There are some movies that just aren't good and I can't even recommend them, even if I like them in some strange way. I was 18 years old when I first saw this movie and David Janssen was an old man of 44. Now he looks like a young man of 44 since I'm coming rapidly up on 53! Anyway, not a lot to disagree with any of the critics. This is a boring film considering its subject matter, but hey, it was 1975. There are two things that stand out in the film that I remembered all these years. When Kirk Douglas drags Janssen out of bed and slugs him, the drywall cracking behind him, and the silent TV set dispensing the movie's climax while January is having an unrelated discussion with the Janssen character. I just finished watching a faded 16mm print of this movie, and realized quickly that it was a TV edit with all of the cussing gone, and even Janssen's butt. The cussing was the best part - especially Brenda Vaccaro's tirade at the end. But would I... bother to hunt down an uncensored VHS or DVD and sit through it again just to have the missing pieces? Probably not. Deborah Raffin is absolutely beautiful, she has 1990s supermodel skinny and complexion, which was a real rarity in the 1970s. Most of the time she's in sweaters and ankle-length skirts. There is one scene of her in bra and panties almost worth the whole movie, but blink and you'll miss it. But basically, the only likable character in the whole movie is Janssen, and he's a heavy-drinking grump. The thing that stands out about him is he's the only character who acknowledges what he is... he has some speck of self-honesty through the booze and the haze. The rest are shallow beyond even most 70s fare... even 70s TV fare. George Hamilton - maybe one of the first people ever to be famous for being famous - is in this movie, although blink and you'll miss him too. Brenda Vaccaro has a somewhat sympathetic role but in the end, she's a phony too. I can't imagine what possessed me to buy this 16mm print more than a decade ago, but it was the desire to keep my 16mm projector warm and make sure it still works that possessed me to drag it out this evening for my wife and I to enjoy. Enjoy for its campiness, a few good scenes. And if you have the 16mm its on three reels so you get two rewind/bathroom breaks! I think one of the reasons this film fails is because it's too serious. It has no laughs. In fact, when I saw it in the theater, the only time anybody in the whole place laughed was at the lesbian scene. And I laughed again because I remembered it just before it came along and was laughing just at the memory. Some things maybe are better off left in memory. For a movie supposedly about sex, it contains virtually none. And I guess that's why you can still get Cheri Caffaro movies on DVD newly remastered... but not this dull little gem. I'm being very kind to give it a 4 only because it was one of the first "adult" movies I ever saw. And because I have indeed suffered through far worse.
Review of Once Is Not Enough
