Customer Reviews

Gable and Lombard

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

 

 

This is one of the most underrated movie of the 1970's. Jill Clayburgh is absolutely first-rate in her portrayal of Carole Lombard and James Brolin is surprisingly dead-on as Clark Gable. The movie begins at the site of the plane crash that killed Lombard and flashes back to the beginning of Gable and Lombard's risky and soulful love affair. Critics destroyed this movie when it was released nearly 4 decades ago, but I urge everyone to give it a shot. The production design is faultless, the musical score is lush and romantic, and the performances are terrific. I plan on being the first one to buy it.

This 70's movie was lost and now has returned to Anamorphic (automatically adjusts to TV size)WideScreen 16:9 DVD!!! There are no extra features with this DVD.

The Golden Years of Hollywood (1930 - 1960) had the great love stories on and off the silver screen. There was Tracy and Hepburn, Bogart and Bacall and Burton and Taylor but none of these were as hot, steamy and as controversal as "Gable and Lombard". Hollywood through their eyes tries to capture this passion with a comedy/drama of the wildest exaggerations. Even so the love story cannot be denied.

It was the 1930's and Clark Gable was known as the "King" and Carole Lombard was the highest paid actress and known as the "Queen" of the screwball comedy (or the black comedy - a bizarre style of comedy that evolved from the Depression. Taking a negative situation and making it into an ironic humorous story). James Brolin as Gable and Jill Clayburgh as Lombard do an exceptional job bringing these two dynamic superstars to the big WideScreen. Lombard was a real blonde beauty, talented, single, very defensive, could not make romantic/marraige commitments, a tomboy, drank, smoked cigars and a party animal. Gable was handsome, talented, mans man, had married older domineering women and a wild partying womanizer.

This movie although very fictionalized captures the essence of "THE GREATEST HOLLYWOOD ROMANCE". Gable and Lombard fell hard for each other and Gables wife would not grant him a divorce. (She loved the prestige of being Mrs. Clark Gable). This movie has us journey the long road that Gable & Lombard spent trying to make that utilmate commitment, marriage. Finally through public (who loved these two), Hollywood moguls and legal pressure Clark Gable and Carole Lombard were married. This true Hollywood romance only lasted for less than 3 years when Lombard was tragically killed in an airplane crash returning from a World War II bond drive in her home state of Indiana. Gable never got over her death.

This is a must see movie. Watch this fun loving torrid romance a true Hollywood fairy tale. Enjoy.

i was so happy that this finally came out on dvd. i have been searching for it for years even buying a horrible copy of it on ebay. i was one of the first in line to see this movie the day it came out in 1976. i could not wait because i was such a huge clark gable fan and a fan of the gable-lombard love story. i will agree with the previous reviewer that jill clayburgh is very good in this movie, in fact i would say she is the reason for seeing it. however, james brolin (or mr streisand as i like to refer to him) is pretty bad as gable. i will say there are times in the movie that he could be his double but his portrayal of gable as a country bumpkin is almost laughable. the production however is first rate but again 98% of this story is made up. for instance, gable was not in the service when lombard was killed. she was killed in january of 1942 and he did not join the service until august of that year. also as far as i know their first meeting did not result in a food fight as in the movie. their first meeting was in a little know gem of a movie "no man of her own" in 1932. they did not meet again until the mayfair ball in 1936. but they did hide their relationship from their fans and the press and there was an article printed in photoplay magazine call "unmarried husband and wives" that did "out" them as living together as well as barbara stanwyck and robert taylor and paulette goddard and charles chaplan. i think the most ludicrous scene in the movie is lombard putting on the red dress and parading down the aisle while clark is supposedly speaking to some ladies group.. WRONG... DID NOT HAPPEN..all in all it is an enjoyable movie and a sincere love story. i just have to try to forget that it is supposed to be a truthful telling of the gable-lombard union which it is not.. i just wish when they told stories of REAL people they would tell the truth and not rewrite history.. but i do recommend seeing the movie for what it is a purely fictional account of a truly magical couple.. then if you want the real story of the gable-lombard romance read the book "gable and lombard" by warren g. harris.

The critical lambasting this film received on it's initial release in 1976 is inexplicable. Though certainly not a classic love story it is most definitely above average. The film's only failing that I can see are some slapstick moments that fall flat. Where it succeeds is in the scenes of intimacy between Gable and Lombard. James Brolin is more than adequate as Clark Gable and Jill Clayburgh is absolutely radiant as Carole Lombard. The chemistry between the two is palpable which makes the relationship believable. At times I lost sight of the fact that these were two of the most famous celebrities in America and that they were ordinary people in love. The film also contains a terrific turn by one of my favorite character actors, Allen Garfield, as Louis B. Mayer. Now if only they would release on DVD another Hollywood bio released in 1976, "W.C. Fields and Me", with Rod Steiger. Trivia note: Clayburgh hosted "Saturday Night Live" at the time of this film's release and took part in a parody of the film, "Grable and Lombard".

I agree with several reviewers that Jill Clayburgh's portrayal gets too involved in vulgarities and not enough in the subtleties of her character. Going from a snarling foe of Gable to his sweetheart is a transition that lacks credibility. The end of the movie has history all messed up. "Carole" tells "Clark" at their ranch that Corregidor has just fallen and MacArthur left the Phillippines. Actually the first event happened May 6, 1942 and the second March 11, while Lombard died on January 16. The "I'm going on a bond-selling tour" conversation would have taken place in early January; actually, Gable urged his wife to do so because he was committed to a picture. The end scene takes place in the desert under a tent, with Gable already in uniform. He was actually in a saloon where he was hold up waiting for word of his wife's fate, and he only joined the military afterwards out of a feeling of guilt for her death.

Lombard was a remarkable person in her own right and it would be difficult for any artist to try to portray her in a way that does justice to her legacy.

A whitty tale of two famous actors who's only wish is to be together no matter what the film studio bosses say. Their quirky ways of meeting and the deception and lengths they go to, to be together, is funny and belieable for two people in love.

I've always wanted to see this much talked about film. No video rental I've ever been a member at has ever carried it. If it's been on tv, I've always missed it. When I saw it for sale at Amazon for a good price, I decided to buy it. It's pretty much what I expected. James Brolin has the almost impossible job of portraying a man who was beyond a legend. Though he bears a good general resemblance to The King, his attempts to imitate Gables speech and manerisims make him come off like a nite-club impressionist. Clayburgh's portrait of Lombard is a bit more relaxed, but she seems to be chanelling a lot of Barbra Striesand in her performance.

Historical acuracy is cast aside for dramatics sake. In the opening scene when Gable arrives at the crash site to await word on his wifes fate, he's a captain in the army. In truth, Gable did not join the service until after Carole died.

The film has the feel of a 70s TV movie, but all in all, it's entertaining.
I felt a bit of sadness while watching it, as my late mother was such a fan of Clark Gable. She always wanted to see this film. She died before I could locate it.

First half good, second half not so good. I think Brolin was terrific as Gable. I think he nailed the character. Clayburgh was good as well. As I said, it was quite enjoyable for an hour, then it just lost control of its story and its charm. Too bad. The actor who played L. B. Mayer was great. He had all the best lines.

This is a really enjoyable film to watch but it contains many inaccuracies. Lombard comes across as a foul mouthed, ill educated woman when she was the opposite. Lombard was very much a thinking woman who was a devout New Deal Democrat who earned the admiration for FDR and Eleanor. Duesenberg driving Gable (He owned 4!) although a gifted actor was never a Hollywood intellect like Lombard, Frederic March, Edward G. Robinson and other activist actors of the day. Many people hated James Brolin in this film but I think in 1976 he was the best choice. I did not like Clayburgh as Lombard. I am shocked that Hollywood has not made a real epic movie about the couple. This 1976 TV movie and a French Documentary seem the only information on this iconic couple of Hollywood's golden era. This may be due to the fact after Lombard's death Gable never spoke publicly about his late wife except one time in 1943 when he along with Lombard's brothers and Louis B. Mayer went to christen the Liberty Ship "Carole Lombard".

Total fiction, and that's too bad, as it was a story worthy of telling. Badly miscast, Lombard comes off as a shrill, foul-mouthed (while she had the vocabulary of a sailor, Gable once said "it was music coming from her.")shallow wench and Gable is portrayed as a dimwit. Neither is true - Lombard was a warm, caring, giving woman and Gable had more than a veneer of sophistication. The film invents situations, or warps real ones out of recognition, never touching on Gable's infidelities, which were so painful to Lombard - in fact, to draw a simple circle around a very complex issue, Lombard died because Gable couldn't keep his pants zipped, and the film doesn't touch on that at all. To its credit, it does try to capture the essence of their love story, but it didn't have to invent, distort, and mutilate "The Great Legend" of Hollywood love stories.