The Only Game in Town (1970)

Within the first 5 - 10 minutes I felt that this film was a waste of the talents of Elizabeth Taylor and Warren Beatty. Both are miscast as there is little 'energy' between them throughout the entire film. A great film starts out with a great story. This story is from duds-ville. Taylor, as an adult, is best in dramas, intense dramas, where the story allows her to be in conflict with the male paramour. That's why Burton-Taylor's rendition in Wm, Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" is so great. Anybody could have done Beatty's role in this film. He is lackluster, to be fair. I guess the players did it for the money and not for the art for there is no real art in the story or the setting or the movie itself. Sorry, George Stevens. Not a film to be proud of.

Based on play by Frank D. Gilroy that ran only 16 performances on Broadway, "The Only Game in Town" was adapted for the screen by Gilroy and misused the talents of two stars and a director with five Academy Awards between them. Evidently, the play and Gilroy's services to write the adaptation were purchased before opening night, otherwise Elizabeth Taylor, Warren Beatty, and George Stevens would have been more effectively employed on other projects. Fran Walker, an aging Vegas showgirl, whose stylish apartment and flashy wardrobe belie any financial struggle, becomes involved with Joe Grady, a bar pianist, who subsists on tips and gambling. The pair get to know each other over the course of the two-hour running time, Fran's married paramour appears and disappears, the bar owner has problems with the undependable Grady. In other words, not much happens, and, considering the paucity of dialog, the play's brief life on Broadway is understandable. In 1970, Elizabeth Taylor was probably the most famous woman in the world, and her image, bearing, and demeanor are definitely not working class. In a part originated by Tammy Grimes and more suited to Shirley Maclaine, Taylor tries her best, but she lacks the physical attributes of a dancer and, at this point in her career, is definitely a grande dame. However, not all the blame falls on Taylor. While she is obviously miscast, hairstylists Alexandre and Claudie Ettori bear responsibility for the puffy hair styles and wigs that overwhelm Taylor and detract from her legendary beauty. When Taylor's coiffures are not demanding attention, Mia Fonssagrives's and Vicki Tiel's unflattering costumes elicit giggles and gasps, especially an outlandish yellow mini-skirted outfit with a pillbox hat that parodies earlier fashions successfully worn by Jackie Kennedy and Audrey Hepburn. If Razzies had been awarded for costumes, Fonssagrives and Tiel would have taken them home.Fortunately, Alexandre and Fonssagrives kept their hands off Warren Beatty, and he does fairly well, although neither he nor Taylor are convincing as lovers. Equally unconvincing is the supposed Las Vegas location; filmed in Paris, the obvious rear projection to fake Nevada settings is distracting at best. "The Only Game in Town" was a disappointing finale to the career of director George Stevens, who retired after the film's failure. More than four decades after its release, the movie is difficult to sit through, despite the efforts of Taylor and Beatty to inject some life into a moribund story. Only die-hard fans of the two stars and students of George Stevens's career will likely find much of value.

A very pudgy, 40 year-old Elizabeth Taylor, wearing way too much mascara and some god-awful wigs, plays (unconvincingly) Las Vegas chorus girl, Fran Walker.If you want a real good laugh, just wait till you see Taylor trying to kick up her legs and blend in with the rest of the show girls, who were all much leaner and considerably taller than her, and obviously about half her age. Yep. It's a hoot and a half.Anyways - In between appearing in a Las Vegas show, Fran finds herself drifting into a rocky affair with a mediocre lounge pianist/loser/gambler named Joe Grady.Fran, like a total fool, has been waiting in Las Vegas for her married lover, San Francisco businessman, Tom Lockwood to finalize the divorce he's been promising to get for the past 5 years. (Uh... 5 years!!?? Like, give me a break, already!!) Trust me - Even though this one stars the likes of Warren Beatty and Elizabeth Taylor, it all gets real tiresome, real fast.The Only Game In Town was originally a Broadway flop that only played for 16 performances and, then, the show closed for good.This film's whopping $11 million budget was all due to that spoiled, demanding witch, Elizabeth Taylor, who insisted that the entire picture be shot in Paris, France (even though its story was set in Las Vegas), so that she could be near her then-husband Richard Burton, who was working on some film in that city at the time. (Sheesh! If Taylor couldn't trust Burton to be out of her sight, then why the hell did she marry him?) The Only Game In Town was (thankfully) George Stevens' last film as a Director.

Playing one of her rare working class girls, Liz is a Las Vegas showgirl who lives in a plastic little apartment and watches old movies on late night television… The ambiance doesn't take shape for Liz; we've heard too much about the diamonds and the yachts and the enormous household staff to believe her in such modest circumstances… Frank D. Gilroy's slight, sentimental script is about practically nothing at all… A girl meets a guy (Warren Beatty), they go to bed, they part, they get together again… He has a gambling problem, and she's engaged to an older married man who keeps promising to get a divorce… The gambler is a ladies' man; clever and suave, he tests his way into the girl's bed and then into her heart…In a lightweight romantic comedy-drama like this, the charm is everything… As the gambler, Warren Beatty has it; as the bruised, lonely, overage chorus girl, Liz doesn't… Her off-screen aura works 'against' the role, just as Beatty's image as her capricious lover works beautifully for the character… Liz tries, though, but she is really too old for this sort of thing, and far too heavy and matronly to pass as a chorus girl kicking up her heels every night to earn a meager living…Beatty transforms the material, making it seem much sharper and brighter than it is… His reckless, cocky charm, his clever comic timing, his light seductive voice reveal some of his best work… When she catches Beatty's light style, Taylor is pleasant, but when she goes weepy, when Stevens encourages her to play the dramatic actress with style, she misplaces the character