Customer Reviews

Bad Manners

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The comparison of this film with Virginia Wolfe is fair in the context that the psychology of those effected in the film is clearly drawn from their socialization of the time period. Characters are thrown on to a modern palette of events. This is the most sincere sociological writing that I have seen since the movie "the last supper". Very compeling, and a must in any intellectuals collection. Thank you Saul.

This dvd (as sold on Amazon Marketplace) has been heavily edited down to a 'G' rating from the original version.
(the original version is great, however that's not what I got)
The box says 'NR' for Not Rated, also that it was manufactured in the People's Republic of China. Did I wind up with a bootleg?

Another awesome film in the "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" style. It is one of those rare films in which each actor is perfect for their role.

The acting and dialogue are independent theater caliber.

The main characters are two professors who are married to each other, the wife's old flame, the old flame's girlfriend, and a $50 bill...let the games begin!

This film was adapted from a play. It explores the psyche of four people, two men and two women, a married couple and a couple living together without marriage. The second couple visits the first, and the husband of the married couple finds that $50 is missing from his wallet. He and his wife search the clothing of the woman visitor and find a $50 bill, which they take. The visiting woman discovers that a $50 bill was taken from her wallet. Then the plot accelerates. A subsidiary plot is that the visiting woman found two lines from a piece of music by Schuman in a piece of music composed years earlier by another composer. How did it get there? Still complicating the plot is that both men are attracted to the females of the other couple. The play and the movie received well-deserved plaudits for both the acting and the story.

I have tried twice now to purchase the 90 minute DVD, R-rated, released by Bell Canyon, and both times have been sent the heavily edited (75 minute) NR pan-and-scan bootleg produced in China (by some entity calling itself Digiview Entertainment). It doesn't seem to matter which of the various Amazon pages you order from, or that the product is described as the 90-minute original. Seems as if a lot of vendors don't know about or care about the difference.
I wish Amazon would be more scrupulous about getting vendors to sell exactly what they advertise, and linking up to the proper page.
At any rate, beware if you order a DVD of this excellent film. Getting a real one seems to be quite like buying a ticket for the lottery...

Immediately brings to mind "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf", similar format, but very different plot, splendid writing and acting. I caught this first on satellite TV and had to own it. Unforunately the DVD leaves a lot to be desired. Parts appear as if shot through a screen door, it has only 2 channel sound and an annoying background hum in chapter 10 (also noticeable on satellite but worse on DVD).In spite of these caveats, I don't regret the purchase one bit--it bears repeated watching.

A musicologist and his new girlfriend have dinner at the home of a married couple, one of whom is the musicologist's old lover. Games of deception and intrigue follow as small mistakes blossom into arguments and deceits, while a new computer program may or may not have uncovered a fascinating secret. A bitterly funny look at academic jealousy and power in relationships.

I saw this on a lazy Saturday afternoon, lucky enough to catch it on cable by accident just as it began. I would imagine the V.Wolfe comparisons are drawn from the way the author has these four volatile main characters never completely answer the all important questions. Words are spoken, sexual tensions and (possible?) liasons occur, pressing questions arise, but as in the best of Shakespearen drama, the "truth" is always at best an opinion of the audience. For those interested in tidy endings that kill most Hollywood scripts nowadays, it ain't here. And that's what makes this a great watch. As in V.Wlofe, the four main characters personalites are slowly exposed through interaction, sometimes brutal interaction, with each other. It's a fly on the wall view of social pleasantries falling away to be replaced by raw emotions. While I thoroughly enjoyed the script, my most negative comments are reserved for the sometimes, and somewhat "Alan Alda" esque feel to the film. A certain phony-1980's-middle-age-Alda-smugness often drips from both male leads. While it could be partly from the fact that they play their parts to well (too intellectuall and macho depleted), the parts alternatly could have been played to the same violent confrontational tone that rears its head so often in V.Wolfe.
All in all, though, a memorable and non-disposable watch.

I saw this on a lazy Saturday afternoon, lucky enough to catch it on cable by accident just as it began. I would imagine the V.Wolfe comparisons are drawn from the way the author has these four volatile main characters never completely answer the all important questions. Words are spoken, sexual tensions and (possible?) liasons occur, pressing questions arise, but as in the best of Shakespearen drama, the "truth" is always at best an opinion of the audience. For those interested in tidy endings that kill most Hollywood scripts nowadays, it ain't here. And that's what makes this a great watch. As in V.Wlofe, the four main characters personalites are slowly exposed through interaction, sometimes brutal interaction, with each other. It's a fly on the wall view of social pleasantries falling away to be replaced by raw emotions. While I thoroughly enjoyed the script, my most negative comments are reserved for the sometimes, and somewhat "Alan Alda" esque feel to the film. A certain phony-1980's-middle-age-Alda-smugness often drips from both male leads. While it could be partly from the fact that they play their parts to well (too intellectuall and macho depleted), the parts alternatly could have been played to the same violent confrontational tone that rears its head so often in V.Wolfe.
All in all, though, a memorable and non-disposable watch.

It was a pretty good film full of twists and turns. There is this coupple and the womans ex-boyfriend comes to visit and brings his new girlfriend along. The the coupple think that the ex-boyfriend's girlfriend stolled money from the man's wallet and it just goes on with accuzations and miss judgements. The ending, for me was slightly unclear but mabey I just didn't notice some key elements. It had really good acting and I enjoyed this movie. I kept me on the edge of my seat.