Three separate stories concerning relationship issues are presented, each largely taking place in suite 719 of the Plaza Hotel in New York City. In story one, suburban New Yorkers Sam and ... See full summary »
Director:
Arthur Hiller
Stars:
Walter Matthau,
Maureen Stapleton,
Barbara Harris
A headstrong young teacher in a private school in 1930s Edinburgh ignores the curriculum and influences her impressionable 12 year old charges with her over-romanticized world view.
Director:
Ronald Neame
Stars:
Maggie Smith,
Gordon Jackson,
Robert Stephens
Charley is a surgeon who's recently lost his wife; he embarks on a tragicomic romantic quest with one woman after another until he meets up with Ann, a singular woman, closer to his own age... See full summary »
At his mother's funeral, stuffy bank clerk Henry Pulling meets his Aunt Augusta, an elderly eccentric with more-than-shady dealings who pulls him along on a whirlwind adventure as she ... See full summary »
Director:
George Cukor
Stars:
Maggie Smith,
Alec McCowen,
Louis Gossett Jr.
Grandmother has nothing to say when Libby tells her that she is off to LA to look up Dad, a Hollywood screenwriter. Grandmother has been in a New York cemetery for six years and Dad has ... See full summary »
After being dumped by her live-in boyfriend, an unemployed dancer and her 10-year-old daughter are reluctantly forced to live with a struggling off-Broadway actor.
Director:
Herbert Ross
Stars:
Richard Dreyfuss,
Marsha Mason,
Quinn Cummings
Paul, a conservative young lawyer, marries the vivacious Corie. Their highly passionate relationship descends into comical discord in a five-flight New York City walk-up apartment.
A Vietnam vet returns home from a prisoner of war camp and is greeted as a hero, but is quickly forgotten and soon discovers how tough survival is in his own country.
Can a bickering odd couple in Manhattan become friends and maybe more? Owlish Felix is an unpublished writer who vents his frustration by reporting to the super that the woman in a ... See full summary »
Director:
Herbert Ross
Stars:
Barbra Streisand,
George Segal,
Robert Klein
Four totally different and separate stories of guests staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Maggie Smith and Michael Caine come from England to attend the Oscars; Jane Fonda comes from New York, Alan Alda is her ex who lives in California; in the slapstick part Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor and their wives come to the hotel to relax and play tennis, only to find there is only one room vacant; in the fourth segment Walter Matthau arrives a day before his wife for his nephew's Bar Mitzvah while his brother (Herb Edelman) sends a prostitute to his room. Written by
Jonathan (jrd@netvision.net.il)
The artworks with California themed motifs that are featured during the opening titles were painted by pop artist David Hockney. See more »
Goofs
Bill Warren made a 1:30 lunch reservation for him and his ex-wife Hannah. After lunch, some time at the beach, and post-beach freshening up, Hannah says "It's 2:30; do you wanna call Jenny, or shall I?" It wouldn't be possible for all that activity to have taken place in just one hour. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
[a two-seater plane is flying over snow-capped mountains]
Harold:
For heaven's sake, Wendy - look for an airport. Will you look for the airport?
Diana Barrie:
Oh don't make such a fuss. Just put it down on a mountain.
Harold:
What do you mean 'just put it down'? I'm lucky I can keep it up. I told you I never flew before.
Diana Barrie:
Don't shout at me - I'm a first-class passenger.
Harold:
You're a first class lunatic. It's all over Wendy - our relationship has a quarter of a tank to go.
Diana Barrie:
Yes, but - you do love me, don't you Harold? ...
[...] See more »
Crazy Credits
In the opening credits, famous 70s artworks of British artist David Hockney are featured. The painting before Elaine May's name is entitled "Portrait of an Artist (Pool with two figures), 1972" and features a swimming pool with the Hollywood hills in the backdrop. The "two figures", both male, one swimming and the other standing over watching have been mysteriously edited out of the picture for some unknown reason. See more »
An ensemble cast that dreams are made of is present in this film, and all deliver quite well, even Walter Matthau who goes a bit over-the-top. Smith deservedly won an Oscar for her role as a screen actress loses her first Oscar nomination in a very long career. As her husband, Caine is also good, but the next two best performances come from Fonda and Alda as a bickering divorced couple. Those four performers, however, only cover two out of four tales in this film, and the other two are not as well as acted and neither are they filled with the same quality of witty dialogue. It is bit weird to watch the overall film, as it becomes fragmented by the transitions between each of the stories, and towards the end the lesser interesting tales dominate. With just the Fonda/Alda and Smith/Caine stories, this is excellent, very well written stuff. With all four put together, it is still quite interesting stuff, but nothing too great.
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An ensemble cast that dreams are made of is present in this film, and all deliver quite well, even Walter Matthau who goes a bit over-the-top. Smith deservedly won an Oscar for her role as a screen actress loses her first Oscar nomination in a very long career. As her husband, Caine is also good, but the next two best performances come from Fonda and Alda as a bickering divorced couple. Those four performers, however, only cover two out of four tales in this film, and the other two are not as well as acted and neither are they filled with the same quality of witty dialogue. It is bit weird to watch the overall film, as it becomes fragmented by the transitions between each of the stories, and towards the end the lesser interesting tales dominate. With just the Fonda/Alda and Smith/Caine stories, this is excellent, very well written stuff. With all four put together, it is still quite interesting stuff, but nothing too great.