At Long Last Love (1975) Of the 'New Hollywood' generation of directors who rose and flourished in the 1970's (or 'movie brats as they were sometimes called), none enjoyed a more meteoric rise than Peter Bogdanovich.
Like more than a few of his fellow movie buffs, he survived a sink-or-film internship in Roger Corman's shlock factory........
But unlike a Quentin Tarantino, infatuated with video store genre junk, Bogdanovich worshipped the old school masters like John Ford, Howard Hawks and Preston Sturges. And he dominated the cinema zeitgeist with his meticulously crafted imitations of classic Hollywood.....with his bittersweet elegiac drama "The Last Picture Show (1971), his imitation 'Bringing Up Baby' screwball comedy "What's Up Doc" (1972), and his snappy black-and-white father-daughter con artist romp "Paper Moon" (1973).
But along with his fame and accolades, Bogdanovich's ego swelled and he reveled in the attention, along with his then girlfriend Cybill Shepherd, a stunning blonde fashion model-actress and one of the stars of his "The Last Picture Show".
In their numerous talk show and public appearances, the couple made a toxic impression.....smug, entitled, supremely self-satisfied. They came across like the high school cool couple who sneered at all the rest of us groveling nerds......
The chroniclers of the cultural landscape couldn't wait for the opportunity to take them down more than a few notches. And Bogdanovich and Shepherd gifted them with all the ammunition they needed.....with "At Long Last Love". The power couple's seeming self-indulgent snobbery was headed for a catastrophic reckoning at the hands of cinema pundits.
The director fashioned a loving tribute to 1930's musicals with his screenplay built around more than a dozen classic songs of composer-lyricist Cole Porter....(a master of combining jokey, intricate lyrics with can't-get-it-out-of-your-head melodies.)
In a move of either hubris, balls or groundbreaking originality, Bodganovich didn't have his cast sing to their own pre-recorded playbacks, the technical standard for virtually every Hollywood musical. He had them spontaneously perform the songs live on the soundstages while the cameras rolled... a bold move considering most of the cast were untrained in musical performance and .an unheard of idea that you'll probably never see used in a film musical ever again.......
The story involves a cast of top-hatted, begowned New York society swells, played by Shepherd, Burt Reynolds at the height of his superstardom, Madeline Kahn and Dulio Del Prete. Following in their wake with wisecracks and asides are their loyal servants (Eileen Brennan and John Hillerman, both deadpan comic masters.)
Needless to say, much romantic complications, snappy retorts and enthusiastically delivered Porter songs follow them everywhere go.....all around a town gorgeously designed mostly in primary black-and-white decor similar to the Ascot Races set in "My Fair Lady.
In this oddball cast, the only real singer here is Madeline Kahn, who easily proves herself a musical comedy powerhouse in every scene she graces. But Reynolds and Shepherd to their credit, carry the tunes just fine and deliver Cole Porter's trademark knife-edged wit with just the right amount of charm and sarcasm.
After the decades I've spent chasing after a DVD or Blu-Ray of this impossible to find lost film, some brilliant soul uploaded a full, digitally restored copy on YouTube, where you can finally view it now. (Pretty much pristine with the single exception of one musical number obviously taken from a worn out editing room workprint)
And how does "At Long Last Love" hold up after 48 years?
Surprise, surprise.....it 's damn good. I was charmed, entertained, amused, impressed.....and that's saying a hell of a lot more than some of the brand new releases I've suffered through so far this year. I'll not describe it any further, just let the film transport you to its own little snow-globe never-neverland.
But getting back to the film's history.......as I already explained, the zeitgeist knives were out for Bogdanovich and Shepherd. Film critics gleefully savaged the movie as an unwatchable, ego-driven vanity project for the director and his leading lady/girlfriend. Less than a few days into its release, the rotting stench of failure had been attached to the film forever, forcing it to slink out of theatres in a week or less.
Reynolds career remained undamaged, since his public persona already included snarky self-depreciation....(his 'Bandit' character from 'Smokey And The Bandit' would later muse about his failed record album "Bandit Does Cole Porter") Shepherd moved on to episodic television, later successfully re-inventing herself as a comedienne in the show "Moonlighting".
Bogdanovich continued his directorial career, to middling degrees of both success and failure, but never approaching anything close to the flavor-of-the-month heights he hit in the golden age of the early 1970's.
A true lost-and-then-found movie, I'm not afraid to say that I kinda loved "At Long Last Love".......a gem of an unfairly maligned film from an era long gone......and if you're any sort of a movie musical fan, a must-see.....4 stars (****)
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