Michael Winner's remake of the classic is very faithful - he follows the structure - and packs the movie full of great actors and production value. But it doesn't work - at least not as well. It might have been better going off on his own path making it truly trashy. There are some boobs but they seem added - if he went soft core the whole way the film would seem to have more point.
Everything feels off. In the original it was clear Lockwood was motivated by her mother's death... Dunaway says those lines here but Winner shoots her reaction in long shot, so it doesn't have impact.
The ages of the cast is all off. Dunaway seems to old - she was 42, but Lockwood at 31 or whatever made sense. Denholm Elliot is too old at 60 to play someone truly loved by Glynis Barber who was in her late twenties. Alan Bates doesn't feel dashing enough at 50.
On one hand I liked the Barber and Oliver Tobias were f*ck buddies but then it didn't make sense for the character - if Barber was like that how did she lose Elliot to Dunaway... because in the original Lockwood seduced him. But if Barber is sexually active...? Barber and Dunaway need to be different. And why would Barber want Elliot instead of Tobias? And why would Tobias want Dunaway instead of Barber? You never feel that Barber genuinely likes Elliot or that Dunaway likes Tobias.
It's frustrating. The whip duel at least livens things up. The Barber-Tobias sex scene is not very sexy - we all have different ideas of what that is, but I don't know too many people who see it that way. It is hilarious the way they cut in her body double.
A very useful exercise to show how a remake that's very close can still fail. It should have just gone full AIP/New World/Big Bad Mama style.
The best bit is John Gielgud and Dunaway - they match well.
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