Das charmante Großmaul

The One and only was a great film. I had just finished viewing it on EncoreW on DirecTV. I am an independent professional wrestler, and I thought this was a good portray of what life is like as a professional wrestler. Now this film was made 4 years before I was born, but I don't think the rigors of professional wrestling traveling has changed all that much. Sad, funny, and all around GREAT!!! **** 10+

"The One and Only" is a movie that most likely had a difficult time finding an audience. It really is more a "chick flick" than a wrestling film. The first third relies on a lot of slapstick, but once Henry Winkler enters the ring, the frantic pace settles down somewhat. Quite a few character actors contribute, including Mary Woronov as a bar trollop, Henry Villechaize as a midget wrestler, and Gene Saks as a manager. The theme song "The One and Only" is quite good, as is the trip down wrestling's memory lane. Most of the laughs come from Winkler's enormous ego, and interactions with Kim Darby's Mother and Father (Mom and Tom). - MERK

Caught this on the french cable a few weeks ago and instantly felt "at home" with this films' characters and story. As I gradually found out, there's a reason for this : The One and Only is a straight retake of Fred Coe's A Thousand Clowns (1964), one of my favorite films ! Two of the original actors were even imported : Gene Saks and William Daniels, the latter having been in the original cast of the Herb Gardner play (if I remember correctly).

The global plot and situations are altered but the result is the same : how to (try to) keep youth spirit in a grim and conventional world... and make it alive ! Not as memorable as the original film (or the play) but just as lovely.

Two years before he wrote and directed "Arthur", Steve Gordon had a minor hit with his screenplay for this crackpot comedic vehicle for Henry Winkler, then-star of TV's "Happy Days" as the Fonz. A 1950s college thespian (and all-around jerk) woos a co-ed and gets married without any employment prospects on the horizon; to make ends meet, he turns to the flamboyant world of wrestling, eventually becoming a "Gorgeous George"-like celebrity. Turning likable Winkler into an obnoxious goof-off probably sounded like an interesting idea at the time (and a sure way to separate him from his television alter-ego), but the jokes and situations are often wrong-headed and mean, staged rather sloppily by director Carl Reiner. Particularly crude is a wincing bit involving Hervé Villechaize (of "Fantasy Island") putting the moves on Polly Holliday (Flo from "Alice"). As Henry's beloved, Kim Darby looks a little out of her element--particularly when surrounded by all these TV hams--rendering the romance aspect of the script inconsequential. *1/2 from ****

Well I guess it supposedly not a classic because there are only a few easily recognizable faces, but I personally think it is... It's a very beautiful sweet movie, Henry Winkler did a GREAT job with his character and it really impressed me.