Two Weeks in Another Town (1962)

After spending three years in an asylum, a washed-up actor views a minor assignment from his old director in Rome as a chance for personal and professional redemption.

Director:

Vincente Minnelli

Writers:

Charles Schnee (screenplay), Irwin Shaw (novel)

Stars:

Kirk Douglas, Edward G. Robinson, Cyd Charisse

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kirk Douglas	...	Jack Andrus
Edward G. Robinson	...	Maurice Kruger
Cyd Charisse	...	Carlotta
George Hamilton	...	Davie Drew
Daliah Lavi	...	Veronica (as Dahlia Lavi)
Claire Trevor	...	Clara Kruger
James Gregory	...	Brad Byrd
Rosanna Schiaffino	...	Barzelli
Joanna Roos	...	Janet Bark
George Macready	...	Lew Jordan
Mino Doro	...	Tucino
Stefan Schnabel	...	Zeno
Vito Scotti	...	Assistant Director
Tom Palmer	...	Dr. Cold Eyes
Erich von Stroheim Jr.	...	Ravinksi (as Erich Von Stroheim Jr.)

Storyline

Former film star Jack Andrus is released from a sanitarium where he has lived for the previous three years, suffering from alcoholism, a traumatic automobile accident, and a severe mental breakdown. He's been offered two weeks of work in Rome by Maurice Kruger, his old director, who himself is near the end of his fading career and under pressure from his parsimonious Italian producer to finish his picture on time and under budget. Jack is also pressed from a manipulative ex-wife, a rising but self-destructive young star, the director's shrewish wife, and a temperamental Italian diva who requires handling with kid gloves. When the Kruger suffers a heart attack, Andrus views the opportunity as a last chance at the redemption of his personal life and professional career.

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Plot Keywords:

italy | singing | circular staircase | stairway | nymphomaniac | 

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Taglines:

...only in Rome could this story happen...

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

September 1962 (UK)

Also Known As:

2 Weeks in Another Town

Filming Locations:

Excelsior Hotel, Via Vittorio Veneto, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

$3,959,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$1,000,000, 31 December 1962

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,500,000, 31 December 1962

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The old film of Kirk Douglas's character Jack that is being screened is The Bad and the Beautiful (1952).

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Goofs

In most of Jack's driving scenes, his steering inputs, or lack thereof, don't match what's going on in the rear-projection background. This is most obvious when he goes on his drunken, reckless drive with Carlotta as his passenger.

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Quotes

Jack Andrus: [listening to her dub dialogue for an Italian actress] No, Liz, no, that's not quite it.
Liz: Oh, it sure isn't. I'm lousy today.
Jack Andrus: No, no, no. Say, Liz...
Liz: Yeah?
Jack Andrus: [coaching her to improve her performance] What do you love most in the world?
Liz: Um, food.
Jack Andrus: Hey, you remember, uh, that ice cream parlor, Wil Wright's, on Sunset Strip? Those huge, luscious banana splits, a dollar a throw.
Liz: Worth every penny.
Jack Andrus: Well, next time you dub, you think to yourself...
[begins speaking very expressively and emphatically]
[...]

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Crazy Credits

The following acknowledgment appears on screen in the opening credits: "We are grateful to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, copyright owners, for permission to use the Academy Award statuette."

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Connections

Referenced in An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1997)

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Soundtracks

Don't Blame Me
(1932) (uncredited)
Music by Jimmy McHugh
Lyrics by Dorothy Fields
Sung by Leslie Uggams

User Reviews

The bad and the beautiful (continued)

A film of love and hate.Between the fallen actor and his aging director;between the director and his hysterical wife;between Carlotta and her former husband;between the young actor and the old one.In a nutshell, an intense melodrama in the vein of these Minnelli extravaganzas ("some came running" "home from the hill" and particularly "the four horsemen of the Apocalypse" -remember the famous scene where the whole family is gathered around the table while a storm is raging-).

Minnelli had already broached Hollywood before in "the bad and the beautiful" the ending of which was one of the most ferocious I know.Excerpts of this 1952 work are used here with stunning results.Douglas watching himself when he was supposed to be young and famous recalls Gloria Swanson watching her silent movies (with her former director Von Stroheim now her butler) in "Sunset Boulevard".

But it's Cinecitta now.A new Italian cinema is rising and Minnelli is aware of that.He had probably seen Fellini's and Antonioni's works and their influence emerge sometimes:Rosanna Schiaffino 's character reminds me of Anita Eksberg in "la dolce vita";the posh receptions have an Antonioni atmosphere("la notte").On the other hand,Douglas's mad drive might have influenced Fellini for his segment of "spirits of the dead" ,"Tobby Dammit" (1968).

But if the movie has a message ,it's this one:If you want somebody you can trust ,trust yourself.Stop hiding in the movie theaters (or in the films),as Douglas's character says to Schiaffino on the beach ,and get a life!