Lucky Lady Reviews

A very expensive stinker that cost more than $12 million to make after paying $400,000 for a dreadful script. It's an attempt at re-creating the screwball comedies of the 1930s, but the screenwriters have neither the wit nor the constructive ability to compete with the worst of that era. Filmed in Mexico, LUCKY LADY is the story of an unlikely menage a trois between two rumrunners, Hackman and Reynolds, and nightclub singer Minnelli. Both fall for her as they haul booze up and down the coast, alternately escaping from the Coast Guard and another gang, led by Hillerman, who wants the action all to himself. At one point, Hackman and Reynolds masquerade as Coast Guardsmen to climb aboard the competition's boat and slaughter them (the best action sequence but hardly comedic). The first time around, both Hackman and Reynolds were killed, but preview audiences nixed that; a new ending was added in which both men live, but by that time it was too late. The picture suffers from forced slapstick, out-of-place violence, and a mixture of acting styles that clash under Donen's unsure direction. Screenwriters Huyck and Katz have yet to recapture the success they had with AMERICAN GRAFFITI, which may have been due to the fact that they wrote that one with George Lucas. They fail to infuse this story with any sexuality as Hackman (who replaced George Segal in the film when Segal took ill) is more like Minnelli's father and Reynolds seems more like a high school playmate. Benson plays a cabin boy with his customary dullness, although when compared to the others, he seems positively radiant. Minnelli can be wonderful, Burt Reynolds is usually charming, and Gene Hackman has seldom given a less-than-terrific performance, but together they are as explosive as wet matches.