The Only Game in Town (film)

The Only Game in Town is a 1970 American romantic comedy-drama film, the last directed by George Stevens. It stars Elizabeth Taylor and Warren Beatty. The screenplay by Frank D. Gilroy is based on his play of the same name which had a brief run on Broadway in 1968.[3]

The Only Game in Town
Theatrical release poster
Directed byGeorge Stevens
Screenplay byFrank D. Gilroy
Based onThe Only Game in Town
(1968 play)
by Frank D. Gilroy
Produced byFred Kohlmar
StarringElizabeth Taylor
Warren Beatty
CinematographyHenri Decaë
Edited byJohn Holmes
William Sands
Pat Shade
Music byMaurice Jarre
Distributed by20th Century Fox Film Corp.
Release date
  • March 4, 1970 (1970-03-04)
Running time
113 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$10,235,000[1]
Box office$1.5 million (rentals)[2]

Plot

Fran Walker (Dame Elizabeth Taylor) is an aging Las Vegas chorus girl. She has given her wealthy San Francisco, California-based married lover Tom Lockwood (Charles Braswell), who she has not seen in six months, ultimatum after ultimatum in leaving his wife, Fran always ending back in his arms, despite him not having succumbed to her ultimatum. Fran continually tells herself that Tom will one day come through, regardless of if she truly believes it. She, who wants to remain financially independent in asking and taking nothing from Tom in terms of financial support or lavish material gifts, only stays in Las Vegas out of inertia. Joe Grady (Warren Beatty) is a Las Vegas lounge pianist. Unlike Fran, Joe hates Las Vegas, and is trying to amass five thousand dollars, which he requires to set up a professional life as a pianist in New York City. While he outwardly states that he dabbles in gambling, he truly is an addict, he is going on the occasional gambling binge which has led to him not being able to save the money he needs to leave Las Vegas. Fran and Joe meet when she walks into Tony's, the bar where he works, for a late-night dinner. The two end up going home together that evening in their mutual attraction and in Fran's loneliness, and, able to get over their inherent differences in temperament, have what each believes will be a one-night stand. However, they end up having a no-strings relationship in each helping the other achieve his or her current life goals. This situation has the potential to fall apart either if one or the other is unable to fulfill the other's needs - Joe, who is supposed to stop Fran from falling back into Tom's arms if he doesn't come through, and Fran, who will keep and hide Joe's money so that he doesn't gamble it away until he reaches the five thousand dollar mark - or if one or the other ends up falling in love with the other.

Cast

Production notes

20th Century Fox paid $550,000 for the film rights before the play opened on Broadway, with Frank D. Gilroy to get $150,000 to write the script.[4] The play, starring Tammy Grimes and Barry Nelson, was not a success, running only sixteen performances.[5] The play was profiled in the William Goldman book The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway.

Elizabeth Taylor was paid $1,125,000 to appear in the film. The film was shot on a sound stage in Paris, at Taylor's demand as her husband Richard Burton was working on the film Staircase in the area at the time, over eighty-six days. There was not enough footage for the film after the shooting in Paris and another ten days were spent shooting film in Nevada.[6] Stevens had previously directed Taylor twice with great success, in A Place in the Sun (1951) and Giant (1956).[5]

Frank Sinatra originally signed to play Joe, but when Taylor became ill and filming was postponed, he had to drop out of the project to fulfill another commitment with Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Warren Beatty was paid $750,000 to replace Sinatra.[5][7]

Screenwriter Gilroy's experience making the film inspired him to write and direct the film Once in Paris (1978), which focused on his chauffeur during the Only Game shoot. Gilroy was so fascinated by the man he cast the driver as himself.

Director Curtis Hanson did a reworking of this film with his film Lucky You (2007), which dealt with a professional gambler out to break the bank in Las Vegas. The reworking was in the adding of a female singer and the gambler's father entering the World Series of Poker where the story is set. The film starred Eric Bana, Drew Barrymore and Robert Duvall.

Reception

Box office

Opening in 1970 to mixed reviews, the film was a box office bomb.

According to Fox records the film required $19,300,000 in rentals to break even and by 11 December 1970 had made $4,525,000.[8] In September 1970 the studio had lost $7,557,000 on the film.[9] The Only Game in Town was the second-worst financial failure for Fox, behind Cleopatra also starting Taylor. Stevens did not direct another film.[10]

Critical reception

In his March 5, 1970, review in The New York Times, Vincent Canby stated, "Assigning [Stevens, Beatty, and Taylor] to the film version of Frank D. Gilroy's small, sentimental, Broadway flop is rather like trying to outfit a leaky Central Park rowboat for a celebrity cruise through the Greek islands. The result is a phenomenological disaster . . . Nothing in The Only Game in Town seems quite on the up and up. Everything, including both the humor and the pathos, is bogus."[11]

In an undated review, Time Out London called it "a hoarily old-fashioned romantic comedy ... [with] occasional moments of life injected by Taylor and Beatty."[12]

TV Guide said, in an undated review, "Although some of the dialog sparkles, in general, [the film] is overly talkly and thinly plotted, a programmer dressed up in ermine."[13]

See also

References
  1. Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p256
  2. Solomon p 231. "Big Rental Films of 1970", Variety, 6 January 1971, pg 11.
  3. "The Only Game in Town" Internet Broadway Database, accessed September 14, 2015
  4. Nat Segaloff, Final Cuts: The Last Films of 50 Great Directors, Bear Manor Media 2013 p 273-275
  5. Parish, James Robert; Mank, Gregory W.; Stanke, Don E. (1978). The Hollywood Beauties. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House Publishers. p. 347. ISBN 978-0-87000-412-4.
  6. Medved & Medved 1984, p. 111-113.
  7. Medved & Medved 1984, p. 112.
  8. Silverman, Stephen M (1988). The Fox that got away : the last days of the Zanuck dynasty at Twentieth Century-Fox. L. Stuart. p. 329. ISBN 9780818404856.
  9. Silverman p 259
  10. Medved & Medved 1984, p. 114.
  11. Canby, Vincent (March 5, 1970). "The Only Game in Town (1970) – Screen: 'The Only Game': Major Stars Converge on a Minor Script". The New York Times. Retrieved March 23, 2011.
  12. TM (undated). "The Only Game in Town (1969)" Archived 2011-06-07 at the Wayback Machine. Time Out London. Retrieved March 23, 2011.
  13. Staff writer (undated). "The Only Game In Town: Review". TV Guide. Retrieved March 23, 2011.

Works cited
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