SYNOPSICS
Lucky Lady (1975) is a English,Spanish,French movie. Stanley Donen has directed this movie. Gene Hackman,Liza Minnelli,Burt Reynolds,Geoffrey Lewis are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1975. Lucky Lady (1975) is considered one of the best Comedy,Crime,Drama movie in India and around the world.
It's 1930. Claire (Liza Minnelli), an American living in Tijuana, Mexico, has just buried her husband Harry, who owned a dive bar there. Walker Ellis (Burt Reynolds), a loser with whom she has long had a thing on the side, agrees to wrap up her affairs in Tijuana for her so that she can move stateside before they be together after an appropriate grieving period. Wrapping up those affairs includes smuggling one last truckload of illegal Mexican immigrants across the border. In that job not going quite according to plan, Walker is forced to go into business rum running across the border with Kibby Womack (Gene Hackman), one of those he was trying to smuggle across the border, Kibby an American in trouble with Uncle Sam. Instead of via overland, Walker has hired Billy Mason (Robby Benson) to Captain the sailboat to transport the goods via water, Billy a young, quiet man unwise to the ways of the world, but wise when it comes to the sea. As Walker, Claire, Kibby, and Billy navigate the ...
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Lucky Lady (1975) Reviews
At long Last...DVD?
Released in Sydney in 1976 in the beautiful lost Plaza cinerama-screen theatre LL was crazily blown up to 70mm for release here and suffered horrible cropping to make it a rectangle 2.2 ratio pic when it seemed to be shot 1.66-1. Heads were cut off, or in one famous scene with Liza in a chair with Hackman and Reynolds standing behind her (the famous "fish fart" line) all we saw was her eyes on the stage and the men's chins at the top. I saw it again in proper ratio and it was far better, so whoever's idea to blow it up literally only added to the maligned 'bomb' status of this very expensive ($13m) 1975 film. Yes, the washed out image also looks weird, and makes you yearn for better access into the antics on screen. We had one of the 3 reported endings: the silly happy one where they all surface in the water after being blown up. The Butch Cassidy ending where the guys die and she is left would have been much better. Amazing that this film cost $4m more than STAR WARS filmed the next year. I saw a terrific 'making of' featurette at a nearby cinema at the same time which was in focus and offered a witty and attractive lead to the film, so there is plenty for the DVD if we get it. Reynolds other films of the time AT LONG LAST LOVE and NICKELODEON deserve favourable DVD releases too; all 3 are funny and enjoyable and compared to new multiplex releases from the USA, are masterpieces. LL is almost a musical and Reynolds is a hoot. The John Held artwork on the credits will make you rush to buy a book of his delicious 1920s cartoons.
Slapstick and violence making strange bedfellows...
Liza Minnelli plays such a selfish harpy in "Lucky Lady" that it's easy to see why this film won her no new admirers. Fans of 1972's "Cabaret" were already softened to love Minnelli no matter what, but here director Stanley Donen seems intent on making Liza's character Claire as brittle and abrasive as possible. The lumbering plot, about a trio of rum-runners in the 1930s who outsmart the competition and fall into an oddly casual three-way love affair, isn't worked out cohesively in terms of the narrative (and the overlapping scenes of raunch, comedy, and mobster melodrama eventually cause impatience and resentment). At first it's a bit shocking to see Liza in bed between Gene Hackman and Burt Reynolds, however the movie isn't all about after-hours fun under-the-sheets; Donen turns the third act into a violent extravaganza (with a slapstick bent), including boats blowing up, guns going off, and dead bodies everywhere. The picture walks a shaky line between nostalgia and bloodshed, with echoes of "Bonnie & Clyde"'s jangly tone. Little of it jells, though the attempt is certainly a curious one. **1/2 from ****
Rookie moonshiners run afoul of the government and other criminals
Interesting little comedy featuring 3 down on their luck folks who, during the depression, formed a coalition to run booze past the coast guard. Turns out the CG is the least of their woes as a psychotic rumrunner decides to take over the entire area and rub out any who stand in his path. Good shootout as a finale with a multitude of boats gunning it out in a Pacific cove. Good one.
The Bootleg
After the popularity of "The Sting" a few other movies surfaced with period themes and involving gangsters. I have to say to me "Lucky Lady" was one of the more entertaining. Acting from Gene Hackman, Burt Reynolds, and Liza Minnelli was certainly more than competent and decent from the rest the cast. The costumes, sets, and music were quite good. Overall just a fun movie to watch. Take a group of privateers during Prohibition (law passed making drinking liquor against the law in U.S.) that wants to make a little fast money selling liquor smuggled in from Canada with the mob and the law hot on their heels and you get the theme of the movie. Considering the star power here and the fact that this is certainly much better to watch than a lot of trash out on DVD it surprises me this has never been released on DVD and if it ever was on VHS it is long since OOP. I sure hope some smart studio gets this our on DVD. I can guarantee they will do much better with it than many others they might try to market.
Grade A Hollywood dud
Sometimes you just have to scratch your head. All the ingredients are in place for a great movie. In this case you have a cast headed by Burt Reynolds, Gene Hackman, and Liza Minnelli, and a top director in Stanley Donen who made the classic "Singing in the Rain." So what went wrong? In a word it's the script. When ideas run out an action sequence is implanted to try and throw the viewer off. Nice try fellas but it didn't work. Even the main story is just brushed over. An often intimated threesome with the main leads is just a tease. It's never explored and only serves to wet our appetite for something that might liven this mess up. Alas, it never comes. Released at Christmas in 1975 "Lucky Lady" proved to be a major box office flop. It's easy to see why. I'm sure no one connected with the film is too pleased to be reminded of it.