Loving (film)

Loving
DVD Cover
Directed by	Irvin Kershner
Produced by	Don Devlin
Written by	Don Devlin J.M. Ryan
Based on	Brooks Wilson Ltd.  by J.M. Ryan
Starring	George Segal Eva Marie Saint
Music by	Bernardo Segall
Cinematography	Gordon Willis
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release dates	4 March 1970
Running time	89 min.
Language	English

Loving is a 1970 American comedy film released by Columbia Pictures and directed by Irvin Kershner. It is based on the novel Brooks Wilson Ltd. written by pulp magazine illustrator John McDermott under his pen name, J. M. Ryan. The movie starred George Segal in the title role of a philandering NYC illustrator and Eva Marie Saint as his wife. The cast also included Sterling Hayden, David Doyle, Keenan Wynn, Roy Scheider and future 20th Century Fox president Sherry Lansing, among others.

Synopsis

Brooks Wilson (George Segal) is a busy man, juggling his work as a commercial artist with a marriage to Selma (Eva Marie Saint) and two young children. He also has a girlfriend on the side named Grace (Janis Young) who wants him to commit to her, but he cannot do this.

Brooks is trying very hard to land an elusive account from Lepridon (Sterling Hayden), but this is seeming harder to achieve than he thought. One evening they attend a party at a grand Connecticut home. Feeling his life is falling apart, Brooks seduces flirty Nelly (Nancie Phillips), wife of his associate Will (David Doyle). They go to a children's playhouse outside the main house, and their indiscretions are caught on closed-circuit television. Selma and Will are devastated. Brooks and Will fall into a fist-fight. After the commotion dies down, the harried Brooks tells Selma that he finally landed the Lepridon account. She smacks him with her handbag, and they stare at each other in silence, seeing their marriage honestly for the first time.

Cast

• George Segal as Brooks Wilson
• Eva Marie Saint as Selma Wilson
• Sterling Hayden as Lepridon
• Keenan Wynn as Edward
• Nancie Phillips as Nelly
• Janis Young as Grace
• David Doyle as Will
• Paul Sparer as Marve
• Andrew Duncan as Willy
• Sherry Lansing as Susan
• Roland Winters as Plommie
• Edgar Stehli as Mr Kramm
• Calvin Holt as Danny
• Mina Kolb as Diane
• Diana Douglas as Mrs Shavelson
• David Ford as Al
• James Manis as Charles
• Mart Hulswit as Ted
• John Fink as Brad
• William Duffy as Jay
• Irving Selbst as Benny
• Martin Harvey Friedberg as Roger
• Lorraine Cullen as Lizzie
• Cheryl Bucher as Hannah
• Ed Crowley as Mr Shavelson
• Roy Scheider as Skip
• Sab Shimono as Byron
• Eileen O'Neill as Cindy
• Diane Davies as Barbie

Critical reception

The film has generally been well received by critics. Steven Scheuer found the film "quietly intense" and "humorous, human, and insightful", but found the film's final scene "incongruous in its farcical mayhem," (Scheuer, 1990: 641). On the other hand, Leonard Maltin found the film's climax "superb" and praised the director on his "great feeling for day-to-day detail [of the characters' lives]" (Maltin, 1991: 730).

Roger Ebert found the film "an amusing and intelligent comedy of manners" (Ebert, 1970) with a great central performance by George Segal. Clive Hirschhorn noted that while the film was "well-observed", and was truly "Segal's film", it was still "uneven" in content (Hirschhorn, 1989: 285). Perhaps the review that most sums up the film comes from Leslie Halliwell, "smart New York sex comedy, typical of many but better than most," (Halliwell, 2000: 496).

References

• Ebert, Roger (1970-10-15). "Loving". Chicago Sun-Times (Chicago Sun-Times). Retrieved 2008-01-15. 
• Halliwell, Leslie (2000). John Walker, ed. Halliwell's Film & Video Guide 2001. London: HarperCollinsEntertainment. 
• Hirschhorn, Clive (1989). The Columbia Story. London: Pyramid Books. 
• Leonard, Maltin (1991). Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide 1992. New York: Signet. 
• Scheuer, Steven H. (1990). Movies on TV and Videocassette. New York: Bantam Books. 

External links

• Loving at the Internet Movie Database
• Loving at allmovie