A Touch of Class (1973)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

I remember seeing this film in London in the seventies and loved it. I remember it as a hysterically funny film and as far as I am concerned George Segal can do no wrong. However, having hired it from Love Film I was surprised to find that it wasn't as funny as I thought it was. Also the morality of the man juggling a lover whilst he loved his wife didn't fit with the mores of today. There were obvious holes in it which now struck home for instance, they didn't need to reserve aeroplane tickets, the fat friend could get in the way by sitting with George in the plane and Glenda's children seemed to have vanished when she was cooking dinners in the flat they used for their trysts. Additionally, dialogue such as ' Great! My only chance to get raped and you can't get your trousers off' struck an odd note in the 21st Century. Glenda received an Oscar for her performance which I found odd. She was typically Glenda and I saw some of the tart facial expressions and comments used in Women In Love another of my favourite films( I think she got an Oscar for that too). As I once stayed at the Churchill hotel where they were at the beginning and had an American boyfriend in the seventies who didn't understand English sarcasm I suppose time has moved on. It all related to my life in the seventies - not now though and my husband disapproved totally that it was thought perfectly acceptable for the George Segal character to have a so called 'bit on the side'. Shame!

My first review ever, if memory serves - I've been on this site for many years now, so I may have forgotten...I saw A Touch of Class for the first time yesterday and it was definitely a very pleasant surprise for me, even though I suspected I was going to like it - otherwise I wouldn't have watched it at all. Anyway, it was even better than expected. It was really, really funny and the characters were very likable. How do you NOT fall in love with Glenda Jackson?! :) And he's pretty cool too, but I'm straight so I can't really speak for that side. Anyway, I think the way their affair plays out is completely natural and believable and that's the reason I don't get why one IMDb reviewer (one that I can recall - perhaps there are more) AND Roger Ebert both have a problem with the movie turning into a romance in its second half (and with the ending, which I address below). OK, so it's not as funny as it is in the first half, but so what? Does it HAVE to be a laugh-out-loud comedy all the way? I have no problem with the genre-mixing here, none whatsoever - I rarely do, actually. To me, the narrative structure is pretty much impeccable and makes sense throughout, with the ending being, of course, pretty much inevitable given the situation. Would the movie really have been better had they implausibly stayed together, despite his kids and all of the other obstacles? I don't know. Maybe! It was certainly hard to take, but it made perfect sense to me. Ebert on the ending: "it doesn't seem right" and "for two people, both still in love, to reach a sad but "rational" decision to end it: That's not only unfair, it's unlikely." Um... why? Isn't that how life is? Some good moments, some bad moments, a lot of fun (at least in my case - I'm sure there are others who are less fortunate) and then the occasional, inevitable really tough decision that most of us (or at least many of us) ultimately make with our brains instead of our hearts? Especially if we also happen to love our wife and kids - which is actually shown in the movie, if you pay attention, at least as far as the kids are concerned... And you can't even say it was rushed - they both got there gradually, as is shown in the movie's second half. I don't really get the logical basis for this opinion. Not yet, at least. So, then, I ask: what's not to like about this movie?!...Like the title says - to me, this is the best movie of 1973, save for (but very, very close to) The Exorcist. Have no idea why this isn't considered a classic...

A TOUCH OF CLASS was a charming romantic comedy about a married American businessman (George Segal) who lives in London and drifts into an affair with an English fashion designer (Glenda Jackson). Though the script borders on the cliché, Segal and Jackson manage to rise above rather ordinary story thanks to their surprisingly effective on screen chemistry. Jackson actually snagged a second Best Actress Oscar for this film (something that still baffles me to this day)but Segal is just as good as she is. Personally, I think this is one of Segal's best performances...Segal's Steven Blackburn is urbane, sophisticated, witty, and sexy and his attraction to Jackson's Vicki Ellesio is a bit of a puzzle since her character is sort of a bitch, but the film is still worth a rental if you've never seen it.

Glenda Jackson won the Academy Award for her performance here, and whilst not brilliant, she plays her character very well and she has good chemistry with George Segal. The dialogue is at times sharp and witty, yet the film's screenplay is not all that great because the content is stretched a little thin to bear the stretch of feature length. Also, the supporting characters are mostly silly stereotypes that hang around the set but add little to the story. Some of the jokes are also repetitive and predictable. However, it is an interesting enough film to watch, despite the premise being unoriginal, because of the two lead characters being well-mannered, refined types - quite different to the average couple in this type of film.