...All the Marbles (1981)

Expected more

Better Late Then Never

Absolutely brilliant

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

How can you not enjoy Peter Falk carting around two very feisty lady wrestlers? Robert Aldrich directed this witty cross between ROCKY & THE KANSAS CITY BOMBER. Falk is the not very good but extremely enthusiastic manager of sexy wrestlers Vicki Frederick & Laurene Landon (aka The California Dolls). The three travel from one dingy arena to another as the Dolls try for the big time in Reno. Falk is hilarious, basically acting like Peter Falk. Landon, and especially Frederick are not only sexy, they're smart, funny and tough as nails, both in and out of the ring. They're never made to look anything but smarter than the rowdy audiences who come to see them. They're in on the joke! This is a very funny, very affectionate road film with very likable characters. Burt Young is a mean-spirited & ruthlessly stingy wrestling promoter. Lenny Montana (Luca Brasi from THE GODFATHER & a one-time wrestler himself) gets a lot of laughs as Young's morally superior bodyguard. The script by Mel Frohman and others is full of priceless one-liners.

My responses to some of the comments above QUOTE: A curious feature is also that we are asked to believe that pro tag wrestling is "for real."This is only half-true. There are a number of references to one team allowing the other a fall, etc. (or not, as the case may be, as when Rose effectively double-crosses one of the Tigers to gain an advantage); and QUOTE: a Japanese promoter offers to finance a championship run… QUOTE: We have here two very attractive cast members who, quite unusually, are also very competent actresses. All four main female wrestling characters were originally dancers. One or two of the contributors here actually refer to the ring action as QUOTE: choreography. I agree that all four were excellently trained and did a really good job.QUOTE: Different groups of viewers… A third group will be those who rate female wrestling as a significant spectator sport and who want to watch this film primarily for the ring sequences… This perceived group is narrow. Those who appreciate the finer points of men's grappling do not naturally translate to the female version, and are often against it. The "missing" group are those who like to see a female protagonist triumph over another woman or, often, over a male. These are not the same as the "T&A/catfight" brigade as – although some of these aficionados are often "leg" men – the need for a further display of flesh is not always paramount.QUOTE: It's hard to understand why Aldrich took on this project… QUOTE: you have to wonder which one of them… has the wrestling f*t*sh. I Think the latter comment perhaps answers the first QUOTE: wondering why such attractive girls did not try to get Uncle Hef to picture them… so that they could sign up with a Hollywood model agency and earn a few bucks by modelling (acting?)… Instead of through a life in the wrestling ring. For the said enthusiast, the girls' attraction (which is admittedly greater than that of most real-life exponents up to that point) underlines the appeal.QUOTE: I saw the U.K. version UK enthusiasts were generally starved of such entertainment, until one of the British promoters escalated his blonde wife to top of the bill during the 1980s.QUOTE: If you doubt the popularity of female grappling, go to Youtube.com and check out the tens of thousands of views… I think this is the same minority viewing over and over.QUOTE: Certainly it couldn't have been a star vehicle for Vicki Frederick (better known for her role in the "A Chorus Line" movie) I liked Frederick in both of these but agree that they evidently didn't really raise her profile; she ended up on 'Love Boat' and similar.QUOTE: The original release "......all the Marbles" was renamed "The California Dolls" for release in the U.K., and a second release in the U.S.A. also used this alternative title.This is a wimp-out by the distributor. From the original title, the prospective viewer would have little idea what the movie is about; they have elected instead for a populist, more "sledgehammer" approach and title.QUOTE: With the recent revival of pro wrestling… While lady wrestling is not currently mainstream, things are changing… These comments have run way out of date. Pro wrestling is currently on the ropes, with the ladies' game more or less non-existent.QUOTE: Jumping on the "mud wrestling" craze of the late 70s and early 80s (when this was supposed to be about in-ring "pro" wrestling Slightly unfair. This is used as an example of Falk "stitching the girls up" to gain revenue. The girls are aghast at his choice.QUOTE: My suggestion is therefore that MGM should consider issuing a double sided DVD, one side with a copy of ".... all the marbles" edited… and the other side with the alternate version "The California Dolls" edited to maximise its appeal… Great idea.Dave

This one's a puzzler. With such an honored film resume, it's hard to understand why Aldrich took on this project; it's probably sad that this was (?) his last project before he died in 1983. Also curious how an actor like Peter Falk signed on (although if memory serves he really didn't do all that much since Colombo at this point in time). Harder to figure still is how the film got green lighted in the first place. Was it a comedy? Was it a drama? Was it a "buddy" film? Was meant to be a lady "Palooka" or boxing genre? Th movie suffered from trying to go all over the map and as a result, didn't do any one thing well. Certainly it couldn't have been a star vehicle for Vicki Frederick (better known for her role in the "A Chorus Line" movie), could it? Also, the timing of this is amazing if you consider that "Wrestlemania" (that popular culture earthquake that popularized "modern pro wrasslin" and characters like Hulk Hogan, Cindy Lauper, and "Girls Just Wanta Have Fun" video star Capt'n Lou Albano, etc.) was still another five years away.Seemingly had nods toward "Rocky (I)" in terms of the story: down-on-luck, working class fighters struggle and get their shot at the brass ring. But again, the film didn't seem to flesh out any of these various story lines: • Is pro wrestling real or fake (again, this was BEFORE the industry's dirty little secret of "KayFabe" was broken in open court)? • Can the "good guys" (Good Girls in this case) succeed in their crusade against the morally challenged fight promoters or the "system" of low-budget/low esteem pro wrestling traveling circuses? • The physical and emotional affects of this lifestyle (battles with "substance dependency" by one the characters, "how did my life turn out like this?, how did I get here?") • The sexual discrimination and women-in-a-man's-world attitudes faced by these two young women trying to "eek" out a living in high-inflation, low morale, and national malaise Jimmy Carter's "Rust Belt" America.I'm not even mentioning the obvious salacious subject-matter (scantily clad women rolling around wrestling rings with other scantily clad women). The film's reliance on clichés and other pleas for help are numerous: 1) Jumping on the "mud wrestling" craze of the late 70s and early 80s (when this was supposed to be about in-ring "pro" wrestling; 2) The completely unnecessary and blatantly opportunistic special guest appearance by "Mean Joe" Greene (of the then Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers and "Hey, Kid"/Coca Cola TV commercial fame); and finally, 3) The apparent May-December romance between the two "stars".It's almost like Falk and Aldrich were fulfilling a contractual commitment to the studio by doing this film, and this was the script that they settled upon. Either that or you have to wonder which one of them – perhaps both -- has the wrestling fetish. Having said all this, the viewer CAN tell that both Falk and Aldrich are brining some sophistication to the film, and that's probably what saves it from being completely ready for Mystery Science Theater 3000. The choreography of the wrestling sequences is right up there with some of the better boxing pictures I've seen. And the "driving" interludes through small, depressed industrial towns and the back roads of the Midwest farmlands nicely convey the "living on the road and out of the trunk of the car" day-to-day existence the trio might have endured. Falk's character grooms the young, up-and-coming "athletes" or "performers" for their "shot" at the big time (think Burgess Meredith in Rocky). Falk's performance -- as the streetwise but disrespected, good-hearted but washed-up, grouchy but lovable manager – is distracting not because it's tired and cliché but because it is so far above any other actor in the movie. Had I been there, I would have LOVED to ask him about this role during his appearance on "Inside the Actor's Studio" a few years ago. Speaking of Rocky, Burt Young, Rocky's brother-in-law Paulie in the series, basically plays the same character here, only not as lovable but a shady character with some power to "pull some strings" when it suits him.But ultimately the tag team relationship between Frederick and Landon -- teammates and theoretically "friends" -- is almost nonexistent. Really only one scene even attempts to explore this "bond" (a la Butch Cassidy & Sundance Kid). The physicality of their performances and their obvious training to learn the bumps and rolls of the wrestling game is commendable, but doesn't save the movie, either.We're not sure whether we're supposed to believe what they've been through is real, so we really don't care for any of the characters by the end. But by that time, we pretty much know what's going to happen, anyway. Watch it for an interesting, if not laudable, project by each Messrs. Falk and Aldrich.

This was a fairly interesting movie with a different topic: women's wrestling. It also features a couple of hot-looking ladies (if you can call them that) and has the usually-likable Peter Falk of Columbo TV-fame in the lead.However, this is typical '70s sleaze with lots of profanity and nudity, particularly the latter and mainly to attract a male audience. I like looking at these "babes" as much anyone but, hey, to be honest, films like this made us learn the meaning of the word "gratuitous." The wrestling scenes were decent but the last one went on forever. Actually, it went on for 20 straight minutes which seems like forever in a film. That, and a cast of sleazy characters, made this too unappealing and down for the count.