Thanks for the memories!

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

A real find. Who would have thought that the teaming of Ali McGraw and Alan King would bring out the best in these two dubious acting talents. King is a lunatic millionaire unable to let mistress McGraw go despite their unbelievably rocky (and downright violent) love/hate relationship. Sharply directed by Sidney Lumet from a wicked, albeit over-plotted, script by Jay Presson Allen. The acting is all first-rate, with McGraw giving a truly funny performance. Like some other 70s beauties (Candice Bergen, Raquel Welch) it's clear her forte was comedy. Although she didn't have a career anywhere near the length of those two, she's never been more relaxed than she is here. She almost never flares her nostrils (see THE GETAWAY). King, who usually played hoods or Mafiosos in his few film roles, is a hoot. As King's perpetually infirm wife, Dina Merrill brings just the right regal presence to bear and Myrna Loy is great as his caustic-tongued secretary. The supporting cast includes Peter Weller, Tony Roberts and Joseph Maher (very funny as Merrill's lecherous doctor).

King is a really great comedian, virtually unknown to audiences in Europe. In this „late screwball" comedy he plays a tycoon, and for this kind of movie part he sets a mark nobody has surpassed. He brings the right mix of competence and freakishness to the role. He is a ladies man, a hypochondriac (goes well together), is cunning and can be utterly ruthless and cruel. Of course, the character has a great egotistical mind - and yet he is oddly likable. There's more: The movie also includes great performances by Keenan Wynn as competing tycoon and also by Myrna Loy, famous screen beauty of the Golden Age of Hollywood. She plays King's loyal secretary and surrogate mom. Ali McGraw is kind of beautiful but seems to be made of granite (the set design of her ritzy apartment is beautiful and interesting, though), Peter Weller's talents are wasted here.This movie really boasts many, many memorable lines. The character played by Wynn tries to convince the tycoon that he should donate for a wing for special diseases of a hospital. This makes King quip „I can't wait to see those poor guys die of special diseases in my wing!" Also great are the final sequences in which the main character stays in hospital because of an imaginary heart attack. His little, stumpy body lies in a white shroud on an examining bed while he berates the high priced specialists standing around him, telling them in a choked voice that he knows exactly what's wrong with him and they should better read the „f***ing literature"! People are like that! Life is like that! It's great to be able to laugh about it sometimes.

This movie became one of my favorites the instant I saw it and I didn't even like Ali MacGraw! But I like her just fine now. This is an absolutely top-notch production from start to finish and the performances are outstanding -- without exception. I mean here you have Alan King, with Keenan Wynn, and Myrna Loy as supporting actors! MacGraw and Peter Weller are very appealing as young lovers and MacGraw gives her perhaps only great performance. She pulls out all the stops in this one and couldn't be better. I just love this movie and can't understand why it wasn't a big hit. Well, I can, actually. It doesn't appeal to immature adolescent boys (including most Hollywood producers).

Alan King's world falls apart when long time mistress Ali Macgrue breaks up with him and marries much younger Peter Weller. Snobby comedy isn't for all taste, but is expertly performed and is very, very funny, especially the scene in the department store. Alan King is displayed at his absolute as is Loy in a quite performance. Terrific entertainment. 9 out 10.