The only game in town

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Movie
German title The only game in town
Original title The Only Game in Town
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1970
length 113 minutes
Rod
Director George Stevens
script Frank D. Gilroy , based on his own play
production Fred Kohlmar for 20th Century Fox
music Maurice Jarre
camera Henri Decaë
cut John W. Holmes , William Sands , Pat Shade
occupation

The only game in town is an American feature film ( romance ) directed by George Stevens in 1970. The film is an adaptation of Frank D. Gilroy 's play The Only Game in Town, which premiered in 1968, and was produced by 20th Century Fox .

action

The location of the action is the gambling and amusement city Las Vegas , time the present. The dancer Fran is a woman with a deep-seated fear of attaching herself to someone who might leave her. She found a temporary balance in the affair with the businessman Lockwood, who cannot leave her, but is also not ready to get a divorce for her. This arrangement is in danger when Fran meets the bar pianist Joe Grady, a compulsive player whose naive emotionality and affection attracts her. She goes to bed with him and finally lets him move into her apartment, but agrees with him that there should be nothing between them except sex. How much Joe means to her only realizes when Lockwood shows up and surprisingly announces that he has divorced his wife. Fran lets him go forever. A happy ending is only achieved when Joe wins a fortune playing craps and decides to give up gambling.

Production and reception

The film is based on the play The Only Game in Town by Frank Gilroy, which had its world premiere on May 17, 1968 and then ran for two weeks on Broadway . The main roles in this less than successful stage version played Tammy Grimes and Barry Nelson .

20th Century Fox had acquired the film rights to the material - for $ 500,000 - before the play even opened on Broadway. The only game in town is the last directorial work of 64-year-old George Stevens, who long before directed two of Elizabeth Taylor's best films -  A Place in the Sun (1951) and Giants (1956). Since her husband Richard Burton was working on the filming of the film Under the Stairs in Paris at the time , Taylor insisted that The Only Game In Town be shot in Paris as well. Her fee was $ 1.4 million. Frank Sinatra was originally intended for the role of Joe ; when filming was delayed because Taylor fell ill, he had to be replaced by Warren Beatty. Because of this delay and because the Las Vegas decorations had to be painstakingly recreated in Paris, production costs came to $ 11 million in the end.

The shooting for the film, which was produced in 35 mm and color, began on September 30, 1968. After 86 working days in Paris, the shooting crew had to fly to Las Vegas for a further 10 working days in order to record further recordings at the original location. a. at Caesar's Palace Casino  - to do. The work ended on March 3, 1969.

The only game in town premiered in the US on January 21, 1970 and grossed $ 1.5 million in the US, so it turned out to be a big losing business for 20th Century Fox. The film was released in the Federal Republic of Germany on March 5, 1970.

During the shooting, author Frank Gilroy received suggestions for his later film Once in Paris… (1978), which focuses on the chauffeur who had driven Gilroy during the Paris shoot.

Curtis Hanson later directed a free remake called The Only Game In Town : Luck In The Game (2007).

Reviews

The Protestant film observer draws the following conclusion: “Here, a cheap cinema story has been sublimated into a psychological piece, which is sometimes noteworthy. So-called upscale entertainment. ”The lexicon of international films comes to a similar assessment:“ Hollywood comedy that derives humor and charm from its banal subject. ”

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Only Game in Town Internet Broadway Database
  2. ↑ James Robert Parish, Gregory W. Mank, Don E. Stanke: The Hollywood Beauties . Arlington House Publishers, New Rochelle, New York 1978, ISBN 978-0-87000-412-4 , pp. 347 .
  3. ^ A b The Only Game in Town (1970) New York Times
  4. ↑ The Peregrina Pearl
  5. ↑ Evangelical Press Association, Munich, Review No. 108/1970
  6. ↑ Lexicon of International Films, rororo-Taschenbuch No. 6322 (1988), p. 831