Excellent but underrated film

Admirable film.

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

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Seeing "The Only Game In Town" for the first time forty odd years after it was made is a very special treat for anyone who loves film and film history. This was going to be George Steven's last film. A great director, a pioneer. Here he's directing Elizabeth Taylor for the third time, after "A Place In The Sun" and "Giant". That alone makes "The Only Game In Town" a collector's piece. Elizabeth Taylor clearly trusted George Stevens completely and for good reason. She is spectacular. Every close up is like a personal, private experience. Warren Beatty is perfect here and he turned down "Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid" to work with George Stevens. Good for him. A delicious treat.

. . . than during THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN, in which "E.L. Taylor" plays "Mutt" to the "Jeff" of "C.L. Barrow." Because E.L.'s Real Life Hubbie "Dick Button" wouldn't let E.L. out of his sight, and since Dick was making another flick in Paris, France, when it came time to film THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN, the latter movie was shot in a "fake" Las Vegas set up in Germany's Playground (aka, France). Of course, the phrase "fake Las Vegas" is as redundant as calling something "a bogus counterfeit." At any rate, THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN fled out-of-town to become a boring snooze-fest which may interest a few drunks who have frittered away all their cash at the nickel slots, forcing them back to the cheap casino hotel rooms in the steerage section, in which GAME pops up on a free movie channel from time to time. However, for everyone else, THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN may well prove to be the ultimate yawner, indicating that it's time to move on to a new town.

Frank Gilroy's play brought to the screen by the great George Stevens; sadly, his last film. The maudlin characterizations by Liz and Warren just don't cut it, simply because they seem far too old and worldly to be victimized by the circumstances set forth for them. Old-fashioned in the worse way. Maurice Jarre provides one of his best scores, though.

This movie has a nice feel to it. It takes you back to an era when women looked like women, curvy and wearing dresses as Elizabeth Taylor does in this picture. Warren Beatty is most handsome and is totally smitten with Taylor's character, which makes this movie seem like a fairy tale since men like him usually go for the model thin women. After viewing this movie late at night, I realized I truly enjoyed it, and wouldn't mind having a video of it. Although, they may seem unrealistic, these are the kind if movies that keep hope alive for true love.