The Battle of Love's Return (1971) User Reviews

Not your normal Troma film

[swellzombie · 19 June 2003]

So Tromaville's Lloyd Kaufman proves that he's a goofy guy. This 1971 directorial debut of Lloyd Kaufman isn't as great as say... Toxic Avenger, Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D., or Surf Nazi's Must Die, etc. But it is pretty interesting. If you go into it expecting very little Troma then you should be all set. The story is about a guy who, played by Lloyd is apparently a screw up and isn't concerned with what `important'. He's goofy and dorky and people make fun of him. But he's in love with a girl who works at a coffee shop and impressing her is important to him. Lloyd did something in this film that I don't think I've seen before. The base of the story was about Abercrombie running around and being silly. But when he runs into a new character like the Preacher or the guy who runs the adult bookstore, the movie changes. It suddenly becomes a black and white suedo-documentary. The characters, are asked questions by Lloyd then they answer them as their respectively as the person they're supposed to be. It gives the story some good depth. It's really a neat idea and it's too bad that the rest film doesn't carry it better. The ideas are there and it is surprising that movies like the ones listed above spawned from this.

If you're a die-hard Troma fan, you probably won't like this. It's too artsy and very slow. Plus, there are no heads being squashed or nudity.

It's amazing

[Tromatic · 2/10 · 6 August 1999]

Amazing that Troma has survived, with this being their first movie. Very dull, particularly for a Troma film. This studio would get better, however. I believe that this says it all, but this system wants to force me to provide at least 4 lines commentary. So here you are.

Too amateurish to succeed

[Leofwine_draca · 1/10 · 1 August 2017]

THE BATTLE OF LOVE'S RETURN is an early film from Troma head honcho Lloyd Kaufman, who handled all of the main crew duties as well as taking the lead role of a goofy young man undergoing a journey of awakening in the mean streets of New York. It's a comedy of errors of sorts, but a film which really tests the patience of any sane viewer, and I don't class myself as a Troma fan either. The film looks and feels dated, the comedy is unfunny, and the whole thing is goofy and over mannered. Watch out for Oliver Stone's random cameo.

Before there was Troma there was "The Battle!"

[RED · 8/10 · 12 December 1998]

Lloyd Kaufman (the creator of "Toxie" and Troma) wrote, directed, produced, wrote the music, edited and stars in this film about a poor guy who is troubled by life and love in the big city. The film is very different from most in that it incorporates both fictional and (could be fictional) interview footage into the narative. I walked away with the feeling that the city (New York) is a cold place and so is the modern world! But that's just one man's opinion!

Captures the "Me Decade" in it's confused glory...

[TONYWATT3000 · 10/10 · 1 March 2010]

After the toxic fallout of the 60's love generation, this 1971 avant guard film captures the mood, confusion and questioning of life from a fractured generation; which is still relevant today. Look past Lloyd Kaufman's crazy Troma Studio persona..this is a very deep, intellectual, here. Kaufman plays a dual role as the director & 'Abacrombie' a geeky ineffectual man, in the post-hippies, early '70's America, his struggles with authority (eg. cops and his boss,played by Stanley Kaufman), trying to fit 'in'; trying to get out of his 'bag' & 'get in with the beautiful' & 'groovy' but never seeming to; as most of us in general have felt in our lives...he is chasing his dream girl (Lowry), who finally comes around, when it's too late. In the B&W documentary like scenes..hard questions are asked,to various characters; but we hear in the crew's background Kaufman (in the role of director) being chastised by the crew as a bumbling director, who lacks authority. One gets from from this movie (especially the climax)..the disillusionment & death of the flaccid "American dream", as personified by Kaufman's (the actor) nebbish character. I cannot think of any other way of understanding or 'getting' the message of what director/writer Kaufman is trying say cinematically, than this movie. It's relevant to any lost generation, out there, trying to adjust to the ever-changing, rapid 'culture shock' of the 21st Century. Whether you are a homey, jock, hipster, emo, suit or freak...this movie is a 'stone' American hidden filmic treasure...worth studying or being viewed more than once, whether watching 'straight' or 'turned on', Ma-a-a-an.

An enjoyably oddball early 70's comedy curio

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 3 January 2010]

Nice, but hopelessly awkward and bumbling nerd Abarcrombie (an amiable performance by Lloyd Kaufman) blunders his way through life and makes various faltering attempts to meet the girl of his dreams (the film debut of delectable 70's cult siren Lynn Lowry in various neat multiple roles). Writer/director Kaufman astutely captures the infectiously easygoing irreverence of the early 70's with a series of random goofy vignettes that range from extremely broad and funny (Abarcrombie attempting to help a feisty old lady across the street, Abarcrombie hanging out with a bunch of groovy hippies at a funky crash pad and toking on a joint for the first time, a meddlesome little girl undermining Abarcrombie's job putting tap on wires on a bridge) to just plain weird (a sequence that's filmed and scored just like a slapstick silent movie reel, a hysterical trip to a dirty book store). Moreover, there are a bunch of strange black and white interviews shot hand-held cinema veritate style interspersed throughout the rambling narrative. Popping up in nifty bits are Andy Kay as a blithely lazy longhair, Stanley Kaufman as Abarcrombie's stern boss Mr. Crumb, Ida Goodcutt as a fierce elderly woman, Roderick Ghyka as pretentious psychiatrist Dr. Finger, and Bonnie Sacks as a pregnant gung-ho distaff army sergeant. Oliver Stone has a hilarious cameo as a mincing homosexual (!). The jaunty'n'jazzy score by Kaufman and Andre Golino further adds to this picture's considerable sweet and good-natured cockeyed charm. A genuinely offbeat and interesting period piece.