The Only Game in Town (1970)

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Seeing "The Only Game In Town" for the first time forty odd years after it was made is a very special treat for anyone who loves film and film history. This was going to be George Steven's last film. A great director, a pioneer. Here he's directing Elizabeth Taylor for the third time, after "A Place In The Sun" and "Giant". That alone makes "The Only Game In Town" a collector's piece. Elizabeth Taylor clearly trusted George Stevens completely and for good reason. She is spectacular. Every close up is like a personal, private experience. Warren Beatty is perfect here and he turned down "Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid" to work with George Stevens. Good for him. A delicious treat.

George Stevens made his farewell work as a director with The Only Game In Town and you wouldn't think that a flop Broadway play would make such a good film. It's happened before and it will happen again.For this final performance his leading lady was Elizabeth Taylor and she was certainly lucky for him. Stevens won two Oscars for Best Director for A Place In The Sun and Giant and Taylor was in both those films. This third time out didn't yield any Oscar gold for him, but this is certainly a most respectable character studies of two Las Vegas characters.Taylor is an aging dancer in one of the plush casinos. She also had been the kept mistress of Charles Brasswell who just can't quite get around to divorcing Mrs. Brasswell. After a quarrel on that subject he leaves and on a whim she takes up with lounge piano player Warren Beatty.Beatty was a last minute substitution for Frank Sinatra and wouldn't have that been a once in a lifetime pairing of Liz and old blue eyes. Sinatra was definitely set for the role and I know that because of Hank Henry's presence in the cast as Beatty's employer. Henry, a former burlesque comedian, was a Sinatra regular in many of his films and I have no doubt Frank got him the small part as the bar owner. Despite no Sinatra, The Only Game In Town is a nice and deep character study of two show business veterans for whom the industry has lost its glamour a long time ago. Beatty also has a gambling problem which is why he can't stay in any relationship. Both of our stars make you forget it's them you are watching and get deep in their roles.Director Stevens in his farewell directorial gig got great performances from his stars and the mood and ambiance of Las Vegas is captured beautifully. You can't go wrong with The Only Game In Town.

I recorded this off of the TV years ago & I must say I really like it more as the years go by.When I first saw it about 25 years ago I didn't get it at all & was very disappointed by the cheap setting etc...it felt very much like a filmed play.But now I really appreciate it as very sensitive film about two lost people who find each other at lonely points in their lives & hook up to conquer the boredom and loneliness, take each other for granted and then realise they actually love each other.Liz could be a very sensitive, emotional & witty performer. She's often at her best in little movies and I think this is one of her most touching and emotional performances. She gives this picture wit and soul which make up for the cheaply put together locations.Warren Beatty, who I usually find quite 'blah,' is also good as the guy with a gambling habit who falls for a lonely dancer.

Playing one of her rare working class girls, Liz is a Las Vegas showgirl who lives in a plastic little apartment and watches old movies on late night television… The ambiance doesn't take shape for Liz; we've heard too much about the diamonds and the yachts and the enormous household staff to believe her in such modest circumstances… Frank D. Gilroy's slight, sentimental script is about practically nothing at all… A girl meets a guy (Warren Beatty), they go to bed, they part, they get together again… He has a gambling problem, and she's engaged to an older married man who keeps promising to get a divorce… The gambler is a ladies' man; clever and suave, he tests his way into the girl's bed and then into her heart…In a lightweight romantic comedy-drama like this, the charm is everything… As the gambler, Warren Beatty has it; as the bruised, lonely, overage chorus girl, Liz doesn't… Her off-screen aura works 'against' the role, just as Beatty's image as her capricious lover works beautifully for the character… Liz tries, though, but she is really too old for this sort of thing, and far too heavy and matronly to pass as a chorus girl kicking up her heels every night to earn a meager living…Beatty transforms the material, making it seem much sharper and brighter than it is… His reckless, cocky charm, his clever comic timing, his light seductive voice reveal some of his best work… When she catches Beatty's light style, Taylor is pleasant, but when she goes weepy, when Stevens encourages her to play the dramatic actress with style, she misplaces the character