion of a picture that he took of a naked woman. He wants to know if she thinks it is art or pornography. Her reply, “If it is out of focus it’s art, if it is in focus it is pornography.” It is also fun to see journeymen supporting actor Michael Murphy playing against type. Usually he is saddled with rather transparent types of roles, but here his character is quite obnoxious.

      It would have been better had the film given the viewers a little bit more of a historical background before it just plopped the characters into a very chaotic and confusing situation. Most people probably have no clue as to the history of Indonesia let alone finding it on a map. It would have also been more interesting had the film been based on real people who really lived through the situation instead of predictable prototypes. A very young Gibson seems a bit overwhelmed with his role. His character seesaws from being boring to exasperating. He gets a huge crush on the Weaver character and chases after her like she is the only thing on his mind and then when she gives him an important piece of information he pounces on it even if it means losing her and their relationship. The pace is hurt by having the film spend too much of its middle section focusing on the romance, which really isn’t all that interesting or diverting. The ending is much too pat for a story that takes place in such a dangerous and complex environment.

      This is a grand idea that becomes too muddled and doesn’t place enough emphasis on the historical background and context. The lead character is boring and the pace is not compelling enough.

My Rating: 5 out of 10

Released: December 17, 1982

Runtime: 1Hour 55Minutes

Rated PG

Director: Peter Weir

Studio: MGM/UA

Available: VHS, DVD, Amazon Instant Video

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Posted in 80's Movies, Action/Adventure, Drama, Foreign Films, Movies Based on Actual Events, Movies Based on Novels, Movies from Australia, Romance

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Man’s Favorite Sport (1964)

Posted on July 15, 2012 | 1 comment

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 2 out of 10

4-Word Review: Winning a fishing contest.

            Roger Willoughby (Rock Hudson) works at a sporting goods department store and uses the information he overhears from his customers to become an ‘expert’ at fishing and best-selling author on the subject despite never having done it himself. Things unravel when his boss (John McGiver) enters him into a fishing contest and he must use the help of beautiful brunette Abigail Page (Paula Prentiss) to show him the techniques and save his reputation.

Billed as another screwball comedy much in the same vein as Howard Hawk’s classic Bringing Up Baby. However, this film doesn’t even come close to that one. It is extremely slow and the comedy bits are thrown in with a haphazard style. The pacing is none existent and the plot is far-fetched and contrived. I was willing to forgive it a little figuring that by the second half things would kick-in, but it never does. The jokes are simplistic and unimaginative.  I found none of it to be funny and mainly strained and labored. With the slight exception of the scene involving Roger’s inflatable wading pants I didn’t find any of it to be even engaging. Roger’s attempts at fishing are particularly disappointing as this scenario could have been played up a lot more.

Hudson is weak as the lead. His voice always has a hollow tone and his delivery is wooden. Cary Grant would have been a much better choice and the film could have been a lot funnier with his presence. When Grant became irritated it was always amusing, but with Hudson it comes off as forced and boring.

Paula Prentiss is the best thing about the movie. Many fans agree that this is her best performance of her career. She has a nice free-form style to her delivery and avoids having that stiff drama school touch. I liked the gaze of her brown eyes and at times it reminded me a lot of Karen Black’s. Her younger, more relaxed presence helps compensate against Hudson’s stiff older one. I’m surprised her career fizzled in the 70’s as she has an interesting and unique style that I would have liked to have seen more of. Her sparing with Hudson is the only thing that gives this film any energy. However, having them end up falling in love was formulaic and forced. The two really didn’t have the right chemistry and showing them not getting along, or getting on each other’s nerves was more entertaining.

My Rating: 2 out of 10

Released: January 29, 1964

Runtime: 2Hours 1Minute

Rated NR (Not Rated)

Director: Howard Hawks

Studio:  Universal

Available: VHS, DVD

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Posted in 60's Movies, Comedy, Outdoors, Romance

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Law and Disorder (1974)

Posted on July 13, 2012 | 2 comments

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 6 out of 10

4-Word Review: Regular citizens become cops.

Due to the recent death of Ernest Borgnine I felt a review of this film, which features Borgnine in a very strong and effective performance, would be appropriate. The story deals with two middle-aged men named Willie and Cy (Carroll O’Connor, Ernest Borgnine) who after being robbed decide to join the police force as auxiliary cops. Their escapades start out as lighthearted and comical, but eventually they become faced with some serious consequences.

This is a rare film appearance for O’Connor who performed in a lot of movies during the 60’s, but did very little once he became a household name with ‘All in the Family’. It is fun to see him though the role doesn’t exercise his acting talents enough. He is a toned down version of Archie and comes off as boring and benign with a smiling face button on his coat that is annoying. His two best scenes come when he tries to pretend he is a young urban street punk and as a cab driver with a nice way of handling two obnoxious passengers.

It is actually Borgnine that steals the picture. Usually he is more of an unassuming supporting player, but here he comes into his realm. He is funny in a cantankerous way, but with some good dramatic moments in-between. Watching him angrily smash up a stolen bicycle with a lead pipe is intense and memorable. He proves that he might have made a good Archie Bunker had O’Connor not been available.

The female cast runs hot and cold in terms of performances.  It was fun to see Ann Wedgeworth, a native Texan, transplanted into the role of a Bronx housewife. Karen Black though is outrageously wasted in two very brief and meaningless scenes as an over-sexed hair stylist.

The story on the whole is alright. The beginning features a lot of amusing, fast paced comical adventures. The problem really begins towards the middle when the film shifts to a more serious tone, which bogs down the pace and fractures the narrative. You get roped into thinking this is a good comedy and then find it is anything but. The drama isn’t bad, but it doesn’t mesh well with the silliness. It also veers too much from the main premise making the message and point of view confusing. It tries to tackle too many topics, but fails to make any type of meaningful or lasting statement in the process.

Overall the film is good enough to keep you captivated and on the most part it is entertaining. Yet the story is disjointed and frustrating. The music played over the opening credits sounds like something for a senior citizens dance party and was a horrible choice. However, the on-location shooting of New York City is great and gives the viewer an authentic feel of an average urban neighborhood.

My Rating: 6 out of 10

Released: October 9, 1974

Runtime: 1Hour 44Minutes

Director: Ivan Passer

Studio: Columbia Pictures

Available: VHS, DVD

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Posted in 70's Movies, Comedy/Drama, Movies that take place in the Big Apple

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American Gothic (1988)

Posted on July 9, 2012 | 1 comment

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 2 out of 10

4-Word Review: Rod needs to chill.

A group of young people must make an emergency landing on an off shore island when their single engine plane begins to malfunction. There they meet up with a strange family that seems locked in a bygone era and displays psychotic tendencies.

You would think a film with some big name stars of Rod Steiger, Yvonne De Carlo and Michael J. Pollard and an established director of John Hough would at least be passable, but this one is as bad as it gets. The goofy premise is taken too seriously and is too formulated. The characters are bland and stereotyped and the victims allow themselves to be killed off too easily with hardly any gore or special effects. There is also no suspense or scares. There isn’t even any good dark humor. It just plods on and on until you don’t care what happens.

It has a lot of similarities to Just Before Dawn and Mother’s Day. It even has the twist of having one of the survivors turn the tables and become the aggressor. Yet Mother’s Day had a lot more style and pizzazz.

Steiger is of course a very accomplished actor who has done a lot of good work, but seems miscast here. He should have injected more campiness into his part, but instead approaches it with his usual intensity. At the end he even gives out a loud primal scream of inner anguish much like the one he did in The Pawnbroker except here it is hollow and meaningless. Out of everyone De Carlo does the best.

The setting also becomes an issue. It has the word American in its title and yet was filmed entirely in British Columbia. Ma and Pa talk with southern type accents, but are surrounded by a northern landscape. The house is also a problem as it looks too neat and trim and like it was newly built. It would have been better had the building been taller and more foreboding and even displayed some decay or gothic style. The inside of the house doesn’t look like it’s been lived in and the furniture is nothing more than theatrical props.

Overall this is a pitiful attempt at horror movie making. It fails to be either offbeat or scary and only succeeds at becoming mind numbingly sterile.

My Rating: 2 out of 10

Released: May 13, 1988

Runtime: 1Hour 30Minutes

Rated R

Director: John Hough

Studio: Vidmark Entertainment

Available: VHS, DVD

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Posted in 80's Movies, Horror, Low Budget, Movies with a rural setting

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The Monitors (1969)

Posted on July 7, 2012 | Leave a comment

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 3 out of 10

4-Word Review: They are watching us.

            Aliens, who dress in suits, long overcoats, and bowler hats, invade earth and an attempt to police everybody’s thoughts and actions while trying to quell a rebel uprising led by Colonel Stutz (Larry Storch). Working for the uprising is Harry (Guy Stockwell) who falls in love with Barbara (Susan Oliver) who secretly sides with the aliens.

The movie starts out with a lot of potential and piqued my interest with unusual montages and camera work. Unfortunately this subsides quickly and soon we are stuck with drab sets, extraneous scenes, and a film unable to hide its low budget roots. I began to wonder if the reason the rebels had their hideout in an abandoned farmhouse was more because the filmmakers could film there without having to pay for a permit than anything else.

The film should have gone completely for parody and farce and if they had done that this might have worked. Instead it seems to drift into a conventional sci-fi narrative complete with a pseudo philosophical climactic debate between the humans and aliens that we have all heard before and does nothing but slow the film down to a tedious level. Adding in the love interest angle between the two leads is contrived and formulaic.

The aliens aren’t too interesting either. There is never any explanation as to how they were able to take over the planet, but the fact that they are unable to even get through a locked door of an old crumbling warehouse made me wonder how they were able to succeed at anything. Equipping them with a little more sci-fi gadgetry would have helped. I realize they don’t have to be carrying around the proverbial ray-gun, but having them break up an angry mob by using ordinary canisters of pepper spray seemed unimaginative.

Spliced into the story are comical TV ads with famous celebrities of the day such as Stubby Kaye and Xavier Cugat promoting the monitors and convincing the public to support them. These commercials are not funny with the only exception being Alan Arkin playing a foreign man who speaks broken English. In the case of former Senator Everett Dirksen it is almost sad. He was very elderly at the time of the filming and he is clearly reading his lines from cue cards and mouthing the words and looking like he is barely functional, or coherent.

The music is another problem. Initially I really liked it as the opening credits feature a computer with a very robotic voice singing the theme. Singer Odetta sings most of the other songs and some of them have a distinctive sound, but they get overplayed and saturated by the end.

The production was shot on-location in Chicago and I loved the aerial shots showing the skyline. I almost wished there had been a little more of them although I did notice that the exact same skyline shots at the beginning get reused in the second half. I didn’t like the idea that it was filmed in the late fall/early winter as the cast is shown shivering in several shots while forced to wear light clothing and their breath is clearly visible.

Susan Oliver gives another solid performance and shown flying an airplane in one sequence as in real-life she was an avid pilot. Sherry Jackson’s presence is minimal, but she is always appealing to the eyes. Avery Schreiber, a comedian known to overact horribly in just every part he is in, comes off as rather amusing here playing the younger brother of Harry who reluctantly joins up with the resistance. Larry Storch, another notorious ham, is engaging as well especially when he appears in drag and later on dressed as General MacArthur.

This is a failed experiment that should have been a lot better. It seems to want to take on the quirky sentiments of the era, but is either too timid, or too unimaginative to go all the way with it.

My Rating: 3 out of 10

Released: October 8, 1969

Runtime: 1Hour 32Minutes

Rated M

Director: Jack Shea

Studio: Commonwealth United Entertainment

Available: Netflix Streaming

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Posted in 60's Movies, Comedy, Low Budget, Movies that take place in Chicago, Obscure Movies, Quirky, Sci-Fi

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10 (1979)

Posted on July 6, 2012 | 4 comments

By Richard Winters

My Rating: 3 out of 10

4-Word Review: Bo Derek is hot.

George Webber (Dudley Moore) is a successful songwriter who has just turned 42 and finds himself longing for a beautiful younger woman (Bo Derek) that he sees while driving. Problem is he meets her on her wedding day and yet he still pursues her all the way to Mexico where she goes for her honeymoon.

It’s really, really hard to believe that this was such a big hit. It meanders badly and has a lot of slow stretches. It is also not that sexy. Bo is only shown sporadically and you never really get to see her naked, or at least not from the front. Writer/director Blake Edwards incorporates his patented slapstick humor, but it’s uninspired and doesn’t mesh well with a film that is supposedly working on a more mature and sophisticated level.

The issue of middle-age, or better yet ‘male menopause’, has been handled before and better. In fact this thing can’t hold a candle to Tom Ewell and The Seven Year Itch. The issues it brings up are quite general and handled superficially. It offers no new perspective and is shockingly unimaginative.

Dudley Moore fits nicely into his role and it seems not too far removed from the man himself as it deals with a uniquely talented man that harbors a degree of cynicism and detachment. His relationship with girlfriend Samantha (Julie Andrews) has some interesting elements and it could have been a foundation for a movie in itself.

Derek is stunning, but rather poor in the acting department. Having a beautiful lady portray such a shallow person is a real turn off. Sure it’s done to give the film its point, but it seems extreme.

Overall I found the film to be weak and empty and unable to even come close to meeting its reputation.

My Rating: 3 out of 10

Released: October 5, 1979

Runtime: 2Hours 2Minutes

Rated R

Director: Blake Edwards

Studio: Warner Brothers

Available: VHS, DVD, Blu-ray, Amazon Instant Video

4 Comments

Posted in 70's Movies, Comedy, Movies with Nudity, Sex

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