Dimmi quello che vuoi!

Alan King is absolutely terrific as a vulgar, sharp, overbearing millionaire who is keeping Ali Mc Graw as his mistress. She can't take anymore of him so she starts seeing a young playwright (Peter Weller). Since King is the driven type who HATES to lose, he does everything he can to win her back. This is a highly cynical but also highly enjoyable comedy with some great one liners and a stark sense of amorality throughout(The final scene just shows that everyone has their price). Even McGraw is less lockjawed than normal.Directed by the king of New York movies, Sidney Lumet.

King is a really great comedian, virtually unknown to audiences in Europe. In this „late screwball" comedy he plays a tycoon, and for this kind of movie part he sets a mark nobody has surpassed. He brings the right mix of competence and freakishness to the role. He is a ladies man, a hypochondriac (goes well together), is cunning and can be utterly ruthless and cruel. Of course, the character has a great egotistical mind - and yet he is oddly likable. There's more: The movie also includes great performances by Keenan Wynn as competing tycoon and also by Myrna Loy, famous screen beauty of the Golden Age of Hollywood. She plays King's loyal secretary and surrogate mom. Ali McGraw is kind of beautiful but seems to be made of granite (the set design of her ritzy apartment is beautiful and interesting, though), Peter Weller's talents are wasted here.

This movie really boasts many, many memorable lines. The character played by Wynn tries to convince the tycoon that he should donate for a wing for special diseases of a hospital. This makes King quip „I can't wait to see those poor guys die of special diseases in my wing!" Also great are the final sequences in which the main character stays in hospital because of an imaginary heart attack. His little, stumpy body lies in a white shroud on an examining bed while he berates the high priced specialists standing around him, telling them in a choked voice that he knows exactly what's wrong with him and they should better read the „f***ing literature"! People are like that! Life is like that! It's great to be able to laugh about it sometimes.

This under-rated movie that no one ever saw is worth a look. Alan King and Ali McGraw make a great couple, believe it or not. Dina Merrill is hysterically funny as Alan's wife, Connie. She is out of her mind and his affair is not helping. Myrna Loy, a screen legend, does not disappoint with her small part as Alan's right arm/valuable assistant. Also along for the ride are Keenan Wynn, Peter Weller and Tony Roberts.

Saw this years ago when it came out. Now seeing it again through older eyes makes it even better. While the relationships depicted are predatory--eat or be eaten--they still have a certain sweetness to them. It's a uniquely well-done commentary on the rich. Fitzgerald was right: they're different.

Can't understand why there's no "memorable quotes" part of this entry.

This movie became one of my favorites the instant I saw it and I didn't even like Ali MacGraw! But I like her just fine now. This is an absolutely top-notch production from start to finish and the performances are outstanding -- without exception. I mean here you have Alan King, with Keenan Wynn, and Myrna Loy as supporting actors! MacGraw and Peter Weller are very appealing as young lovers and MacGraw gives her perhaps only great performance. She pulls out all the stops in this one and couldn't be better. I just love this movie and can't understand why it wasn't a big hit. Well, I can, actually. It doesn't appeal to immature adolescent boys (including most Hollywood producers).