The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 09, 1981, Page Page 8, Image 10
Errtert
Hack
J _ A
gets i
By David Bakor
Film Critic
Gene Hackman is, quite
simply, terrific in "All Night
Long," an otherwise undistinguished
comedy of
manners about a man who
falls in love with his son's
girlfriend.
As the film opens, George
Dupler (Hackman), a minor
league executive with 21
years of service to the Ultra
uorro riaunfiiaii
Save Drug Store Chain, has a
fight with his boss and is
demoted to being night
manager for one of their
stores in a crime-ridden
neighborhood. And that's
only the beginning of the
chain of dismal events that
happen to George.
His wife, Helen (Diane
Ladd), starts avoiding him
and the relationship he
shares with his son Freddie,
(Dennis Quaid), begins to
crumble. Then a relative
dies
AT THE WAKE, however,
George meets Cheryl
(Barbra Streisand), a dippy
blonde with a dynamite
body, who finds him to be
fabulously attractive. Unfortunately,
Cheryl is
married to the deceased
man's brother (Kevin
Dobson) and, even more
unfortunately, is having an
illicit affair with Freddie.
Things get even more
convoluted from there, but
iui ui evuy s sane, 1 snail
spare you the details. Suffice
it to say that the remainder
of the picture is rather
pointless, though it
generates a good many
laughs along the way to its
anticlimactic ending.
Hackman holds the film
together prefectly, milking
his sympathetic role for all
it's worth, without ever
letting it become soppy or
overbearing. The other cast
Gene Hackman and Ba
with his son's girlfriend
;ainmer
man cl
IIIWI JL VJP M
op bill
members, however, roam
around aimlessly,
desperately in search of
direction that is never to
come. Director Jean-Claude
Tramont could have radioed
in his instructions from Tibet
and done a better job.
W.D. Richter's screenplay
is fine as far as dialogue is
concerned, but the situations
it presents are often
preposterous and one
character or another is
always doing something
stupid. For example, when
Helen finds out from Freddie
that George is having an
affair with Cheryl, she
launches into a venomous
tirade against him. In the
middle of the altercation
however, George walks into
the hall and it seems as if
he's walked into another
house. Helen doesn't follow
him and her screaming stops
immediately.
^ .
THE SCRIPT also fails to
follow through on two of its
funniest ideas: a send-up of
"Apocalypse Now" (with a
toy helicopter) and Cheryl's
infatuation with colorcoordinated
walls, clothes
make-up and cigarettes.
It should also be mentioned
that Streisand's role
is not one that involves her
singing voice. She only does
one number in the film, an
intentionally (and
hilariously) awful mockcountry
tune about having
her broken heart tossed onto
the hard, black pavement of
life.
Aside from the wry performance
of Hackman
though, the most interesting
r
%
4, ?
' | . '
Barbra Streisand
aspects of "All Night Long"
are the things that went on
behind the scenes.
Two weeks into production,
Lisa Eichhorn, the
actress originally contracted
to play Cheryl, was fired on
fc , A *
*g m^iwaaroi^WjWWWwa^^l
.y*4^
**r
flBl
rbra Streisand star in 'All Nig,
d.
lines in
ing ove
i^l^WifcMMl i- flfl
'^^wiw WV:: ml >;>A
' i1#? :?: "^^Hltl^Sf
[ v-- ' ^ W Bt^ Wzp^%^"
''Jm_ wrm ^ s
Gene Hackman (far r
Gamecock interview
Dennis C
By David Baker
Dennis Quaid has had a S|||l?|
busy year. In addition to the B;, jigg
just-released "All Night
Long," in which he co-stars Hjp|"
with Gene Hackman and 9K||
Barbra Streisand, Quaid will ?|
soon be seen in "Caveman," IbS
with Rineo Starr and Bar
bara Bach, and in "The Sff||
Night the Lights Went Out in SRftGeorgia,"
opposite Kristy iS ^
The last-named film, ^ v
based on the popular song by ' v
Vickie Lawrence, is a
musical drama and, in
addition to acting in it, Quaid i
wrote and performs three |||
songs in it. "I've always
wanted to put music and liRfev
acting toppthor " thp 9.R- fcaSfl?
? o ? o? j v w
year-old, Houston-born actor BPffi
said, "and this gives me the succe:
chance." releas
QUAII) ADDED THAT Qua
he's hoping to get a shot at a to dat
recording career if the Away
picture and its soundtrack trayec
album should turn out to be bound
grounds of "creative dif- foraf<
ferences" between her and agent
the director. Trarru
convir
nn/vi\i if*
rnuwuL nui\ tE.ASKU btl'eiS!
?." ~ar l *'?
: V f
; ? r
. I 1 t*
* . X ^
K ,.'Y' ' .J; I
i , 1
I
I I * * ' **
' ? I*
jS ?* i
l11
iSh
frf Long,' a comedy about a man v
['All Ni;
C
1 1*1.0. o
H ' i
" ABB jB
: V5Q& {SB
^ '
i. . i ,*_ *r _ _ * - - - "
tqnif aeiivers nis dost perrorman
2uaid's t
ssful when they're that succes
ed this July. football te<
id's most popular film slate into
e has been "Breaking graduation.
wherein he por- When "B
] Mike, the muscle- became a
jock who discovered late last y
ew weeks, while super- H a c k m a ri
sue Mengers, wno is however, c
jnt's wife, tried to receive i
ice her biggest client, Mengers h
and, to accept the role. Streisand t
^h^h^d3S
' S"T' listen. 5
^ ^ ^ production:
??
jhtLc
1 A * _ -
y' |j ;
. & ":^pg^
)ce in years in 'All Night L
msy cai
R offered hi
turned it <
done that
would hav
TVE 1
series bef
myself ir
saying 'W
doing here
play a di
two montl
a job foi
months,
actor, I
constructi
never c<
anything
months."
Regardi
Night Lon
first scen<
most fun
s on the school scene was
im didn't tran- had to w
success after goose her
and Frenc
ireaking Away" A tough
television series but it
ear, Quaid was highlights
i's contract the Scre
ailed for him to on strike
top-billing, so shut dou
lad to convince for sever
o accept second- Consid
well, something and-go
/ev before agreed sumrisin
cast me
shaky.
ey talks and $4 tribute
s all that was Hackmai
get Streisand to overcome
Shortly after filming ?
resumed, though, worjc in h
Dennis Quaid end Hack
HH
1
ana
H ,J|
v:*. :<imr ^^::::<r;:i?^HBHBBI
ong.'
reer
is old role, but he
Jown. "I'd already
and to do it again
e been old hat. j
BEEN OFFERED
ore and I can see
i the fifth week,
hat in the hell am I
j?' In movies, I can
fferent role every
is. And I don't hold
r more than two
Before I was an
was a waiter, a
on worker and I
auld hold down
for more than two
ing his work in "All
tg," Quaid said the
"t he filmed was the
to do. "My first
5 with Streisand. I
'alk into a room,
', spin her around
:h kiss her."
i life, Quaid jokes,
does have its
;n Actors Guild went
s and the film was
/n again, this time
al months.
ering all this stop
activity, it's not
g that most of the
mbers seem a bit
It's certainly a
to the talent of
n that he was able to
e the breaks in
ind turn in his best
lalf-a-decade.
man