Once Is Not Enough (1975)

User Rating:

4.5/10   

Director:

Guy Green

Writers:

Julius J. Epstein (writer)
Jacqueline Susann (novel)

Release Date:

20 June 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

The Husband for sale - bought for $3 million. The Daughter - a virgin eager to make up for lost time. The Novelist who couldn't live the fantasies he wrote about.

Plot:

An over-the-hill movie producer marries a wealthy, spiteful woman and closeted lesbian just to please his spoiled daughter who then...

Plot Keywords:

Lesbian | Movie Producer | Producer | Older Man Younger Woman | Intimacy

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win

Cast

Kirk Douglas	...	Mike Wayne
Alexis Smith	...	Deidre Milford Granger
David Janssen	...	Tom Colt
George Hamilton	...	David Milford
Melina Mercouri	...	Karla
Gary Conway	...	Hugh Robertson
Brenda Vaccaro	...	Linda Riggs
Deborah Raffin	...	January
Lillian Randolph	...	Mabel
Renata Vanni	...	Maria
Mark Roberts	...	Rheingold
John Roper	...	Franco
Leonard Sachs	...	Dr. Peterson
Jim Boles	...	Scotty
Ann Marie Moelders	...	Girl at El Morocco

Also Known As:

Jacqueline Susann's Once Is Not Enough (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:R (Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Finland:K-16 | Netherlands:18 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Company:

Aries Productions

Trivia:

The movie, and the novel it was based on, was famous for containing fictionalized portraits of real people, including heiress Barbara Hutton (Alexis Smith), "Cosmopolitan" editor and author Helen Gurley Brown (Brenda Vaccaro), reclusive actress Greta Garbo (Melina Mercouri), and author Norman Mailer (David Janssen). Fans disagree on the model for the Kirk Douglas character, some even claiming he was based on this film's producer, Howard W. Koch.

Quotes:

January: I didn't know men used hairspray.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Isn't She Great (2000)

Once was too much

Ick. Everyone's rich. Everyone's decayed. Everyone's white. Everyone's horny. Everyone's drunk. The subplot of a young adult with sexual feelings for her dad made me uncomfortable, and not in a "last scene of North by Northwest" way either. Strangely, Kirk Douglas just goes through the motions. Alexis Smith contributes nothing more than if she'd been typing into Stephen Hawking's voice machine. David Janssen is still hoping his looks will divert people from finding out he can't act. Melina's kind of interesting. And George Hamilton is good at putting down the idle rich by just playing one of them. Other than that, a waste of time.