Two Weeks in Another Town (1962)

Two Weeks in Another Town (1962)

“I don’t want your charity — if I’m through as an actor, I’m through!”

Synopsis:
Washed-up Hollywood actor Jack Andrus (Kirk Douglas) is given a chance by director Maurice Kruger (Edward G. Robinson) to coordinate the dubbing on his latest Italian melodrama, starring young hotshot Davie Drew (George Hamilton). When Kruger falls ill, Andrus — who has fallen in love with Hamilton’s girlfriend (Daliah Lavi) — takes over directing duties.

Genres:

  • Actors and Actresses
  • Claire Trevor Films
  • Cyd Charisse Films
  • Edward G. Robinson Films
  • George Hamilton Films
  • George Macready Films
  • Kirk Douglas Films
  • Movie Directors
  • Has-Beens
  • Hollywood
  • Vincente Minnelli Films

Review:
There’s not much redeeming value in this overblown melodrama by director Vincente Minnelli, based on a novel by Irwin Shaw. The normally reliable cast of A-list actors fail to adequately develop their characters (Claire Trevor is particularly shrill and one-note as Kruger’s controlling wife):

… and the narrative covers ground trodden many times before. A major disappointment.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • Daliah Lavi’s appealing performance as Douglas’s Italian love interest

Must See?
No. Though this film is inexplicably lauded by many (and was voted by Godard as one of the best films of 1963!), it’s not must-see viewing.

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One thought on “Two Weeks in Another Town (1962)

  1. In total agreement here. A colossal bore.

    Minnelli already said what he had to say about Hollywood ten years earlier with ‘The Bad and the Beautiful’ (which he self-indulgently references here).

    Agreed as well: with the exception of Ms. Lavi, no one comes off well in this unrelentingly tawdry morass. It’s particularly depressing to see Cyd Charisse playing a predator making a living off of her beauty.

    Douglas does have one monologue which believably describes how those surrounding a star can feed off him and pick him dry.

    Otherwise…ick!

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