Love Affair (1994 film)
Love Affair | |
---|---|
Directed by | Glenn Gordon Caron[1] |
Screenplay by | Robert Towne Warren Beatty |
Story by | Mildred Cram Leo McCarey |
Based on | Love Affair 1939 film by Delmer Daves Donald Ogden Stewart |
Produced by | Warren Beatty |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Conrad L. Hall |
Edited by | Robert C. Jones |
Music by | Ennio Morricone |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 108 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $60 million[2] |
Box office | $18,272,894[2] |
Love Affair is a 1994 American
The film stars Beatty, Annette Bening and Katharine Hepburn in her final film role, with Garry Shandling, Chloe Webb, Pierce Brosnan, Kate Capshaw, Paul Mazursky and Brenda Vaccaro.[4]
Plot
On a flight to Sydney, sports announcer and former football star Mike Gambril meets singer Terry McKay, each of them engaged. Their plane malfunctions and is forced to make an emergency descent, during which Mike and Terry comfort each other. The plane manages an emergency landing on a remote atoll, and the passengers wait to be rescued by nearby ships.
As Mike gets himself accustomed to the boat he selected, a Russian cruise boat, Terry arrives aboard as well as her ship was being redirected elsewhere. As the passengers get more and more drunk with the Russian crew, Mike and Terry almost have an encounter but it is curtailed by party revelers. She reconsiders and runs to her room.
The next day, with a hangover, Terry says she doesn't want to make a "mess" of her life with an affair and tries to push Mike off the topic. Instead, Mike invites Terry to visit his elderly aunt, Ginny on the isle of
Finally, on the way home on the return flight to New York, they agree to reunite at the top of the Empire State Building in three months' time to test their convictions and current relationships. Terry breaks up with her fiancé Ken Allen, as does Mike with his, Lynn Weaver.
Terry finds work as a singer, mostly in advertisements. Mike, to the chagrin of his agent, is having an existential crisis about his TV career and ruminates about returning to his hobby painting. He quits his job in TV and works as the head coach at a small college. One of his primary pieces is a portrait of Terry in prayer from their idyllic day on the island, wearing his aunt's hand-made shawl.
Months later, on the way to the rendezvous, Terry is struck down by a car while crossing a street jaywalking. Gravely injured, she is rushed to the hospital. Mike, waiting for her at the observation deck at the top of the building, is unaware of the accident. After many hours, in the rain, he finally concedes at midnight that she has rejected him.
Now unable to walk as a paraplegic, Terry refuses to contact Mike and let him see her in her paralyzed condition. Instead, she finds a job as a music teacher in a small elementary school. Six months after the accident, she sees Mike with his former fiancée at a holiday concert featuring Ray Charles, which Terry is attending with her former boyfriend. Mike does not notice her condition because she is seated. Each can only manage a terse hello, with Mike looking irritated.
Christmas Eve arrives and Mike makes a surprise visit, claiming to have come across her address while looking up another name in a telephone directory. Although he steers the conversation to make her explain her actions, Terry merely dodges the subject, never leaving the couch on which she rests. Mike mentions his aunt, now deceased, had left the shawl for her in her will. His aunt had taken a liking to Terry and secretly hoped the two would marry and straighten out Mike's life. Mike mentions, that he "made a painting of you with that shawl." Mike had left it in disgust at the hotel previously and the hotel manager had the restaurant display it.
About to leave her life for good, Mike remarks that the painting was given to a woman recently who very much admired it. He is about to point out that the woman was in a wheelchair when he suddenly pauses, realizing that Terry isn't moving in her couch and making no effort to get up to say goodbye. Mike walks into Terry's bedroom, opens the door and sees his painting hanging on the wall. He now knows why she did not keep their appointment.
Cast
- Warren Beatty ... Mike Gambril
- Annette Bening ... Terry McKay
- Katharine Hepburn ... Ginny
- Garry Shandling ... Kip DeMay
- Chloe Webb ... Tina Wilson
- Pierce Brosnan ... Ken Allen
- Kate Capshaw ... Lynn Weaver
- Harold Ramis ... Sheldon Blumenthal
- Carey Lowell ... Martha
- Ray Charles ... Himself
- Linda Wallem ... Lorraine
- Cylk Cozart ... Dr. Punch
- Meagen Fay ... SSA Flight Attendant
- Ray Girardin ... Wally Tripp
- John Hostetter ... Ben
- Elya Baskin ... Ship Captain
- Savely Kramarov ... Cable Officer
- Oleg Vidov ... Russian Businessman
- Herman Sinitzyn ... Russian Waiter
- Taylor Dayne ... Marissa
- Ryk O. aka Dick Ochampaugh ... Ship Steward, Russian Dancer
Background and production
The film is a remake of the 1939 film Love Affair with Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne and of the 1957 film An Affair to Remember with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, both directed by Leo McCarey. The name of Terry McKay's character remained the same in all three films, while a different one was chosen for each of the three leading men.
Love Affair was Hepburn's first big-screen appearance in nearly 10 years[5] (although she had made several TV movies in this time) and marked her last appearance in cinema. It includes the only time that she ever said the word "fuck" on-screen. Beatty personally lobbied 86-year-old Hepburn to appear in the film. He rented a house for her in Los Angeles and had her referred to a special dermatologist, but she did not give a definitive answer until the day of filming. Luise Rainer was also considered for the role.[6]
Filming took place in
Reception
The remake was neither a critical nor a commercial success at the box office. It grossed $18 million domestically over a budget of $60 million
Year-end lists
- 7th worst – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone[10]
- 7th worst – Janet Maslin, The New York Times[11]
- Worst (not ranked) – Bob Ross, The Tampa Tribune[12]
References
- The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
- ^ a b c "Box Office Mojo". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
- ^ "Love Affair 1939". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
- ^ a b "Love Affair 1994". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
- Hepburn's filmography.
- Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
- ^ Love Affair (1994), retrieved 2022-06-07
- ^ "Cinemascore". Archived from the original on 2018-12-20.
- Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
- ^ Travers, Peter (December 29, 1994). "The Best and Worst Movies of 1994". Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
- ^ Maslin, Janet (December 27, 1994). "CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK; The Good, Bad and In-Between In a Year of Surprises on Film". The New York Times. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
- ^ Ross, Bob (December 30, 1994). "Versed in the worst". The Tampa Tribune (Final ed.). p. 18.
External links
- Love Affair at IMDb
- Love Affair at AllMovie
- Love Affair at the TCM Movie Database
- Love Affair at the American Film Institute Catalog
- Love Affair at Rotten Tomatoes
- "Soundtrack". Internet Movie Database.