Customer Reviews

All Night Long

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Don't let the pedestrian title of this very smart, adult comedy fool you-its a real sleeper and a precursor to films like "Lost In America" and "American Beauty". Long, long overdue on DVD (I'm not even sure if it ever made it to VHS) it is a joy to see the uncut version again after 20 years. Gene Hackman gives one of his best, and most subtle comic performances as a man going through severe mid-life (and mid-career) crisis after he is demoted from corporate climber to night manager of one of his company's retail chain drug stores. Barbra Streisand is the neighbor's wife that Hackman, er, covets (as does his randy teenage son, well played by Dennis Quaid in an early role). I have to strongly disagree with the popular concensus that Streisand was "miscast" in this role. This film is very much an ensemble piece, and for once, Streisand doesn't hog the lens and scream her lines in that grating Brooklyn honk. I find it refreshing to see her go "low key" for a change and let Hackman shine in thier scenes together. Director Jean-Claude Tramont was even able to talk Streisand into performing a song horribly (and hilariously) off-key, which may be the only time Babs has dropped the legendary ego and poked fun at herself onscreen. I think what the detractors of this film are not "getting", is that this is essentially a European film, in demeanor and pacing, despite its all-American cast. If you're expecting another "What's Up Doc?" or "Owl And The Pussycat", which are much broader, louder comedies, then steer clear of this one. Not necessarily a "bedroom farce", (despite how it sounds) but ultimately an intelligent look at the choices we make in our lives, and the chances you have to take in order to "start over".

A huge box office bomb upon release, ALL NIGHT LONG has been criticized by many for it's uncomfortable mix of odd-ball comedy and quaint slice-of-life drama. Though it received some positive reviews (most notably from Pauline Kael and "Rolling Stone" magazine), most mainstream critics hated it and audiences all but completely ignored it. It is also often cited by most of Streisand's die-hard fans as their least favorite film of the actress. While the film is certainly not without it's flaws, I have interestingly always thought ALL NIGHT LONG contained somewhat of a bizarre charm, and I've always wished it would receive a re-evaluation from the film-going public.

As mentioned before, the film has it's problems. It's paced too leisurely (it's only 90-minutes in length, but feels more like two-and-a-half hours), Jean-Claude Tramont's direction is too light (the film needs more of a thematic punch in several scenes), and much of it's humor is surprisingly too subtle (odd seeing that most film comedies have the opposite problem). Having said all of that, the film is still worth checking out. Though Tramont's direction may be a tad too limp, his skewed perception of the American dream gives the film a dreamy, almost art house-like feel that makes the film more inherently interesting than the screen play would merit alone.

Also, the varied cast is a lot of fun, almost all of them playing against type. Gene Hackman brings a equal mix of unusual serenity and touching pathos to his role of the would-be inventor who manages to find his true self by losing nearly everything that was once-important in his life. In an early role, Dennis Quaid throws himself completely into part of Hackman's airheaded son, making the intelligent personae he would develop in later films like DREAMSCAPE and THE BIG EASY even more impressive. Barbra Streisand is clearly miscast the role of the bimbo housewife who woos both Hackman and Quaid (Streisand replaced Lisa Eichhorn, who was fired from the film after two weeks of production), but her performance is still worth catching. Though she's never totally believeable as Cheryl (a role that was poorly-defined in the screenplay to begin with), she is still a very likable, always watchable, and occasionally endearing presence in a unusual little film that deserves a second chance.

About the DVD: The picture quality, though dated-looking, is surprisingly crisp and clean. The sound is fine, but there are no extras.

I bought this to see how bad it is after all the bad things I have heard about it. I was really surprised when I enjoyed it. Streisand
is the biggest surprise and delivers an excellent acting job. For once she becomes the character she is playing and discards all the typical Streisand mannerisms. Why, she even sang off-key!

This is a very off beat and quirky kind of 'comedy'.
It's really a vehicle for Gene Hackmann (who actually gets billing OVER Babs). But of course as with any Streisand movie,
it is Barbra who holds our interest. Even as great an actor as Hackmann is, it would be a pretty safe bet that it would have never been made (much less re-released on DVD) without Streisand.
In short, it's a story about man (Hackmann)going through a mid-life crises. The movie opens with Hackmann's teenage son (played by a young Dennis Quaid) having an affair with the older married next door neighbor nymphette (played by a bleach blond, very soft spoken, and sexy Streisand). Hackmann is rather unhappily married to Dianne Ladd and going through a major midlife crises. Streisand is unhappily married to Kevin Dobsen (Mack from Knots Landing) who is basically a control freak, if not wife beater. Soon Streisand dumps young lover Quaid for mature Hackmann and Hackmann quits his ho hum but stable job as
a graveyard shift drugstore manager. All hell breaks loose when not only Hackmann's wife finds out, but so does bully Dobsen, and even Quaid who now wants to kill his father for stealing his woman. This movie is worth seeing if not for anything else, but
for Streisand's very underrated performance. It's a role unlike anything we had ever seen from her. Her character is very child-like, slightly dim-witted, and even rather pitiful. Talk about casting against type!

The 1987 GOODTIMES VHS of ALL NIGHT LONG is recorded in SP mode but doesn't have a HiFi audio track. The sound is good despite this limitation.


Here, Streisand is Cheryl, an unhappily married aspiring country music songwriter who has one incomplete tune, "Carelessly Tossed," to her credit. Hackman is George, a corporate failure whose single act of irrational violence gets him demoted to Siberia: overnight manager of one of the company's seedier drugstores. George too has dreams, of inventing something marketable. To date he's built a self-running vacuum cleaner and a mirror that allows you to see yourself as others do.

George meets distant relative through marriage Cheryl when he asks her about an affair she's having with his 18-year-old son (Quaid). What began as a confrontation develops quickly into love. George leaves his wife (Ladd) and later discovers she's having an affair with her divorce attorney (Daniels). Cheryl has several fights with her fireman husband (Dobson) and must decide does she want to work on her marriage or leave him for George, who's now quit the drugstore job and is a waiter at night and a gadget tinkerer by day. George's renting of a warehouse floor for a home also worries Cheryl, so she's got much to consider.

The best comic moments are within the few drugstore scenes that occur early on. These include a shoplifter (Mele) that gets away from the pharmacy's bumbling security guard (Ingersoll), and a giantess (Minter) who steals the uniformed dummy's pistol to attempt a register robbery.

Musically there's two film references that occur with frequency: the romantic "La Violetera" theme from Chaplin's CITY LIGHTS (1931), and Il Trovotore's Anvil Chorus, reminscent of the Marx Bros. comedy A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1935). Although it's no classic, this story's got a bit of charm and it concludes satisfactorily. If you're a Babs and/or Gene fan, your time will be well-spent here.


Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 imdb viewer poll rating.

(5.7) All Night Long (1981) - Gene Hackman/Barbra Streisand/Diane Ladd/Dennis Quaid/Kevin Dobson/William Daniels/James Ingersoll/Ann Doran/James Nolan/Hamilton Camp/Tandy Cronyn/Faith Minter/Nicholas Mele/Richard Stahl

I love Barbra and I liked this movie when I first saw it in 1981. Although I,m pretty sure she did it for the money,She was getting ready to make Yentl and needed the extra cash for overruns and such. Cheryl Gibbons was a totally different character for her to play,watch the movie and you see what a great actress she really is,especially the scene when she is leavind her douche bag husband. OK so a great little tarnished gem in an otherwise stellar movie career but like I said I love Barbra and I like this movie.I just found out it is on DVD tonight 3/12/09 so I will order it.

It's just one of those movies ... but the special thing is Streisand's contribution. This DVD movie has a visual defect for 1-2 seconds on the original master tapes, I guess. However, it's worth being collected if you're a Streisand fan because this one allowed her to act out another personality.

Well..I got the film recently cause I want to collect all the film of Barbra..I am a big fan of her..So I purchase it from the Amazon even though I herad about it is not a good one, but I thought...how worse could it be when it is played by Barbra?
Yes..it is really bad, pointeless story,boring dialogue,I only wonder why she accepted to play the main role in succh a bad movie..
Afterwards, if you are the same big fan like me,maybe you should still keep it,this is really only bad film from her I guess...for those movie fan weant to see a good movie but not the fan of her...forget about tis one!!

Streisand as Monroe? Oye.
If she had played down the beauty wannabe aspect of her persona I think this might have worked...a little. But, once again, the mirror is two faced and the funny girl isn't seeing clearly as her costars scramble like a bunch of nuts going nowhere in a sandbox filled with mud. A star was dead and buried on this one.

I finally got to see this one Babs movie that had eluded me for years. I wish it still had eluded me. Never have I seen Babs at her worse and in such a stupid, unfunny, non-entertaining waste of time, that I, her biggest fan, could stand it no longer and turned it off 3/4 the way in. ITS UNBEARABLE. What a waste of brilliant actors. This is Babs worse movie effort and should be quickly deleted from her sparkling catalog, never to be heard of again. Just plain awful!