"Once is Not Enough"? Well, it's not even worth seeing once, that's sure. It's such a melodramatic dire exercise that brings the worst out of you, or at
least the most depressive feelings out of one's last self esteem. Another story about how cynical apparently influential human beings are in dealing with their feelings, their
possessions, their high praise for their failures and low recognition for their successes...seriously, I can't deal with those pictures anymore unless they're
revealing something hardly ever presented or at least well conceived. Mr. Guy Green's direction is deeply flawed but I'm more astounded that he followed such a weak
and misguided script written by Oscar winner Julius J. Epstein ("Casablanca"), such an overdone and strange script that reduces the lead actors to supporting roles
and puts the supporting ones into the foreground - which sort of makes it of this film something relatively good for minor moments.
So, here we go: despite being topped as lead, Kirk Douglas' character Mike Wayne is a supporting one, at one-time a powerful figure in Hollywood that now married with a wealthy woman (Alexis Smith) since he can't produce or write anything worthy. Wayne's esteemed daughter January (Deborah Raffin) returns from a clinic due to an accident and decides to discover the world for herself while still attained to her father's influence and presence. She resists the advances from the rich lady's cousin (George Hamilton) and falls head over heels towards Colt, an alcoholic famous novelist (David Janssen), a self-destructing father figure who seems to like this girl but not enough to give up the booze or change his ways - even though there's some mutual feelings between them. Fact: Mike and this other writer hate each other, which ignites conflicts between the three; at the same time Mike's wife has an affair with another woman (Melina Mercouri) - interesting plot point that wasn't much explored but greatly presented in just one brief love sequence. The best bits of this wreck comes from January's boss/best friend Linda Riggs (Brenda Vaccaro, nominated for an Oscar for this role), a funny lady and filled with life but who like January isn't successful when it comes to find love. Deep down what does "Once is Not Enough" is trying to say? That people are replaceable, money is the main thing and maturity never comes, either you're too young to know stuff or too old to understand how things never remain the same. It's overdone time and again, and in better ways, filmic or literary. That's life for a majority of us - and sometimes we're lucky to have some happiness or good people standing next to us. A movie can kick us in the groin with reality but at least give us something we can watch and find a meaning to it, or some quality writing instead of cheesy scenes and short dialogues (the one where Colt explains why he drinks so much was an almost brilliant one, if only had it been longer). Had the film being about a failed man trying to find his way back to success at the same time he tries to repair his past mistakes then I'd be more interested but Kirk already had a similar role in the exceptional "The Bad and the Beautiful"; but nope, this other thing decided to show the growth of a beautiful lovely girl who can't decide between a father's love or his obsession for an older lover that works as a way to replace her father but in different ways. Most of it, I was stunned by how corny, melodramatic and painful to endure this film was. Brenda Vaccaro scenes were all the best, humored and refined moments, reducing the burden of such a non-appealing drama that even made good veteran actors look like they're wasted - Janssen was convincing as a drunkard though and newcomer Deborah Raffin is quite enjoyable. However, can't say the same for Henry Mancini's distasteful sweet score which was worthy of a Razzie (which didn't exist back then).
I cannot recommend this picture, simple as that. I was stunned by it, couldn't wait for its conclusion, rolling my eyes each sequence went by. But I tried. There were moments where I could breathe when good sequences popped in (the intimate moments between January and Colt; or the exchanges between the girl and Linda). It was like the movie was moving towards something good but the majority of bad stuff overshadowed everything. I was depressed through most of it and that scene with the taxi coming to the distracted girl could be exactly the ending. I'd feel rewarded for something I guess. 3/10
So, here we go: despite being topped as lead, Kirk Douglas' character Mike Wayne is a supporting one, at one-time a powerful figure in Hollywood that now married with a wealthy woman (Alexis Smith) since he can't produce or write anything worthy. Wayne's esteemed daughter January (Deborah Raffin) returns from a clinic due to an accident and decides to discover the world for herself while still attained to her father's influence and presence. She resists the advances from the rich lady's cousin (George Hamilton) and falls head over heels towards Colt, an alcoholic famous novelist (David Janssen), a self-destructing father figure who seems to like this girl but not enough to give up the booze or change his ways - even though there's some mutual feelings between them. Fact: Mike and this other writer hate each other, which ignites conflicts between the three; at the same time Mike's wife has an affair with another woman (Melina Mercouri) - interesting plot point that wasn't much explored but greatly presented in just one brief love sequence. The best bits of this wreck comes from January's boss/best friend Linda Riggs (Brenda Vaccaro, nominated for an Oscar for this role), a funny lady and filled with life but who like January isn't successful when it comes to find love. Deep down what does "Once is Not Enough" is trying to say? That people are replaceable, money is the main thing and maturity never comes, either you're too young to know stuff or too old to understand how things never remain the same. It's overdone time and again, and in better ways, filmic or literary. That's life for a majority of us - and sometimes we're lucky to have some happiness or good people standing next to us. A movie can kick us in the groin with reality but at least give us something we can watch and find a meaning to it, or some quality writing instead of cheesy scenes and short dialogues (the one where Colt explains why he drinks so much was an almost brilliant one, if only had it been longer). Had the film being about a failed man trying to find his way back to success at the same time he tries to repair his past mistakes then I'd be more interested but Kirk already had a similar role in the exceptional "The Bad and the Beautiful"; but nope, this other thing decided to show the growth of a beautiful lovely girl who can't decide between a father's love or his obsession for an older lover that works as a way to replace her father but in different ways. Most of it, I was stunned by how corny, melodramatic and painful to endure this film was. Brenda Vaccaro scenes were all the best, humored and refined moments, reducing the burden of such a non-appealing drama that even made good veteran actors look like they're wasted - Janssen was convincing as a drunkard though and newcomer Deborah Raffin is quite enjoyable. However, can't say the same for Henry Mancini's distasteful sweet score which was worthy of a Razzie (which didn't exist back then).
I cannot recommend this picture, simple as that. I was stunned by it, couldn't wait for its conclusion, rolling my eyes each sequence went by. But I tried. There were moments where I could breathe when good sequences popped in (the intimate moments between January and Colt; or the exchanges between the girl and Linda). It was like the movie was moving towards something good but the majority of bad stuff overshadowed everything. I was depressed through most of it and that scene with the taxi coming to the distracted girl could be exactly the ending. I'd feel rewarded for something I guess. 3/10