At Long Last Love (1975)

hyped garbage

Good idea lost in the noise

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Is the movie as bad as Golden Turkey Awards claims. You bet it is. I'd rather sit through two hours of test pattern than endure this slow-motion train wreck again. It does for Hollywood musicals what the Titanic did for ocean cruises. Folks who think this is a misunderstood masterpiece are probably also kind to house flies. I just wish the movie were laughably bad, like an Ed Wood misfire. But it's not. Instead, it's almost painful to witness a Cole Porter score get butchered by performers about as musical as I am. I just hope writer-producer-director Bogdanovich learned a few humbling lessons from the experience. One thing for sure— I'll bet no studio gave him six million to play with after this. My advice—watch the movie only if the alternative is two hours of a political speech.

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 ([email protected])

This is one I have saved-One of the few that is so bad I show it to friends for laughs-Inept out of tune singing is over reached by ludicrous clumsy dancing- No one is in step!!! Even in a publicity still I saw.Bad singing is no problem if it is part of a good natured joke in movies like Paint Your Wagon-Lee Marvin-Clint Eastwood??? Singing??? SURE!! Why not???In At Long Last Love the plot is equal to the rest of the film-so dumb it's fun ___The back story seems to be Bogdanovich and Shepherd were an item and he decided to make her STAR with ready made Cole Porter songs and a 30's setting which had served him so well previously. Love is indeed blind, his critical judgement was lost behind and the result? A Classic- I save it with Plan 9 from Outer Space & Oasis of the Zombies to show when everyone is ready for silly!!

AT LONG LAST LOVE was an unmitigated critical disaster when it premiered at Easter 1975. 20th Century Fox was so displeased with it the studio pulled it from distribution and it signaled the end of director Peter Bogdonacvich's up until then promising career which included the classic THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, the very funny Barbra Streisand screwball comedy WHAT'S UP DOC?(which foreshadowed this Cole Porter inspired film with Streisands dynamic and playful rendering of Porter's "You're the Top" over the beginning credits) and the much beloved PAPER MOON. Three years in a row, 3 blockbuster hits and 12 Oscar nominations later, Peter BOGgeddownabit with 1974s DAISY MILLER before crashing and burning with AT LONG LAST LOVE. If nothing else, AT LONG LAST LOVE is a beautifully costumed and art directed film thats a heck of a lot of fun. Very often , as a 40 something guy, I try to recapture memories of old movies I remember consuming endlessly on HBO and finding that with very few exceptions looking at films through a 12 year old eyes doesn't translate well 30 years hence. AT LONG is one of those exceptions. There is much to admire as an adult(AT LONG LAST LOVE had its biggest strike against it for a randy 12 year old-it was rated G! We loved HBO precisely for the opposite reason-to see naked girls in R rated movies.). The Cole Porter songs-however out of key they may be sung by Burt Reynolds and Cybil Sheperd-are a pleasure to "hear". Its like watching your favorite cool Aunt and Uncle at a wedding drunkenly singing some standards-yes they sound none too good but because of their dynamics you infectiously smile, grin and have a great time. Burt and Cybill get over as those favorite Aunt and Uncle did-they were young, carefree and beautiful to look at-who cares how they sounded? You are compelled to watch them. The story is as thin as the chiffon on the dresses but as a whole-it worked. Madeline Kahn , Eileen Brennan and Eileen Heckart add heft as a triumphant trio of comedic /singing talent. AT LONG LAST LOVE is like a dazzling Broadway show that has a great score, a credible book and likable stars-but the featured players steal the show. As a Broadway show it probably would have drawn raves, as an expensive studio musical in 1975-a year chock full of musicals with FUNNY LADY, TOMMY and LISZTSOMANIA among others-it flopped, and shouldn't have. Fox seems to be digging in their vaults lately, releasing movies to DVD that never even made it to video. I can only hope that they are planning a Burt Reynolds box set from 1975-including WW AND THE DIXIE DANCEKINGS , LUCKY LADY and AT LONG LAST LOVE- now that would be De-Lightful!And hopefully they'll allow Bogdonavich-with his new clout as an actor on The Soprano's-to revisit this musical classic and do it justice. While director Bogdonavich is no SAINT, he just need to remove his actors MASK and try to direct again. After all-when he did it in the 70s the audiences were grateful-THEY ALL LAUGHED.