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Arthur Hiller (Love Story) directed the film adaptation of Neil Simon's curious comedy about a pair of non-New Yorkers (Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis) having a hellish visit to the Big Apple on the eve of a job interview for Lemmon's character. Made in 1970, this hectic film almost seems ahead of its time when compared to more recent misery-piled-on-misery comedies such as Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. The couple in this film endure everything that can go wrong on a trip, including being forced to spend the night in a mugger-happy Central Park. The strange element in Simon's script, though, is that Lemmon's character is so unpleasant. A middle-class, uptight guy who can't believe that New Yorkers in the service profession don't perform their jobs slavishly, he's kind of a one-note joke that quickly wears thin. Remade with Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (36)

Warning: Never Visit New York!
I loved this film! I very seldom disagree with one of Leonard Maltin's reviews. But I sure did on this one. He claims this movie is "excruciating". Well...yes, I think so too. Excruciatingly funny, that is! I think that Jack Lemmon is wonderfully "over the top" in this picture. His character (as far as I see it) is obviously written to be played way, way over the top! That's what makes it funny. Realistically, we have to know that all 64 (or so) crises and maladies that befall this poor midwestern couple could not ALL happen at once in a million years! So, therefore, I think the viewer must look upon Lemmon as more of a "caricature" than a "character" in this film. Most of this movie was filmed outdoors, and there's a nice "Big Apple" flavor here. Some of my favorite lines from "The Out-Of-Towners" ..... Lemmon (upon hearing his luggage didn't arrive): "Well you flew ME through the fog! How come you're now worried about two leather valises?!" .... Lemmon (after frisking little boy searching for funds): "...Explain to the police? What I was doing in the woods with a little boy...with my hands in his pockets?!? They'd give me twenty years!"

George and Gwen go to the big bad city of New York
I met Sandy Dennis backstage at a play once and wanting to say something more than the usual remarks of admiration I told her that my father stayed up one night to watch "The Out-of-Towners," which was of some import because my father never stayed up to watch anything. She said her father liked that one too and I got an autograph in which she spelled by first name correctly.

This 1970 film, the original version of "The Out-of-Towners" for those who say the recent version that is part of Steve Martin's attempt to be in more remakes than any other living actor, is my favorite Neil Simon script, which is rather ironic when you consider that he is primarily a comic playwright. However this script takes the hapless couple of George (Jack Lemmon) and Gwen Kellerman (Dennis) from their home in Ohio to New York City, where he has a job interview. However, their plans for a nice dinner at the Four Seasons are dashed when the plan circles the airport for hours before being diverted to Boston. Instead of eating at one of the best restaurants in the world they end up with her eating peanut butter on white bread and him eating crackers and olives with no drinks. This actually ends up being the best thing that happens to George and Gwen the rest of that night, which involves a train ride to New York, no room at the inn, a garbage strike, a mugger, and being kidnapped while in the back of a police car. This is without even mentioning the lost eyelash, the broken heel, and the chipped tooth that resulted from a bad encounter with the prize in a box of Cracker Jacks.

Throughout it all, George and Gwen keep up a running dialogue as he gets angrier and take more names while she tries to be the voice of reason and attests that she can verify everything her husband says in his growing list of complaints against the city is true. Everybody always talks about Lemmon's comic partnership with Walter Matthau, but Dennis comes across as the more perfect foil. Eventually her pessimism is turned into paranoia as the city takes the out of town couple for everything they have and keeps on grinding them into the rain soaked streets where the garbage is piling up to the sky. Eventually the idea of being Vice President in a company that has something to do with plastics does not seem like a step up in the world if this is the world in which they have to live.

I am surprised that this movie is only 98 minutes long, but I suppose it is because of all those commercials with late night television and the way Simon keeps pouring one misery after another on George and Gwen that makes "The Out-of-Towners" seem a lot longer, but not in a bad way. The pacing is pretty brisk for a story about two people who have a hard time getting to where they are going, and there are a lot of patented Neil Simon one liners, most of which are true to character and context, although Dennis gets maximum mileage out of repeating the phrase "Oh my, God!" and getting big laughs.

Simon won the Writers Guild of America award for Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen for this script, which was originally going to be one segment of "Plaza Suite," which came out the next year. But freeing it from the setting of a hotel room or even a hotel, into the wider expanse of New York City and the surrounding environs was what made this black comedy really work. Keep your eye out for lots of familiar faces who were relatively unknowns when this film came out: Anne Meara, Graham Jarvis, Ron Carey, Robert Walden, Richard Libertini, Paul Dooley, and Billy Dee Williams. Final thought: If you want to see a film that takes the exact opposite approach to New York City then that would have to be Woody Allen's "Manhattan," which would come out at the end of this same decade.

Get Out of Town
Probably in its initial release, THE OUT OF TOWNERS was considered a great comedy. However, today's audiences might find it trite and annoying...especially native New Yorkers or even the New York City travel bureau. It does capture a moment in time just before New York City was on the verge of urban decay in the late 70's, so it has its merits for being a time capsule. Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis are husband and wife George and Gwen Kellerman, mid-westerners who are about to relocate to New York City for a job promotion. Their business trip becomes a "Murphy's Law" film as anything that can go wrong...does go wrong. From lost luggage, missed trains, long waits,a garbage and transportation strike, being rained on, muggings, a kidnapping, an unintentional cancelled hotel reservation, an unintentional mugging of hispanic child, etc., the couple suffer every conceivable mishap Neil Simon (screenwriter) can bestow upon his hapless characters. 'George' is a typical Jack Lemmon character. The performance is not exactly "phoned-in",but it is a familiar Lemmon persona. At first, this viewer sympathizes with George Kellerman. However, with each mishap, he becomes (understandably) mean, irritating, and illogical. The one comic gem about the character is that he writes down every person's name he feels has not given the proper customer service (i.e. airport personnel, hotels clerks) or courtesy after each plan on his itinerary has failed. Then he threatens them that they're going to hear from his lawyer. Sandy Dennis has perfect comic timing as the patient and supportive wife of Lemmon and the location shots of New York City play a major "support character" in the film. Overall, the film should be viewed with caution depending on one's disposition at a given moment meaning it can be hilarious or annoying. Lastly, the film is a showcase of a couple of future stars and well-known character actors. A young Billy Dee Williams (STAR WARS:THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK) shows up in an airport sequence. Note: Look for actor Sandy Baron as the "TV-man in church". He played the recurring character Mr. Klompus on TV's SEINFELD and had a very funny role in the comedy film IF IT'S TUESDAY, THIS MUST BE BELGIUM.

Good, but you just want to shoot the both of them.
Having successfully avoided the apparent train wreck of a remake of this starring Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn, I thought I'd rent the original Neil Simon film starring Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis to see what caused such a fuss as to remake it after such a short period of time.
Jack and Sandy are on their way to New York city from the suburbs, to see about Jack taking a big job there. Suffice it to say, everything that can go wrong does go wrong, and the two are trapped in hell, trying to survive the night before his interview in the morning.
This is considered to be classic dark comedy, that will be annoying to some and funny as heck to others. I think I fell in between the two. Jack Lemmon is such an ass, and his wife such a dunderhead, that it's hard to have much sympathy for either one. As their problems pile up, it's all too obvious that the cause is mainly his own agonizing egotism, being thrown as the small fish into the huge pond. New York chews up and spits out idiots like this daily, and rightly so. Beyond this criticism (coming from a city boy, admittedly), there are some genuinely funny moments here and chuckle worthy constant prattle back and forth between the always talented Lemmon and the creepy huge-gummed Dennis. Still, I felt the "lost in NY hell" story was much better and sympathetically told, as well as more funny in Martin Scorscese's superior "After Hours".

Another Classic American Comedy.
THE OUT-OF-TOWNERS was written by Neil Simon and remains one of his best works, even though Simon is mainly a playwrite. The movie starts off fairly slow and uneventful as George and Gwen Kellerman, from Twin Oaks, Ohio, are flying to New York where George has an interview (just mere formality) for a vice presidency. They are expecting to eat dinner at 8:30pm at the Four Seasons, but they never see the inside of that famous eating establishment. Instead, the plane circles for hours and ends up going to Boston because of fog. Once in Boston their luggage is lost, they miss the train to New York, and catch the train to New York. Once in the Big Apple, they find that the city is in the middle of transit and garbage collectors strikes. In the pouring rain they walk to their hotel only to find that their room wasn't held and has been given away. Later the couple are mugged, kidnapped, and George is mugged in his sleep. Having not eaten for several hours and with no money they chase a stray dog for a breakfast of a half-eaten box of Cracker Jacks. More chases follow and they are even kicked out of praying in a church because of a televised special. George eventually does make his morning meeting, but by then has learned some very important lessons about family and the simple life back home in Twin Oaks, Ohio.

Jack Lemmon is great in this movie, but I find it's Sandy Dennis who really steals the film. She plays Gwen perfectly, brilliantly foiling Lemmon's performance as the loud and boistorous George. The "O, my God" line, which signals a major worry by Gwen, keeps me laughing every time I hear it.

THE-OUT-OF-TOWNERS is a very witty comedy and one of Neil Simon's finest pieces of writing. It's a great movie to watch alone or with family and friends. It's relatively short (around 90 minutes), too, so even if you don't enjoy it, you won't have wasted much time. ... Read more

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When Kate "Ma" Barker (Shelley Winters) robs a bank with her four beloved sons, she's got a great opening line: "We're gonna play Simon Says, and this," she says, pointing to her Tommy gun, "is Simon." You gotta love the ol' broad's moxie, and you gotta love this Roger Corman classic for serving it up so shamelessly. Capitalizing on the impact of Bonnie and Clyde while adding the more perversely exploitative elements of Corman's drive-in fare, this Depression-era shoot-'em-up is prime viewing for its early appearance by Robert De Niro (making his fifth film) and Corman stalwarts like Don Stroud, but it's Winters's over-the-top portrayal of Ma Barker (very loosely based on fact) that gives the movie its rather unseemly edge. Alternately sharing her bed with each of her sons (as if they were teddy bears made for her incestuous pleasure), and twisting morality to suit the needs of her homicidal brood, this gun-toting matriarch is a deviously amusing detour on Winters's weight-gaining road to The Poseidon Adventure.

The movie gains character from its rural Arkansas locations, but the redneck flavor is entirely theatrical, and while De Niro learns to shine for the camera, his performance as glue-sniffing, dope-shooting Lloyd Barker shows hints of future stardom. Corman gets good work from the entire cast, in fact, even if his formula calls for sex, violence, or vice every 10 minutes. And while it would be a mistake to elevate Bloody Mama above its trashy aspirations, it certainly earns its place among such '70s gangster fodder as Big Bad Mama and Boxcar Bertha. Made at a time when movies were enjoying their liberation from the confines of good taste, Bloody Mama is an enjoyable wallow in bad taste. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

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Young Robert DeNiro gives great performance
Not only is this movie highly entertaining and well acted, but it features a teenage Robert DeNiro as the glue sniffing son of Shelly Winters. Great performances from all the cast. The story is exciting and succeeds in portraying an engaging psychological profile of this very bizarre family. ... Read more

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It helps to have one of history's greatest scoops as your factual inspiration, but journalism thrillers just don't get any better than All the President's Men. Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford are perfectly matched as (respectively) Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, whose investigation into the Watergate scandal set the stage for President Richard Nixon's eventual resignation. Their bestselling exposé was brilliantly adapted by screenwriter William Goldman, and director Alan Pakula crafted the film into one of the most intelligent and involving of the 1970s paranoid thrillers. Featuring Jason Robards in his Oscar-winning role as Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee, All the President's Men is the film against which all other journalism movies must be measured. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (66)

Their obsession for a good story brought down a president
This Oscar winning 1976 film is about Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, the two Washington Post reporters who broke the biggest story of the 1970's - that of the Watergate scandal. It originally seemed like a small story, a break-in at the Democratic headquarters, but because of these two young men doggedly going after the facts, it brought down a president.

Starring Dustin Hoffman as the chain-smoking and quirky Bernstein, and Robert Redford as the more sophisticated Woodward, there is a chemistry between them which gave them the impetus to push way beyond the limits of what the story required, and as one discovery led to another, build on the accumulated details to go even further. Both the men were good at sizing up people, and the film shows how, in one interview after another, they got each interviewee to reveal those details that could fit into the king-size puzzle that they had taken on. Martin Balsam, cast as the managing editor, wanted to give the job to more senior reporters, but as Jack Warden, the metro editor, pointed out, the two young men had a passion for the story that was very special. Jason Robards, the executive editor, was quick to question all their facts, but generally supported them all the way.

Throughout, there are lots of shots of the massiveness of the tall buildings in contrast to the smallness of the men. And, when it came to the secret informer who they called "Deep Throat", those scenes were cast in shadow. The pacing was excellent and the there was tension throughout, which kept me fascinated even though I knew the eventual outcome. This story became an obsession with the two reporters and it seemed as if nothing would stop them. Occasionally, it got a bit repetitive, but that is the nature of good reporting, which can also be called good detective work.

The film brought back the reality of the 1970s, from the hairstyles to the manual typewriters. I found myself thinking about the cell phones and computers we take for granted today, as I watched them pour through phone directories as well as thousands of library take-out slips as they followed up on every clue. The acting, of course, was excellent as well the screenplay, which focused entirely on the news story, rather than becoming maudlin with the personal lives of the men. I give this film a high recommendation. It's definitely worth seeing.

A timeless historic piece
Absolutely shameful that "Rocky" beat out this Oscar nominee as Best Picture. "All the President's Men" is the faithful big screen treatment of the same-name book by the Washington Post reporting duo that dug deeply enough into the Watergate burglary that it led to the downfall of the Nixon Administration. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, each in some of their best work of their careers, portray their real-life counterparts not only as journalists but with the human frustration they undoubtedly felt while chipping away at what at first couldn't be predicted to become a major event in American history. Just what was at stake for the country is best delivered by the late Jason Robards in his role as Post editor Ben Bradlee, a performance that got Robards one of two back-to-back Best Supporting Oscars ("Julia" was the other). We even get to see Deep Throat. He's Hal Holbrook but, for reasons that still exist, we don't know who he really is and how he has obvious insider knowledge. Read the book by Woodward and Bernstein first, though, for an appreciation of the faithfulness of the movie to its subject. Not only is "All the President's Men" riveting entertainment, it's a vital historical reference. How "Rocky" beat it out for Best Picture ought to be deemed one of those Academy embarrassments.

Re-birth of a Nation
"All the President's Men" is the well-made movie about the political fiasco known as "Watergate". Watergate remains the biggest political mess in American history and it led to the resignation of president Richard "I am not a crook" Nixon.

The movie has big stars, including Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford as the two Washington Post reporters who begin to unearth the story about the break-in at the Watergate hotel and subsequently piece together the details that implicate a long list of top politicians.

The intriguing story is helped by supporting actors Jason Robards, Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, and Hal Holbrook who plays "Deep Throat", the still-unidentified informant who guided Woodward and Bernstein along the trail of information.

The DVD includes text-based cast/crew info, casting notes, location info, a bit about "Deep Thoat", a chronology of the Watergate activity, and a list of awards which include 4 oscars.

If you don't know much about the circumstances surrounding Watergate, this is a good place to start.

A 70's Time capsule.
Nixon resigned on my older sister's 4th birthday. The actual Watergate incident took place exactly one day shy of two monthes before I was born. For my parents its something they lived through. For me, it's American History. This movie is quintessential 70's. Redford, Hackman and tricky dick. Every 70's time capsule should have a copy of this movie tucked inside a folded brown dinner jacket. Even if you don't believe a word of it, you have to admit ATPM is tremendously well made and entertaining. All the cloak and dagger sneaking around, the high-pressure newsroom meetings, the breathless interviews and the clandestine deep throat meetings are perfect Cold War/X-Files/Michael Moore conspiracy theory what-iffing. The truth is out there: Nixon not only knew, he authorized the Watergate break-in it, Reagan knew about and authorized the Iran-Contra arms sales arangement, Clinton lied and he meant to lie, aliens are alive and well among us, and George W. Bush and Co. used 9-11 as an excuse for the hostile and unwarranted takeover of a sovereign nation for it's oil. And so on. Great stuff.

THEN REDFORD MADE THE KENNEDY-STOLE-1960-ELECTION MOVIE??
"All the President's Men", based on the book by Woodward and Bernstein, was impossible to resist for Redford. Nixon! Oh boy! Again, Hollywood passed up the Kennedy-stole-the-election story. What a shock! You have to hand it to these guys, though; they have talent. "President's" was masterful, thanks in large part to Goldman, who knew how to condense the story. Redford tried to play it close to the vest, and comes close to making it come off as straight and narrow. The actual truth portrayed betrays the lack of objectivity, however, at the Washington Post. Redford is Bob Woodward, a former Navy officer and a Republican. This is revealed to Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) who gives him a furtive look upon learning this shocking truth. Jason Robards is Ben Bradlee, the Post's editor. We all know the story: The DNC is broken into by Cubans with White House phone numbers in their address books, and in investigating the burglary Woodward and Bernstein suspect a larger plot, which they uncover through dogged journalism that cannot be denied. The two writers are shown to be complete heroes. Hal Halbrooke plays "Deep Throat", the White House insider who gives Woodward the leads he needs to keep investigating. To this day his identity is unknown, and it remains entirely plausible that he was invented out of whole cloth.
The story is the story, and there is no room for liberal bias in that. To Redford's credit, he does not demonize the Republicans or sermonize. Implicit threat against the pair are made, but not expanded into anything. G. Gordon Liddy did volunteer to "off" Jack Anderson for revealing CIA assets in the U.S.S.R., but there is no evidence that Nixon's Republicans ever thought about blowing Woodward and Bernstein away. Domestic political murders, as best as I can tell, are the province of the Democrats. Even in Oliver Stone's "JFK", it is Lyndon Johnson who supposedly was in on the plan to kill the President.
The bias in "All the President's Men" is subliminal, but leave it to yours truly to see it. First, there is the acronym CREEP, which stands for Committee to Re-elect the President. There have been numerous such committees over he years, and they always go by the acronym CRP. But Woodward and Bernstein turned it into CREEP. Gotcha. There is also a scene in which Bradlee, who in real life was a drinking buddy (and God knows what else) of Kennedy's, getting the news that the story is progressing and has real legs.
"You run that baby," he tells Woodward and Bernstein, then does little jig as he leaves the office. This is telling. Redford and director Alan Pakula allowed it, probably because it let them impart their own happiness over Nixon's downfall through the character. In another scene, Robards/Bradlee tells the reporters, "There's not much riding on this. Just the First Amendment and the Constitution of the United States."
Now just hoooold on there, Ben. Was Watergate really about the Constitution? Was that august document threatened? This begs the question, Where was Bradlee and Post publisher Katherine Graham when the Constitution really was threatened by their pal JFK, who stole the 1960 election? Where were they when their pal Bobby Kennedy was wiretapping Martin Luther King? Democrat operatives had to break into homes, hotels and offices to wiretap Dr. King just as the Plumbers had to break into Dr. Fielding's office, and Larry O'Brien's. A free press is undoubtedly the cornerstone of Democracy, but it functions best when it is not populated by over-inflated egos who think they are the soul arbiter of freedom of expression.

STEVEN TRAVERS
AUTHOR OF "BARRY BONDS: BASEBALL'S SUPERMAN"
STWRITES@AOL.COM ... Read more

Reviews (22)

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!
Okay now that my Brady colors have been revealed let me say Marsha Mason is the best part of this. I bought this b/c of the great Anthony Hopkins but honestly, in this picture he is upstaged. Marsha Masons performance even rivals the great performance of Ellen Burstyn in the Exorsist. Still, the movie has a few too many weak points to be great.

Most notably, the courtroom scenes. This case would be thrown out, no doubt about it. The jury would have no evidence they could examine out in the open and even having the scenes in the movie sorely undermines the credibility of the story.

The husband is decent, a bit overbearing, now lets discuss Ivy. She has the serious look of someone who should star in this type of movie. A real odd look that is beautiful and yet ... well, odd. But the sound direction is totally off. The dubbing used here for her "drop-outs" is so noticable. Just about every line she has has been obviously overdubbed, and poorly, it comes off as a strange "whine". Still, even with this Ivy/Audry has a sort of timeless quality about it.

Everything about the movie technically is good. The soundtrack has some spooky elements in it but never really approaches greatness. The dvd has a trailer (whoopie!) but nothing else which is a downer for anyone who owns Carrie. Still, it's the story I've always been drawn too when I think of Audrey Rose and the sort of ambiguous ending which I personally like, I think it's held up pretty well. If we could give 1/2 stars bump this to 3.5. Give me some interviews and a remastered soundtrack and this could be a 4 easily.

Quite a good little horror film
One of Anthony Hopkins first major films where he plays the grief stricken father of a child who was tragically killed in a car accident, burnt to death before she could be rescued. This is a slow moving film that follows Hopkins as he tries to convince Marsha Mason that her daughter Ivy is in fact the reincarnation of his child Audrey Rose. Despite some terrible reviews from critics, this is a chilling little film that tries to look at the concept of reincarnation intelligently whilst at same time maintaining its momentum as a horror story. There are some great moments such as the window episode when Ivy/Audrey Rose relives her attempt to get out of the burning car. I kept hearing "HOT HOT HOT" for days after watching the film, so all credit to then newcomer Susan Swift who played the reincarnated child Audrey Rose/Ivy. Hopkins and Mason are convincing as the respective parents of Audrey Rose/Ivy and though the film isn't a masterpiece of direction and cinematography it is still is a very good film. The final scene where Ivy/Audrey Rose is regressed back to her "first" death is both poignant and heart wrenching. Not bad for a film made in 1977 and certainly better than many of its critics have made out.

things of soul also fails in cinema
I don't think this is an terrific film as commonly catalogued. It's a fable about reincarnation as believed in Hindu religion and not so badly conceived although contains a basic failure. Audrey Rose, a little girl eleven years old has disturbing nightmares that worsen progressively. Furthermore his parents are alarmed because a man are watching her. The explanation is this man had years ago a daughter killed in a car accident and he believes Audrey Rose is truly a undue premature reincarnation of her daughter and these is the origin of the strange crises Audrey suffers. Audrey isn't posessed by any devil, simply she expects a better life. Well I find one uses to think things from beyond the grave can't have these defects more own of carnal, human incapacity.

BORN 1959....DIED 1964.....BORN 1964....
Audrey Rose. Who or what is Audrey Rose? Is it a demon? Is it a ghost? No. Audrey Rose a little girl. A little girl who died a tragic death and maybe living in another body of another girl......

Meet the Templetons. Janice and Bill. They live in a high-class New York apartment building with their 11-year-old daughter, Ivy. Suddenly, Ivy's personality has changed. She's not acting 11. But acting like a 5 year old. And she's been having a sleepwalking problem too. She'll get up (though, obviously sleeping) and run around her room screaming "Mommydaddymommydaddyhot!hot!hot!" and has even scorched her hands on some invisible hot fire.

Enter Elliot Hoover. A middle aged mysterious man who follows Janice and Ivy home from school every day. But he stays far behind them. Every day, Janice worries that the mysterious man is going to attack her.

One day, Elliot finally gets the chance to tell Janice and Bill something that has been bothering him. He believes that their daughter Ivy is a reincarnation of his dead child, Audrey Rose. You see, she was in the car that his wife was driving when it skidded off the road and into a ditch below where it caught on fire.He tells them that he moved into town around around the same time that Ivy has had her night fits. Suddenly, from the upstairs of their apartment, Ivy has another fit, screaming "Mommydaddymommydaddyhot!hot!hot!" The Templeton's are horrified to discover that the only way to calm her down is for Hoover to say "Audrey! Audrey Rose! It's daddy! It's daddy!" until she falls asleep peacefully. The Templeton's tell Hoover not to return to their apartment and to leave them alone.

After countless attemps to contact the Templeton's, Elliot kidnaps Ivy and is arrested. During a court battle, Ivy is taken away from her regular school and is brought to a Catholic Elementary where there will be no reports covering the possible "reincarnated girl". During that time, Ivy is upset because all the girls tease her after sneeking in a newspaper with Ivy on the front. During a special holiday event at the school, the children build a gigantic snowman and dance around it singing "Old man winter go away! Don't come back till Christmas day" Ivy is forced by Audrey Rose to walk into the fire and kill herself, but is stopped by a nun. Meanwhile, the trial is still going on and a witness who was in the car accident (the trial is now about reincarnation and if Elliot was right) said the last words she heard Audrey Rose say was "Mommydaddymommydaddyhot!hot!hot!".

Ivy is taken out of the school and Janice believes that Ivy is really Audrey Rose from the second she was born. Bill doesn't. Elliot is found "Innocent" and Janice agrees to Elliot's decision to put her under hypnosis to see what she can remember. It is done live on tv. Suddenly, Janice is startled when they go back in Ivy's memory to discover Audrey Rose yelling "Hot!Hot!Hot!Hot!Hot!Hot!Hot!Hot!Hot!" constantly. They try to take her off the hypnosis quickly, because if she doesn't snap out of it soon: she'll die.

RECCOMENDED TO FANS OF:
The Exorcist (1973)
The Omen (1976)
Rosemary's Baby (1968)

CAST

Marsha Mason......Janice Templeton
John Beck.............Bill Templeton
Anthony Hopkins..Elliot Hoover
Susan Swift..........Ivy Templeton

THE MOVIE 3/4

THE PICTURE QUALITY: 6/10: Some sparkles. It's presented in a matted 1.85:1 widescreen transfer.

THE AUDIO QUALITY: 6/10: Mono soundtrack. There is Spanish and French language tracks, both mono as well. Dolby Digital.

THE SPECIAL FEATURE: A teaser trailer. Too bad it wasn't a full trailer however, it uses only a few seconds of scenes from the movie. Runs about 19 seconds long.

SUBTITLES: French and Spanish.

A Good Little Thriller About Reincarnation!
Audrey Rose is a good little thriller about reincarnation. it's not scary in a horror movie sort of way like The Excorcist or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre so if you are looking for a movie about demon possession or a movie with lots of blood, guts and decapitations than this aint your flick but if you like stories about reincarnation than this just may be the flick for you! Audrey Rose is more what I would call psychological Suspense and drama then horror and I enjoyed watching it and I thought the girl who played Ivy was really good. And it also stars Anthony Hopkins who is brilliant as Eliot Hoover and Marsha Mason also turns in a great performance as Ivy's mother Janice. ... Read more

Reviews (22)

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!
Okay now that my Brady colors have been revealed let me say Marsha Mason is the best part of this. I bought this b/c of the great Anthony Hopkins but honestly, in this picture he is upstaged. Marsha Masons performance even rivals the great performance of Ellen Burstyn in the Exorsist. Still, the movie has a few too many weak points to be great.

Most notably, the courtroom scenes. This case would be thrown out, no doubt about it. The jury would have no evidence they could examine out in the open and even having the scenes in the movie sorely undermines the credibility of the story.

The husband is decent, a bit overbearing, now lets discuss Ivy. She has the serious look of someone who should star in this type of movie. A real odd look that is beautiful and yet ... well, odd. But the sound direction is totally off. The dubbing used here for her "drop-outs" is so noticable. Just about every line she has has been obviously overdubbed, and poorly, it comes off as a strange "whine". Still, even with this Ivy/Audry has a sort of timeless quality about it.

Everything about the movie technically is good. The soundtrack has some spooky elements in it but never really approaches greatness. The dvd has a trailer (whoopie!) but nothing else which is a downer for anyone who owns Carrie. Still, it's the story I've always been drawn too when I think of Audrey Rose and the sort of ambiguous ending which I personally like, I think it's held up pretty well. If we could give 1/2 stars bump this to 3.5. Give me some interviews and a remastered soundtrack and this could be a 4 easily.

Quite a good little horror film
One of Anthony Hopkins first major films where he plays the grief stricken father of a child who was tragically killed in a car accident, burnt to death before she could be rescued. This is a slow moving film that follows Hopkins as he tries to convince Marsha Mason that her daughter Ivy is in fact the reincarnation of his child Audrey Rose. Despite some terrible reviews from critics, this is a chilling little film that tries to look at the concept of reincarnation intelligently whilst at same time maintaining its momentum as a horror story. There are some great moments such as the window episode when Ivy/Audrey Rose relives her attempt to get out of the burning car. I kept hearing "HOT HOT HOT" for days after watching the film, so all credit to then newcomer Susan Swift who played the reincarnated child Audrey Rose/Ivy. Hopkins and Mason are convincing as the respective parents of Audrey Rose/Ivy and though the film isn't a masterpiece of direction and cinematography it is still is a very good film. The final scene where Ivy/Audrey Rose is regressed back to her "first" death is both poignant and heart wrenching. Not bad for a film made in 1977 and certainly better than many of its critics have made out.

things of soul also fails in cinema
I don't think this is an terrific film as commonly catalogued. It's a fable about reincarnation as believed in Hindu religion and not so badly conceived although contains a basic failure. Audrey Rose, a little girl eleven years old has disturbing nightmares that worsen progressively. Furthermore his parents are alarmed because a man are watching her. The explanation is this man had years ago a daughter killed in a car accident and he believes Audrey Rose is truly a undue premature reincarnation of her daughter and these is the origin of the strange crises Audrey suffers. Audrey isn't posessed by any devil, simply she expects a better life. Well I find one uses to think things from beyond the grave can't have these defects more own of carnal, human incapacity.

BORN 1959....DIED 1964.....BORN 1964....
Audrey Rose. Who or what is Audrey Rose? Is it a demon? Is it a ghost? No. Audrey Rose a little girl. A little girl who died a tragic death and maybe living in another body of another girl......

Meet the Templetons. Janice and Bill. They live in a high-class New York apartment building with their 11-year-old daughter, Ivy. Suddenly, Ivy's personality has changed. She's not acting 11. But acting like a 5 year old. And she's been having a sleepwalking problem too. She'll get up (though, obviously sleeping) and run around her room screaming "Mommydaddymommydaddyhot!hot!hot!" and has even scorched her hands on some invisible hot fire.

Enter Elliot Hoover. A middle aged mysterious man who follows Janice and Ivy home from school every day. But he stays far behind them. Every day, Janice worries that the mysterious man is going to attack her.

One day, Elliot finally gets the chance to tell Janice and Bill something that has been bothering him. He believes that their daughter Ivy is a reincarnation of his dead child, Audrey Rose. You see, she was in the car that his wife was driving when it skidded off the road and into a ditch below where it caught on fire.He tells them that he moved into town around around the same time that Ivy has had her night fits. Suddenly, from the upstairs of their apartment, Ivy has another fit, screaming "Mommydaddymommydaddyhot!hot!hot!" The Templeton's are horrified to discover that the only way to calm her down is for Hoover to say "Audrey! Audrey Rose! It's daddy! It's daddy!" until she falls asleep peacefully. The Templeton's tell Hoover not to return to their apartment and to leave them alone.

After countless attemps to contact the Templeton's, Elliot kidnaps Ivy and is arrested. During a court battle, Ivy is taken away from her regular school and is brought to a Catholic Elementary where there will be no reports covering the possible "reincarnated girl". During that time, Ivy is upset because all the girls tease her after sneeking in a newspaper with Ivy on the front. During a special holiday event at the school, the children build a gigantic snowman and dance around it singing "Old man winter go away! Don't come back till Christmas day" Ivy is forced by Audrey Rose to walk into the fire and kill herself, but is stopped by a nun. Meanwhile, the trial is still going on and a witness who was in the car accident (the trial is now about reincarnation and if Elliot was right) said the last words she heard Audrey Rose say was "Mommydaddymommydaddyhot!hot!hot!".

Ivy is taken out of the school and Janice believes that Ivy is really Audrey Rose from the second she was born. Bill doesn't. Elliot is found "Innocent" and Janice agrees to Elliot's decision to put her under hypnosis to see what she can remember. It is done live on tv. Suddenly, Janice is startled when they go back in Ivy's memory to discover Audrey Rose yelling "Hot!Hot!Hot!Hot!Hot!Hot!Hot!Hot!Hot!" constantly. They try to take her off the hypnosis quickly, because if she doesn't snap out of it soon: she'll die.

RECCOMENDED TO FANS OF:
The Exorcist (1973)
The Omen (1976)
Rosemary's Baby (1968)

CAST

Marsha Mason......Janice Templeton
John Beck.............Bill Templeton
Anthony Hopkins..Elliot Hoover
Susan Swift..........Ivy Templeton

THE MOVIE 3/4

THE PICTURE QUALITY: 6/10: Some sparkles. It's presented in a matted 1.85:1 widescreen transfer.

THE AUDIO QUALITY: 6/10: Mono soundtrack. There is Spanish and French language tracks, both mono as well. Dolby Digital.

THE SPECIAL FEATURE: A teaser trailer. Too bad it wasn't a full trailer however, it uses only a few seconds of scenes from the movie. Runs about 19 seconds long.

SUBTITLES: French and Spanish.

A Good Little Thriller About Reincarnation!
Audrey Rose is a good little thriller about reincarnation. it's not scary in a horror movie sort of way like The Excorcist or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre so if you are looking for a movie about demon possession or a movie with lots of blood, guts and decapitations than this aint your flick but if you like stories about reincarnation than this just may be the flick for you! Audrey Rose is more what I would call psychological Suspense and drama then horror and I enjoyed watching it and I thought the girl who played Ivy was really good. And it also stars Anthony Hopkins who is brilliant as Eliot Hoover and Marsha Mason also turns in a great performance as Ivy's mother Janice. ... Read more

Reviews (46)

A Good Yarn
Suprisingly, I saw this movie for the first time just a few short days ago, even though I was old enough to have seen it when it hit the theaters. A shame I let it go so long.

At the beginning of this movie, three astronauts (played by James Brolin, Sam Waterston, and O.J. Simpson) are pulled from a space flight destined for Mars. There was something wrong with the life-support system. The director of the space program (Hal Holbrook) says that they can't afford for the flight to be cancelled, so the three astronauts are coerced through threats to go through with a fake landing filmed on a closed base.

A reporter (Elliot Gould) talks with a friend (Robert Walden) who claims there is something mysterious going on with the flight. Immediately after this revelation, the friend disappears with no trace of him having ever existed. The reorter begins a quest to find out what is going on.

Meanwhile, the now unmanned spaceship burns up on re-entry. This means that except for the three astronauts and few head people in the space program, everyone else thinks they're all dead. This leads to the exciting last half of the movie.

A similar conspiracy theory (held mostly by extreme nutcases) revolves around our own moon shots, but this movie makes the plot an extremely good way to pass a couple of hours.

All the President's Nasa Men
A nifty adventure that fits in well with many of the 1970's paranoid thrillers (i.e. Marathon Man, Three Days of the Condor, etc.).CAPRICORN ONE stars James Brolin (THE AMITYVILLE HORROR, WESTWORLD), Sam Waterson (tv's LAW AND ORDER), and O.J. Simpson (THE NAKED GUN) as the three astronauts who reluctantly agree to stage a fake landing on Mars when Nasa determines the mission is unsafe and that the government does not want anymore failures. However, the astronaut's attitude does not sit well with an unscrupulous mission controller Dr. James Kelloway (Hal Holbrook-MAGNUM FORCE) and plans to kill them. Then, they must escape and expose the truth. Director Peter Hyams (2010: THE YEAR WE MAKE CONTACT,TIMECOP) does a pretty good job in the suspense and action while handling a delicate and very interesting plot. Good support roles especially Eliot Gould as the investigative reporter trying to find the truth, Brenda Vaccaro as one of the astronauts wives, David Doyle (tv's CHARLIE'S ANGELS' 'Bosley'), Robert Walden (tv's LOU GRANT, SHIRTS/SKINS) and Telly Savalas.

Underground Classic for Conspiracy Buffs
If this wasn't the original Black Helicopters movie, it sure went a long way toward immortalizing that aviatory image as a sure sign of evil government conspiracies. On a personal note, I remember it for two things -- seeing it on a Sunday afternoon with my Dad on the best weekend we spent together of my pre-teen years; and first hearing the "black guy dies first" movie custom from Dad.

The plot is simple and, at the time, rather chilling. Remember, it was only nine years after the 1969 moon landing, even less after Vietnam lies began coming to light and four years after Watergate climaxed with Nixon's resignation. Also, it's one year after the Viking unmanned craft landed on Mars.

The first manned mission to Mars has a wee bit of a problem -- a life support system that was too cheap and discovered too late. NASA needs this mission to be successful with no glitches to keep its considerable funding amidst dying interest in the space program. Solution? Fake the mission! Hal Holbrook explains all this to astronauts James Brolin, Sam Waterston and O.J. Simpson (there were athletic black actors who could ACT in the 1970s, but the trend was to use famous and semi-famous jocks. Probably has something to do with Q ratings and bankability). Holbrook persuades them to go along in a manner that makes you ask "Are the government or major corporations such as the aerospace industry siblings, distant cousins, kissing cousins or incestuous siblings with the Mafia?"

All is well until technology and the astronauts begin little rebellions that hint this mission isn't exactly a space oddity. This puts Eliott Gould, a newspaper guy always foolishly swinging for the fence sexually and professionally, on the case. Unlike others, I think the part as written called for Gould, someone who could flow between drama and comedy seamlessly.

So you've got Gould doing his Scooby Gang thing and the whole months long fakery being pulled off when there's another wee problem on reentry. That sets up the last third to half of the movie when we get black helicopters, snake lunches and Telly Savalas.

Not a great flick for the quality cast involved (Gould, Waterston, Holbrook, Denise Nicholas, Robert Walden) but a good one. It does drag in some spots. The DVD doesn't have enough extras to be a great DVD or even a good one -- no commentaries, just some production notes. I bought it just because I wanted the movie. I'm not sorry I did, but the DVD package is still disappointing.

An uneven film, still worth the effort
In many ways, Capricorn One is a quissential example of a '70s action film. The film tells the story of the first manned spaceflight to Mars and the three dedicated pioneers (played by James Brolin, Sam Waterston, and O.J. Simpson -- and yes, it is impossible to watch the film without thinking about Simpson's most recent role) who bring hope to a cynical country by conquering the Red Planet. The only problem, of course, is that the whole thing is a fake. The three men are actually in a hastily constructed studio in the middle of a barren desert and their spacecraft is empty as it journeys through space and time. As implausible as this plot may sound, the film actually goes to the trouble to make the reasoning behind this plot believable and it even goes to the trouble to provide some humanity to the plot's mastermind, a NASA official played by Hal Holbrook. Because the film actually takes the time to set up the situation, it remains compelling even when that empty spacecraft happens to burn up on reentry, meaning that -- in order for the three spacemen to remain martyrs and for NASA to continue to get funding -- they have to die in reality as well. As the three men try to escape across the barren desert (pursued by three very ominous helicopters -- never has a sinister government conspiracy ever looked so realistically sinister), a reporter played by Elliott Gould slowly starts to uncover the conspiracy and soon his life is in danger as well.

While the basic plot itself is similar to quite a few recent action films, what distinguished Capricorn One is that the film -- made while the nation, still feeling the pain of Watergate and Viet Nam, was still getting used to not being able to trust the government -- plays this story totally straight. Neither of the film's leads (Brolin and Gould) manage to get off a single smirky one-liner in the style of our modern action heroes and the film makes it painstakingly clear that neither one of them is invulnerable. Brolin's trek through the desert is almost painful to watch (at one point, nearly dead of dehydration, Brolin very graphically kills and eats a rattlesnake -- a scene that would verge on disgusting if it wasn't obvious that Brolin's life depends on his actions). As for Gould, he has a wonderful scene in which he discovers that his car's breaks have been tamepered with and the entire sequence of his car racing out of control down the streets of Houston before eventually plunging off a bridge is almost totally shot from his point of view -- it's a scary sequence that is well-directed and if it's conclusion seems a little far fetched, the build-up is almost equal to the famous car chase in The French Connection.

That said, this is not a perfect film. Director/Writer Peter Hyams allows quite a few scenes to go on a bit too long. (The film is full of quirky characters but occasionally, the spend so long being quirky that it becomes obvious that they're there for no other purpose other than to show off that quirk.) This is a two hour film that would have been better if it had been thirty minutes shorter. The film has a clever script but far too many scenes (especially of Gould's character trying to figure out the conspiracy) seem to repeat each other for no basic reason other than the lack of a good editor. The performances are a mixed bag. Gould does a good job for the most part except for a few scenes when he was seems to be chanelling Dustin Hoffman from All The President's Men. As for the three astronaughts, their characters aren't strong developed beyond a few identifying quirks -- Brolin is the heroic one, Waterston is the funny one, and Simpson -- well, he doesn't really get any identifying quirks beyond being O.J. Simpson. Of the three, only Waterston gives a memorable performance and this is largely because he gets the funny lines. Brolin is -- well, he's Brolin, vaguely likeable but mostly dull. Simpson's performance is a typical O.J. Simpson performance -- he seems to be trying really hard to excel at something that he has no talent at. You'd almost feel sorry for him if he wasn't O.J.

As far as the supporting roles are concerned, there's a lot of familiar faces and it's a mixed bag. Both Karen Black and Telly Savalas put in what the credits assure us are "special appearances." Black is occasionally amusing even if her character serves no real purpose while Savalas manages to bring the film to a dead stop by wildly overplaying a role that one hopes was meant to be comic relief but, which in the end, just serves as a very annoying distraction. On the plus side, Brenda Vaccaro is sympathetic and compelling as Brolin's wife and the undderrated Denise Nichols has one good scene as Simpson's wife -- one almost regrets that the crew of Capricorn One had to be male as Vacarro and Nichols give the type of performances that should have come from Brolin and Simpson. However, the film's greatest performance is given by the great Hal Holbrook who, instead of playing an outright, melodramatic villian, instead plays a human being who, for good reasons, does some truly evil things. Indeed, the film's main strength is Holbrook's villian who serves as a great testament to what can happen when idealism gives way to self-righteousness. By the film's end, you may hate Holbrook but you never cease to understand him and even mourn the person he used to be.

Capricorn One is a flawed film and it's a dated film but it is still a film that is worth seeing for both it's nostalgia value (Yes, Virginia, there actually was a time when journalists were considered heroes) and for an example of a believable and compelling action film.

Plays to the "Moon Landing Was a Hoax" crowd

Good entertainment. It plays on the old "the moon landing was all a giant hoax" conspiracy theory. There are people who still believe that, and this film is built on the same plot. The trip to Mars was a failure, and so the "power brokers" stage it with real astronauts who have to be killed in the end, and movie and television tricks.

Hal Holbrook plays the heavy (bad government guy in charge of the hoax, including killing folks). Elliott Gould is the plucky young reporter (Caulfield) who is being set up by the government because he knows too much, and suspects more than he knows. The three astronauts are played by James Brolin, O.J. Simpson and a young Sam Waterson. They are supposed to be killed when their heat shield fails on re-entry (to avoid any embarrassing leaks later), but they escape from their southwest location. Even Telly Savalas gets a part in the solution, as Elliott Gould closes in on the bad (read "government") guys who are caught red-handed in their hoax on the gullible American people (aren't they always?).

This film has the whole schmeer, including the black helicopters, bad politicians (probably Republicans, of course), car chases, gun battles from airplanes, and the bad guys getting their comeuppance in the end.

It's good entertainment.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre

author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books

... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

Paddy Chayefsky (Marty) wrote the script for this 1971 film that mixes--in Chayefsky tradition--absurdist satire with a touching, almost wistful love story. George C. Scott plays a cynical doctor battling bureaucratic superstructures on the one hand and hippie-dippy flakiness among some patients on the other. When he falls for an eccentric young woman (Diana Rigg) with an alternative view on everything, the road to liberation from burdensome responsibilities seems to open before him. Director Arthur Hiller (Love Story) doesn't do much more than bring the screenplay to life, though he does create a persuasive sense of urban chaos in the setting. Scott gives a good, thoughtful performance. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (19)

The Hospital plus 33 years
Its amazing to look back and view this film again to see how " we made out"!

Well we didnt! "The Hospital" underscores the malaise that was beginning in the early 70,s in hospitals. That malaise has now spread into a full blown epidemic. Today, 2004, the hospital,mostly any hospital is one of the most dangerous places to reside in.

They are unhealthy,replete with staff shortages, racked with mal practice suits, hammered by HMO's subverted by medicare rules and regulations and emeregency rooms that are packed with aliens getting their initial health care!

This film shows how organized mayhem effects health care and converts that to disorginized health care. George C. Scott is totally defeated physician who is rejuvenated by the allure of Diana Rigg( who wouldnt be) Its too late for Scott and many of the patients that fall to DR. Wellbeck's unsteady hands or Bernard Hughes' philosophy.

In the end Scott stays on in his quagmire sort of like a Capt who chooses to go down with his ship.

Unrelenting and terrific film hits all the marks so get ready!

CP

The star is successful, but the script dies
Only a volcanic performance by George C. Scott keeps `The Hospital' alive once Paddy Chayefsy's script flatlines.
The blackly comic set-up of the movie's first half _ a large urban hospital whose crass staff is dying off along with its hapless patients _ yields to smug moralizing in the second half and a ludicrous denouement.
As it unravels, `The Hospital' plays like a half-baked sketch for Chayefsky's far superior `Network,' and viewers looking for satire are better directed to that movie.
Still, in misanthropic medical director Dr. Herbert Bock, Scott has a character that allows him to give full vent to his talents as well as to Chayefsky's middle-class, white male rants.
Estranged from his family, curt with associates, overwhelmed by his job, Bock begins the movie one jolt short of suicide. That comes as other inhabitants of his institution beging dying off, in what seem to be hilarious if horrifying accidents.
But in the first of Chayefsky's major blunders, the good doctor's salavation arrives in the form of a free-spirited Southwestern hippie chick, played by Diana Rigg in an odd bit of casting.
After seeing this movie, Rigg talked about the difficulty of watching oneself on-screen. That's true figuratively and literally here. Her character is written not as a person but as middle-aged male wish fulfillment.
`The girl,' Barbara Drummond, mouths psycho-babble. Supposedly caring for her comatose father, she wanders around the hospital braless, her shirt unbuttoned to the waist. Rather than sexy, it seems witless and looks sexless on the utterly undeveloped Diana Rigg.
Wardrobe failures aside, at least Rigg has a semblance of a role. That's more than can be said of an estimable supporting cast that includes Barnard Hughes and Nancy Marchand.
There's only room for one person in Chayefsky's script, and that's his mouthpiece, Bock. It's to Scott's great credit that he makes his every moment on screen riveting. Fans will want to rent this movie. Others will want treatment afterward.

Schizoid
Schizophrenic film that can't decide whether it's Playhouse 90 or Airplane!. In one corner are Scott and Chayevsky making with the intense psychological realism and some really powerful moments; in the other is chaotic urban hospital laboring at zany gallows humor with a few scattered laughs. In between is director Hiller hoping for single workable whole. Result is awkward pastiche that doesn't live up to super-rich potential. Film is object lesson in how miscasting of even top-notch talent can produce disappointment. I keep wishing gifted amateurs like Zucker Bros. & Jim Abrams had gotten hold of idea first. Sure, Scott is great actor, but he's so authentic he overwhelms ambient efforts at satire; yes, Chayevsky gets off some good lines, but keeps piling on the prose long after it's peaked out. What the movie really needs are more sight gags and a lot less talky angst. In short, let the visuals carry the message -- something word fiend Chayevsky could never allow. My advice: once hippie chick Rigg starts bragging about Scott's restored virility, switch off, because it's a downhill ride from there.

The Hospital as microcosm of world's problems circa 1971
Paddy Chayefsky, the screenwriter of "The Hospital," introduces many of the themes here that he will perfect and revisit in 1976's essential film "Network" and his spiritual/psychedelic experiment "Altered States" (1980). "The Hospital," more or less, is about spiritual malaise -- when work can no longer replace sex as a primal drive (to loosely paraphrase one of Freud's maxims) ; when technology and scientific knowledge work to conspire against those it is supposed to help ; when generation gaps form as a result of all these changes. George C. Scott plays Bock, a middle-aged, "male menopausal" suicidal doctor who is trying to figure out where his lust for life is as well as who is killing off his doctors in a Manhattan hospital one by one. Like another classic George C. Scott film, Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove," this is unusually dark terrain even for dark comedy. The cure for Bock's lack of passion comes in the person of Diana Rigg, a mid-twenties spiritual eclectic and acid-head. Ironically, she is presented as a complete space-case, but is the only object that can bring Bock to his central realization -- that he is "middle class" and that for him, love does not conquer all, but, rather, responsibility. Chayefsky shows himself off here to be a master technician, deploying language that would later sound at home in the TV show "ER," as he weaves a skewed realism with his particular brand of post-Marxist social commentary. An odd film, for sure, but definitely worth checking out.

unrealistic
The main draw of this movie is the rare appearance of Dianna Rigg outside Shakespearian theatre after her Avengers run. She is much more sexual in appearance and speech than her role in The Avengers including a low cut outfit and what seems a heavily padded bra.

For the plot to work the hospital is organized in a totally different, suboptimal, way than real hospitals. For instance, in real emergency rooms people are treated first and then at checkout asked for their insurance.

Also for the plot to work totally illogical things have to happen. Not to spoil the movie for you I cannot tell details, but ask yourself on the second viewing how a certain person could gain the knowledge that motivated his conduct. ... Read more

Reviews (66)

Their obsession for a good story brought down a president
This Oscar winning 1976 film is about Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, the two Washington Post reporters who broke the biggest story of the 1970's - that of the Watergate scandal. It originally seemed like a small story, a break-in at the Democratic headquarters, but because of these two young men doggedly going after the facts, it brought down a president.

Starring Dustin Hoffman as the chain-smoking and quirky Bernstein, and Robert Redford as the more sophisticated Woodward, there is a chemistry between them which gave them the impetus to push way beyond the limits of what the story required, and as one discovery led to another, build on the accumulated details to go even further. Both the men were good at sizing up people, and the film shows how, in one interview after another, they got each interviewee to reveal those details that could fit into the king-size puzzle that they had taken on. Martin Balsam, cast as the managing editor, wanted to give the job to more senior reporters, but as Jack Warden, the metro editor, pointed out, the two young men had a passion for the story that was very special. Jason Robards, the executive editor, was quick to question all their facts, but generally supported them all the way.

Throughout, there are lots of shots of the massiveness of the tall buildings in contrast to the smallness of the men. And, when it came to the secret informer who they called "Deep Throat", those scenes were cast in shadow. The pacing was excellent and the there was tension throughout, which kept me fascinated even though I knew the eventual outcome. This story became an obsession with the two reporters and it seemed as if nothing would stop them. Occasionally, it got a bit repetitive, but that is the nature of good reporting, which can also be called good detective work.

The film brought back the reality of the 1970s, from the hairstyles to the manual typewriters. I found myself thinking about the cell phones and computers we take for granted today, as I watched them pour through phone directories as well as thousands of library take-out slips as they followed up on every clue. The acting, of course, was excellent as well the screenplay, which focused entirely on the news story, rather than becoming maudlin with the personal lives of the men. I give this film a high recommendation. It's definitely worth seeing.

A timeless historic piece
Absolutely shameful that "Rocky" beat out this Oscar nominee as Best Picture. "All the President's Men" is the faithful big screen treatment of the same-name book by the Washington Post reporting duo that dug deeply enough into the Watergate burglary that it led to the downfall of the Nixon Administration. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, each in some of their best work of their careers, portray their real-life counterparts not only as journalists but with the human frustration they undoubtedly felt while chipping away at what at first couldn't be predicted to become a major event in American history. Just what was at stake for the country is best delivered by the late Jason Robards in his role as Post editor Ben Bradlee, a performance that got Robards one of two back-to-back Best Supporting Oscars ("Julia" was the other). We even get to see Deep Throat. He's Hal Holbrook but, for reasons that still exist, we don't know who he really is and how he has obvious insider knowledge. Read the book by Woodward and Bernstein first, though, for an appreciation of the faithfulness of the movie to its subject. Not only is "All the President's Men" riveting entertainment, it's a vital historical reference. How "Rocky" beat it out for Best Picture ought to be deemed one of those Academy embarrassments.

Re-birth of a Nation
"All the President's Men" is the well-made movie about the political fiasco known as "Watergate". Watergate remains the biggest political mess in American history and it led to the resignation of president Richard "I am not a crook" Nixon.

The movie has big stars, including Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford as the two Washington Post reporters who begin to unearth the story about the break-in at the Watergate hotel and subsequently piece together the details that implicate a long list of top politicians.

The intriguing story is helped by supporting actors Jason Robards, Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, and Hal Holbrook who plays "Deep Throat", the still-unidentified informant who guided Woodward and Bernstein along the trail of information.

The DVD includes text-based cast/crew info, casting notes, location info, a bit about "Deep Thoat", a chronology of the Watergate activity, and a list of awards which include 4 oscars.

If you don't know much about the circumstances surrounding Watergate, this is a good place to start.

A 70's Time capsule.
Nixon resigned on my older sister's 4th birthday. The actual Watergate incident took place exactly one day shy of two monthes before I was born. For my parents its something they lived through. For me, it's American History. This movie is quintessential 70's. Redford, Hackman and tricky dick. Every 70's time capsule should have a copy of this movie tucked inside a folded brown dinner jacket. Even if you don't believe a word of it, you have to admit ATPM is tremendously well made and entertaining. All the cloak and dagger sneaking around, the high-pressure newsroom meetings, the breathless interviews and the clandestine deep throat meetings are perfect Cold War/X-Files/Michael Moore conspiracy theory what-iffing. The truth is out there: Nixon not only knew, he authorized the Watergate break-in it, Reagan knew about and authorized the Iran-Contra arms sales arangement, Clinton lied and he meant to lie, aliens are alive and well among us, and George W. Bush and Co. used 9-11 as an excuse for the hostile and unwarranted takeover of a sovereign nation for it's oil. And so on. Great stuff.

THEN REDFORD MADE THE KENNEDY-STOLE-1960-ELECTION MOVIE??
"All the President's Men", based on the book by Woodward and Bernstein, was impossible to resist for Redford. Nixon! Oh boy! Again, Hollywood passed up the Kennedy-stole-the-election story. What a shock! You have to hand it to these guys, though; they have talent. "President's" was masterful, thanks in large part to Goldman, who knew how to condense the story. Redford tried to play it close to the vest, and comes close to making it come off as straight and narrow. The actual truth portrayed betrays the lack of objectivity, however, at the Washington Post. Redford is Bob Woodward, a former Navy officer and a Republican. This is revealed to Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) who gives him a furtive look upon learning this shocking truth. Jason Robards is Ben Bradlee, the Post's editor. We all know the story: The DNC is broken into by Cubans with White House phone numbers in their address books, and in investigating the burglary Woodward and Bernstein suspect a larger plot, which they uncover through dogged journalism that cannot be denied. The two writers are shown to be complete heroes. Hal Halbrooke plays "Deep Throat", the White House insider who gives Woodward the leads he needs to keep investigating. To this day his identity is unknown, and it remains entirely plausible that he was invented out of whole cloth.
The story is the story, and there is no room for liberal bias in that. To Redford's credit, he does not demonize the Republicans or sermonize. Implicit threat against the pair are made, but not expanded into anything. G. Gordon Liddy did volunteer to "off" Jack Anderson for revealing CIA assets in the U.S.S.R., but there is no evidence that Nixon's Republicans ever thought about blowing Woodward and Bernstein away. Domestic political murders, as best as I can tell, are the province of the Democrats. Even in Oliver Stone's "JFK", it is Lyndon Johnson who supposedly was in on the plan to kill the President.
The bias in "All the President's Men" is subliminal, but leave it to yours truly to see it. First, there is the acronym CREEP, which stands for Committee to Re-elect the President. There have been numerous such committees over he years, and they always go by the acronym CRP. But Woodward and Bernstein turned it into CREEP. Gotcha. There is also a scene in which Bradlee, who in real life was a drinking buddy (and God knows what else) of Kennedy's, getting the news that the story is progressing and has real legs.
"You run that baby," he tells Woodward and Bernstein, then does little jig as he leaves the office. This is telling. Redford and director Alan Pakula allowed it, probably because it let them impart their own happiness over Nixon's downfall through the character. In another scene, Robards/Bradlee tells the reporters, "There's not much riding on this. Just the First Amendment and the Constitution of the United States."
Now just hoooold on there, Ben. Was Watergate really about the Constitution? Was that august document threatened? This begs the question, Where was Bradlee and Post publisher Katherine Graham when the Constitution really was threatened by their pal JFK, who stole the 1960 election? Where were they when their pal Bobby Kennedy was wiretapping Martin Luther King? Democrat operatives had to break into homes, hotels and offices to wiretap Dr. King just as the Plumbers had to break into Dr. Fielding's office, and Larry O'Brien's. A free press is undoubtedly the cornerstone of Democracy, but it functions best when it is not populated by over-inflated egos who think they are the soul arbiter of freedom of expression.

STEVEN TRAVERS
AUTHOR OF "BARRY BONDS: BASEBALL'S SUPERMAN"
STWRITES@AOL.COM ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Have to get Unrated version
I was wondering if the reviewers above had seen the unrated version or the R-version. The unrated version is definately sexy. The scenes are borderline pornographic.

There is one scene in the movie where this couple are making out pretty hot and heavy. All the sudden he lifts up her dress and rips off her [innerwear] and takes right there against the wall. one of the loudest sex scenes I have ever heard. The girl is moaning and screaming like she is being forced. It shows grinding and a couple of times it accidentally shows penetration.

Why? Why? Why?
Did anyone read this dreck before they wasted the film? I don't expect high art from this genre, but nothing about this plot made sense.

truly awful
This is one of the worst films I've seen in a long time. The story makes no sense. The dialogue is laughable. Whoever wrote and directed this film watched too many Tarantino rip-offs and decided to do just one more. Don't waste your time. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Flawed Gem
Leonard Maltin says in his review that Scott's transition from peaceful rancher to killer is unconvincing and, in part, I agree. The first violent encounter seems abrupt and jarring. But. The reasons for the transformation are convincing and the set-up is, unlike most modern movies, at least logical. The rage thus engendered is portrayed with convincing implacability. In most of his performances, George C. Scott has more than a touch of rage just under the surface; in this film, he lets it out. The primary flaw, as I see it, is that although the plot line itself is more or less plausible, somehow the supporting actor roles are not convincing, and that I would guess is due more to Scott's directing debut than the actors themselves. Nonetheless, it is a muted but powerful portrayal of a father's searing rage and the look on Scott's face as he scorches down the road on a motorcycle is one that is hard to forget. If this is one of your favorite actors, this is an important film. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Thanks to repeated showings on cable television and home video, this speculative thriller has built quite a loyal following since its release in 1978. The provocative "what if?" scenario still packs a punch, even if it is not always believable. James Brolin, Sam Waterston, and O.J. Simpson star as three astronauts who agree to spare the government embarrassment by faking their historic landing on Mars after their spacecraft is determined to be unsafe for blastoff. When a scheming mission controller (Hal Holbrook) plots to kill the astronauts in a staged capsule fire, the trio embarks on a dangerous mission to expose the truth. Elliott Gould costars as the journalist determined to crack the conspiracy, and director Peter Hyams turns up the tension with an exciting chase sequence involving Telly Savalas as an eccentric barnstormer who comes to Gould's aid in his attempt rescue the hoax mission's sole survivor. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (46)

A Good Yarn
Suprisingly, I saw this movie for the first time just a few short days ago, even though I was old enough to have seen it when it hit the theaters. A shame I let it go so long.

At the beginning of this movie, three astronauts (played by James Brolin, Sam Waterston, and O.J. Simpson) are pulled from a space flight destined for Mars. There was something wrong with the life-support system. The director of the space program (Hal Holbrook) says that they can't afford for the flight to be cancelled, so the three astronauts are coerced through threats to go through with a fake landing filmed on a closed base.

A reporter (Elliot Gould) talks with a friend (Robert Walden) who claims there is something mysterious going on with the flight. Immediately after this revelation, the friend disappears with no trace of him having ever existed. The reorter begins a quest to find out what is going on.

Meanwhile, the now unmanned spaceship burns up on re-entry. This means that except for the three astronauts and few head people in the space program, everyone else thinks they're all dead. This leads to the exciting last half of the movie.

A similar conspiracy theory (held mostly by extreme nutcases) revolves around our own moon shots, but this movie makes the plot an extremely good way to pass a couple of hours.

All the President's Nasa Men
A nifty adventure that fits in well with many of the 1970's paranoid thrillers (i.e. Marathon Man, Three Days of the Condor, etc.).CAPRICORN ONE stars James Brolin (THE AMITYVILLE HORROR, WESTWORLD), Sam Waterson (tv's LAW AND ORDER), and O.J. Simpson (THE NAKED GUN) as the three astronauts who reluctantly agree to stage a fake landing on Mars when Nasa determines the mission is unsafe and that the government does not want anymore failures. However, the astronaut's attitude does not sit well with an unscrupulous mission controller Dr. James Kelloway (Hal Holbrook-MAGNUM FORCE) and plans to kill them. Then, they must escape and expose the truth. Director Peter Hyams (2010: THE YEAR WE MAKE CONTACT,TIMECOP) does a pretty good job in the suspense and action while handling a delicate and very interesting plot. Good support roles especially Eliot Gould as the investigative reporter trying to find the truth, Brenda Vaccaro as one of the astronauts wives, David Doyle (tv's CHARLIE'S ANGELS' 'Bosley'), Robert Walden (tv's LOU GRANT, SHIRTS/SKINS) and Telly Savalas.

Underground Classic for Conspiracy Buffs
If this wasn't the original Black Helicopters movie, it sure went a long way toward immortalizing that aviatory image as a sure sign of evil government conspiracies. On a personal note, I remember it for two things -- seeing it on a Sunday afternoon with my Dad on the best weekend we spent together of my pre-teen years; and first hearing the "black guy dies first" movie custom from Dad.

The plot is simple and, at the time, rather chilling. Remember, it was only nine years after the 1969 moon landing, even less after Vietnam lies began coming to light and four years after Watergate climaxed with Nixon's resignation. Also, it's one year after the Viking unmanned craft landed on Mars.

The first manned mission to Mars has a wee bit of a problem -- a life support system that was too cheap and discovered too late. NASA needs this mission to be successful with no glitches to keep its considerable funding amidst dying interest in the space program. Solution? Fake the mission! Hal Holbrook explains all this to astronauts James Brolin, Sam Waterston and O.J. Simpson (there were athletic black actors who could ACT in the 1970s, but the trend was to use famous and semi-famous jocks. Probably has something to do with Q ratings and bankability). Holbrook persuades them to go along in a manner that makes you ask "Are the government or major corporations such as the aerospace industry siblings, distant cousins, kissing cousins or incestuous siblings with the Mafia?"

All is well until technology and the astronauts begin little rebellions that hint this mission isn't exactly a space oddity. This puts Eliott Gould, a newspaper guy always foolishly swinging for the fence sexually and professionally, on the case. Unlike others, I think the part as written called for Gould, someone who could flow between drama and comedy seamlessly.

So you've got Gould doing his Scooby Gang thing and the whole months long fakery being pulled off when there's another wee problem on reentry. That sets up the last third to half of the movie when we get black helicopters, snake lunches and Telly Savalas.

Not a great flick for the quality cast involved (Gould, Waterston, Holbrook, Denise Nicholas, Robert Walden) but a good one. It does drag in some spots. The DVD doesn't have enough extras to be a great DVD or even a good one -- no commentaries, just some production notes. I bought it just because I wanted the movie. I'm not sorry I did, but the DVD package is still disappointing.

An uneven film, still worth the effort
In many ways, Capricorn One is a quissential example of a '70s action film. The film tells the story of the first manned spaceflight to Mars and the three dedicated pioneers (played by James Brolin, Sam Waterston, and O.J. Simpson -- and yes, it is impossible to watch the film without thinking about Simpson's most recent role) who bring hope to a cynical country by conquering the Red Planet. The only problem, of course, is that the whole thing is a fake. The three men are actually in a hastily constructed studio in the middle of a barren desert and their spacecraft is empty as it journeys through space and time. As implausible as this plot may sound, the film actually goes to the trouble to make the reasoning behind this plot believable and it even goes to the trouble to provide some humanity to the plot's mastermind, a NASA official played by Hal Holbrook. Because the film actually takes the time to set up the situation, it remains compelling even when that empty spacecraft happens to burn up on reentry, meaning that -- in order for the three spacemen to remain martyrs and for NASA to continue to get funding -- they have to die in reality as well. As the three men try to escape across the barren desert (pursued by three very ominous helicopters -- never has a sinister government conspiracy ever looked so realistically sinister), a reporter played by Elliott Gould slowly starts to uncover the conspiracy and soon his life is in danger as well.

While the basic plot itself is similar to quite a few recent action films, what distinguished Capricorn One is that the film -- made while the nation, still feeling the pain of Watergate and Viet Nam, was still getting used to not being able to trust the government -- plays this story totally straight. Neither of the film's leads (Brolin and Gould) manage to get off a single smirky one-liner in the style of our modern action heroes and the film makes it painstakingly clear that neither one of them is invulnerable. Brolin's trek through the desert is almost painful to watch (at one point, nearly dead of dehydration, Brolin very graphically kills and eats a rattlesnake -- a scene that would verge on disgusting if it wasn't obvious that Brolin's life depends on his actions). As for Gould, he has a wonderful scene in which he discovers that his car's breaks have been tamepered with and the entire sequence of his car racing out of control down the streets of Houston before eventually plunging off a bridge is almost totally shot from his point of view -- it's a scary sequence that is well-directed and if it's conclusion seems a little far fetched, the build-up is almost equal to the famous car chase in The French Connection.

That said, this is not a perfect film. Director/Writer Peter Hyams allows quite a few scenes to go on a bit too long. (The film is full of quirky characters but occasionally, the spend so long being quirky that it becomes obvious that they're there for no other purpose other than to show off that quirk.) This is a two hour film that would have been better if it had been thirty minutes shorter. The film has a clever script but far too many scenes (especially of Gould's character trying to figure out the conspiracy) seem to repeat each other for no basic reason other than the lack of a good editor. The performances are a mixed bag. Gould does a good job for the most part except for a few scenes when he was seems to be chanelling Dustin Hoffman from All The President's Men. As for the three astronaughts, their characters aren't strong developed beyond a few identifying quirks -- Brolin is the heroic one, Waterston is the funny one, and Simpson -- well, he doesn't really get any identifying quirks beyond being O.J. Simpson. Of the three, only Waterston gives a memorable performance and this is largely because he gets the funny lines. Brolin is -- well, he's Brolin, vaguely likeable but mostly dull. Simpson's performance is a typical O.J. Simpson performance -- he seems to be trying really hard to excel at something that he has no talent at. You'd almost feel sorry for him if he wasn't O.J.

As far as the supporting roles are concerned, there's a lot of familiar faces and it's a mixed bag. Both Karen Black and Telly Savalas put in what the credits assure us are "special appearances." Black is occasionally amusing even if her character serves no real purpose while Savalas manages to bring the film to a dead stop by wildly overplaying a role that one hopes was meant to be comic relief but, which in the end, just serves as a very annoying distraction. On the plus side, Brenda Vaccaro is sympathetic and compelling as Brolin's wife and the undderrated Denise Nichols has one good scene as Simpson's wife -- one almost regrets that the crew of Capricorn One had to be male as Vaca