Solemplex
To me, this movie is perfection.
Ensofter
Overrated and overhyped
Mjeteconer
Just perfect...
dscat1029
I was in the Navy in 1968 and flew out of San Diego to LA as the first leg to NY's JFK. We landed at LAX to take on more passengers. I was in uniform and sitting in 14C. As the new passengers were looking for their seats, I noticed two beautiful gals approaching my aisle. They looked at the seat number I rose and they sat in 14A and B as luck would have it. Off to JFK we flew. We chatted and by the time we landed we exchanged telephone numbers. I was back in San Diego in 2 weeks and the two sisters were back in LA around the same time. I called, and to make a long story short, Maria Cokkinos, perhaps the same person in this musical, became my dating partner and friend for a couple of years. Till this day (2012) I have 3 original pictures of her, 8x11 glossies. They look professionally done Once I was discharged from the Navy and returned home to NYC we lost contact. If anyone knows her or her family and would like to contact me please feel free to do so. The pictures belong with her family. Don Scaturro (Dscat1029@aol.com)
preppy-3
A horrible attempt to do a 1930s musical with 16 Cole Porter songs. Burt Reynolds, Cybill Shepherd, Madeline Kahn and Duilio Del Prete (no--I don't know who he is either) play two couples who fall in and out of love for two hours. Is this a good movie? No--it's terrible. A prime example on how NOT to do a musical. However it IS lots of fun to watch.The 16 Cole Porter songs are shoehorned in clumsingly. They come out of nowhere and come across as more (unintentionally) funny then charming. The songs themselves are great but (with the sole exception of Kahn) nobody can sing! Reynolds and Shepherd try but can't pull it off. Del Prete has a THICK Italian accent that makes most of his lyrics unintelligible. Kahn manages to pull it off. The dancing is worse than the singing. Kahn and Shepherd are tolerable but Reynolds and Del Prete are embarrassing! Those two guys look like they're stomping not dancing. The plot is stupid and thoroughly predictable. The dialogue is even worse. As for acting--Reynolds is obviously not taking any of it seriously and is having fun with his role. Too bad the audience isn't! Shepherd is just terrible--blank-faced and unfunny. Kahn was a wonderful actress but she looks lost here. Dep Prete tries--I mean he REALLY tries--but he's a terrible actor.On the plus side Eileen Brennan and John Hillerman are funny. They can't sing or dance either but they take their pathetic dialogue and wring what humor they can out of it. Mildred Natwick shows up briefly and jump starts the movie giving a wonderful performance. Also the film looks incredible--the sets are stunning and the costumes are beautiful (even in the crappy full frame version FXM shows).Still this is a terrible musical. At first you just sit there stunned at how horrendous it is--but then you start laughing. By the time we got to the unforgettable powder room sequence with Shepherd, Brennan and Kahn singing and dancing I was in hysterics! I taped this off FXM. The version is terrible--faded color, full frame and I'm missing the last few minutes--but it's a keeper. A real camp classic!
JasparLamarCrabb
One thing a movie musical should not do is come to a grinding halt when most of the cast members begin to sing, but that's exactly what happens in Peter Bogdanovich's fitfully entertaining film. An homage of sorts to the sophisticated musicals of the 1930s where high society types live, love and break into song (usually written by the Gershwins or Irving Berlin) and dance. Instead of Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, and Edward Everett Horton, we get Burt Reynolds, Cybill Shepherd, and John Hillerman...and Madeline Kahn, Eileen Brennan and somebody named Duilio Del Prete. Not necessarily lacking in talent, but this crew, with the exception of Kahn, show absolutely no musical capabilities. Reynolds looks the part, with Gable-esque mustache and tuxedo, Shepherd is undeniably charming and both Hillerman & Brennan are great comics, but Bogdanovich really sets them up for failure, having them sing (croak in most cases) a slew of Cole Porter songs and dance around lightly to mask their lack of ability. The film is not REALLY bad, but it is bad. There's cinematography by the great László Kovács, art direction by Gene Allen and a few clever wisecracks (delivered in most part by Brennan). There are a few colorful cameos by the likes of M. Emmett Walsh, Liam Dunn and Mildred Natwick, as Reynold's energetic mother.
MartinHafer
Director, writer, producer Peter Bogdonovich has managed something amazing in AT LONG LAST LOVE. He actually managed to make a musical with leads who actually sang worse than those in Joshua Logan's PAINT YOUR WAGON. I used to think seeing and hearing Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood singing in Logan's film was the height of horrid casting, but Bogdonovich managed to find four singers who were equal to or worse than Marvin and Eastwood. That's no small feat, as perhaps only Andy Devine and Marcel Marceau were more ill-suited to a musical than Madeline Kahn, Burt Reynolds, Cybill Shepherd and Duilio Del Prete (not to mention many other supporting actors in the film who simply couldn't sing).And, by the way, WHO the heck is Duilio Del Prete and why is this Italian playing a guy called "the Spaniard"--especially since his command of English and acting skills are marginal, at best?! Plus, his having previously been in THE ASSASSINATION OF TROTSKY wasn't exactly a glowing endorsement of his talents! This is just one of many bizarre casting decisions by Bogdonovich.Bogdonovich's idea of making a homage to 1930s style musicals (complete with excellent and familiar Cole Porter songs) isn't bad at all. In many ways, the film is reminiscent of some of the Astaire/Rogers films--minus the quality singing and dancing. In fact, it looks much more like a community theater or talent show production because of all the insane choices that brought the quality of the film to an unbelievably low level. It's really a shame, as a similar idea was very well executed in MOVIE MOVIE a film made about the same time as AT LONG LAST LOVE. Here, however, wretchedly inappropriate actors and singers doomed the film from the start--especially since audience members really wanted to hear singing that didn't totally suck or see dancers with two left feet (go figure!).This film was crucified by the critics--and deservedly so. The singing is simply so bad, so grating and so painful that the viewer is left to wonder what the heck everyone involved was thinking! In fact, 1979's book, "The Fifty Worst Movies Ever Made" included it among it's selections--and I heartily agree.Cole Porter must have spun in his grave like a rotisserie when this terribly failed experiment debuted. What an incredibly big waste of a nice idea and a film only of interest to the curious and bad movie buffs.
