Lucky Lady * (1975, Liza Minnelli, Gene Hackman, Burt Reynolds, Michael Hordern, Geoffrey Lewis, Robby Benson, John Hillerman)

Director Stanley Donen’s 1975 musical comedy crime drama Lucky Lady is unlucky for everybody. It is a glossy, vastly costly but rather aimless and (at the box-office of the day) total flop romp about 1930s Prohibition liquor smugglers, redeemed by the three talented stars, who are appealing in a love triangle.

Lisa Minnelli (as Claire) sings (good) and even Burt Reynolds (as Walker Ellis) sings (bad). Gene Hackman also stars as Kibby Womack, the third in the menage-a-trois trio of rum-runners, replacing George Segal, who had suffered a leg injury. But Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz’s screenplay confuses careless frivolity with carefree fun.

Donen, a director who possibly could have brought this uneasy mix of comedy and violence off, fumbles the affair – and lets it slip through his fingers, clearly having problems with the directing, editing, and tone. It has its moments -not many – but it was career damaging for all involved. The highspot is undoubtedly Minnelli bashing out Fred Ebb and John Kander’s ‘(Get) While the Getting is Good’. Reynolds sings ‘Ain’t Misbehavin”.

Fans of Minnelli and Reynolds won’t feel too let down, if they can find this rarely available item.

Also in the cast are Michael Hordern, Geoffrey Lewis, Robby Benson, John Hillerman, Anthony Holland, John McLiam, Val Avery, Louis Guss, William Bassett, Marjorie Battles, Emilio Fernandez, Basil Hoffman, Milt Kogan, Duncan McLeod, Lance Hool and Susanne Zenor.

The original $10 million budget and 12-week shooting schedule became a $22 million dollar budget and a 20-week shooting schedule. It is a famous box-office flop in the manner of Cleopatra, 1941, Heaven’s Gate, Honky Tonk Freeway (1981) and The Blues Brothers.

Reynolds recalled: It was a gruelling film to make, one of the toughest.’ Hackman recalled: ‘In terms of physical pressures and mental strain, it was the hardest film I’ve ever had to do.” Minnelli recalled: ‘It took every ounce of craftsmanship you had ever learned, every bit of stamina, to do this picture.’

The Lucky Lady of the title was a 63ft racing cutter yacht requiring a crew of eight.

[Spoiler alert] Test audiences disliked Walker and Kibby being gunned down by government agents as Claire watched in the original ending, so a happy ending was re-shot.

Hackman was cast only a week before principal photography started in Mexico. The made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, around $ 1.5 million.

RIP Stanley Donen, Hollywood legend, dead at 94 on 21 February 2019.

RIP Gloria Katz, American Graffiti and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom screenwriter, Star Wars script doctor, dead at 76 on 25 November 2018.

RIP Burt Reynolds, dead at 82 on 6 September 2018.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8959

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