Warner Bros tries to get some of that Peyton Place cash with this adaptaiton of secrets and lust in a small New England town. Richard Burton is a doctor coming home who tends sick friend Tom Drake who asks Burton to root his wife Barbara Rush; sexy nurse Angie Dickinson is having an affair with married Jack Carson but wants to hump Burton.
The film doesn't work. It's got some of the ingredients but there's no feel for small town life - there's not enough family drama. Burton needed to be Drake's brother and maybe even Carson's brother. There's too many middle aged people - it needed some youngies. I never thought I would write these words but it cries out for the Troy Donahue treatment.
Angie Dickinson plays it in the right style - her throwing herself at Burton is a highlight of the movie. Jack Carson can act but is too old and fat - the part needed someone sexy like one of Warner Bros TV stars like Clint Walker. Burton has charisma and the voice but feels out of place. He has this entertainingly bad monologue where he reminiscies about discovering his mother cheated. Barbara Rush is quite good but the film would be more fun with a Lana Turner/Susan Hayward.
Phil Yordan and Milton Sperling were credited for the script- they weren't the right people. They specialise in male tales. This needed someone more emphathetic to women.
A fair bit of sex - Rush gets pregnant to Burton, Rush talks about the healthy sex life of her and Drake (which I didn't believe, neither actor give that impression, but it was refreshing to hear), Dickinson poses nude for a lecherous journo and we see her bare aback.
Misses the mark. But Dickinson good.
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