Gable and Lombard (1976)

I saw this movie when I was a teenager when it first came out. I didn't know a lot about Gable or Lombard at the time, but I had seen some of their films since I was getting into old movies at the time. Since I only knew a little about them, I loved the movie.Now watching it in 2013, I still enjoyed it, but I agree with many other reviewers that too much fiction was added for the sake of entertainment. I have read biographies of Gable and the book the film was based on, but that was YEARS ago, so now even watching it last night, I had forgotten how much was fiction and how much was reality. For example, I suspected that the courtroom scene when Lombard was coming in to defend Gable for his paternity suit in the manner she did was totally fabricated, but other parts of the film made me wonder whether they could have been true.Someone in the board discussion posted a link where the screenwriter Barry Sandler discusses the film. I would like to post it here too since I enjoyed the insight I received from it. It helps to answer some of the many questions other reviewers have asked. It's: jeffcramer.blogspot.com and then click on the right where it lists names. Go to Barry Sandler. Regarding the music, even though the Michel Legrand love theme was used very often, I have always enjoyed it. It didn't bother me that it was a bit repetitive.Sure, it's a flawed film, but it's fun. If you can put aside the truth and watch it for the story, it's fine.I do think Brolin did a magnificent job in capturing Gable's essence and I think Clayburgh (who died before her time) was also good.

Slammed by critics in 1976 for playing loosely with the Hollywood facts (to put it mildly), this expensive, handsome-looking bio-pic regarding the romance between 1930s screen idols Clark Gable and Carole Lombard actually doesn't take the facts into consideration at all. Perhaps starting with the presumption that nobody knows the real dish, screenwriter Barry Sandler concocts a movie star yarn around personalities we mostly remember today through their pictures. Of course, film-historians were quick to point out all the inaccuracies, but I don't think Sandler nor director Sidney J. Furie was preoccupied with the truth. Sandler's Gable and Lombard appear to be based solely on his (and our) movie memories of them both, and leads James Brolin and Jill Clayburgh approach their roles in this precise spirit (particularly Clayburgh, who models her performance on Lombard's performance in "My Man Godfrey"). In a way, this was a novel concept considering that 1930s reality has now been permanently blurred via time and celluloid. Now for the bad news: Sandler's 'plot' spends far too much time on the loving couple having to sneak around since Gable was already married, and their meetings with Louis B. Mayer (Allen Garfield, playing Father Confessor) are pointless. In actuality, Clark and Carole brazenly showed up everywhere together, and the public ate it up. Sticking to the truth in this instance might've served Sandler better than the silly melodrama on display, which mitigates the screwball humor Furie stages at the beginning. This picture is a real mess from a narrative standpoint, and the acting isn't dynamic enough to hold interest. There's a terrible, shapeless sequence wherein Lombard barges into a Women's Press decency meeting yelling, "Cock-a-doodle-do!" and a limp bit in the courtroom with Carole getting blue on the stand (much to everyone's delight). Brolin has Gable's squint, mouth movements and vocal inflection down pat, yet his King is made to be so downtrodden that it comes as a surprise when Lombard expresses rapture over his bedroom prowess (again, in reality, the comedienne once famously confessed she adored 'Pa' but that their sex life was lacking). Had Sandler gone full-throttle with a high-comedy approach, the movie may have been a hoot. However, the phony dramatics overshadow everything in the end--and since the film is useless as a biography, a good portion of "Gable and Lombard" is utterly without purpose. ** from ****

James Brolin and Jill Clayburgh pull it off as one of old Hollywood's most dashing couples.The ambiance of 1930s-1940s Hollywood almost steals the show, but Brolin, Clayburgh, a fine script and a beautiful score are the real wonders of this film. The title characters are believable and interesting to watch. Red Buttons also does a good job in a small role.We see how Gable and Lombard met and how they had to face all of the impediments that were trying to ruin their love affair. The film does not have a happy ending because it's based on fact. As a matter of fact, you will need some tissues when you watch the final scene. It's that moving.

Not quite excellent but Both James Brolin and Jill Clayburgh give creditable performances in one of Hollywood's great love stories. This film was re;eased the same year as "WC Fields and Me" about another Hollywood couple, Fields and Carlotta Monti. "Gable and Lombard" captures the Hollywood scene of the 1930's a bit better than the other film does, and the two leads are more believable then in the other film. More than showing the screen side of these two, "Gable and Lombard" explores the off screen life of the pair. Anyone looking for dirt will be greatly disappointed. The life of Clark Gable and Carol Lombard as shown in this film is anything but boring. Thus, the emotion is genuine when we learn as does Gable that nothing is forever."Gable and Lombard" gives us an honest look into the lives of two people who just happened to be movie stars.