A notorious flop that is impressive for the sheer number of dumb ideas: casting plump Elizabeth Taylor as a show girl, managing to cost $11 million in 1970 money despite being a two hander set in Vegas, teaming Taylor opposite Warren Beatty.
Maybe it would've worked with Taylor and original choice Frank Sinatra... actually no, Taylor just didn't look like a chorus girl. And so many better options were out there who did: Debbie Reynolds, Ann Margret... Being a chorus girl wasn't that essential to the story, I wish they'd changed her job to, I don't know, blackjack dealer or something.
I never believed her and Beatty as a couple either. He seems too young. They have no sexual chemistry. I wonder why Beatty did this. To work with George Stevens and Taylor probably. Also, he used to be a pianist, so playing one presumably had appeal.
Taylor is shot through soft focus. It's badly directed. The script adaptation doesn't work. Once Taylor turns down her married lover for Beatty you know they'll be together but there's still an hour to go. This went for almost two hours!
The treatment the material required is obvious. It's about two battered down people seeking for a last grasp of happiness. That is totally, utterly missed.
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