The Writer's Poke

In my search for films with Charles Grodin with good ratings, I stumbled upon this one. For whatever reason, I have a difficult time finding 1970s films that I want to watch. Why is that? I mean, I have no problems finding films from any other decade, but beyond the "best well known" films of the 1970s, I tend to draw a blank.  And this one, I would have thought, would be better known. It was nominated for 14 Oscars and won 9. But nope. I went in to watching it without having a clue what the plot was about. Nor did I know that this is a remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), which features another one of my favorite actors, Claude Rains. (There's also a 1943 movie called Heaven Can Wait, but it has nothing to do with the 1978 version.) Although I'm okay with fantasy, the premise of the film is a little absurd. I could forgive that, but I don't like how the ending is handled. In brief, Joe (Warren Beatty) is a back-up quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams. He's...

At the end of the film, Theodore (Gene Wilder), wearing Charlotte's (Kelly LeBrock) husband's bathrobe, jumps off the ledge of her apartment.  On the way down, he has an epiphany. Why was he chasing after the Woman in Red? He has a perfectly good wife and family at home. At that moment, he decides he will never act so impulsively and crazy again.  Then he sees the blonde photographer down below. She's taking his picture, and he decides he likes the look of her legs. Maybe, just maybe... but then the frame freezes in midfall. Has Teddy learned his lesson? Apparently not. The blonde photographer is Sandra Wilder. For a second, I was hoping she was his real-life wife, but when I Googled her, I quickly learned they were no relation. Gene Wilder is a stage name, after all, and Sandra's last name, just a coincidence (and Wilder was married to co-star Gilda Radner at the time).  I did find out that Sandra Wilder was the girl in the Scorpions' "No One Like You" (1...

Larry (Steve Martin) comes home one day to find his girlfriend, Danielle (Robyn Douglass) in bed with Raul (Richard Delmonte). She tells him to leave, and he does, taking out the trash on his way out, as she instructed him to do. Fifteen minutes after being dumped, he runs into Jack (Steve Lawrence), who's out on a stroll with his wife and his girlfriend. He tells Larry that he's heard about Larry's break-up (the one that happened just 15 minutes ago), but not to worry. Danielle has already broken up with Raul. Now she's dating a rock band. It's that kind of movie. Anyway, Larry ends up in the park. He's taking up the right side of a park bench, and here comes Warren (Charles Grodin). He's in the same position as Larry, but he seems a little wiser to what happens next. Warren takes up the left side of the park bench, and the two become fast friends. I love Charles Grodin. Mainly, I remember him for the intentionally awkward segments he would do with Letterma...