That Lucky Touch

"That Lucky Touch" is a movie which, overall, is just okay. But it also has some wonderful moments...and for that reason it's well worth watching.

The film concerns an arms dealer (Roger Moore), a NATO general (Lee J. Cobb) and a pacifist reporter for the Washington Post (Susannah York). While you'd think the reporter would have little to do with either men, you'd be a bit mistaken. After going to a dinner party put on by the general, the reporter is locked out of her apartment...and this results in her asking a neighbor for help (the arms dealer). There is much more to the film than this....but the best moments, by far, are between the arms dealer and the lady reporter. A close second is the general's wife...who is hilariously ditsy (Shelley Winters).

The film has some slow moments and the story isn't always strong. But there are so many wonderful moments I cannot understand it's very low rating. Well worth seeing.

I guess that the film wasn't so popular but I may be wrong. The fact is that many people have dislike to "That Lucky Touch" because it's not an action movie (as many of viewers had thought before watching this) but very light and "likeable" romantic comedy featuring Roger Moore, Susannah York, Shelley Winters and Lee J. Cobb.

The plot of the film isn't complexed. Arms dealer, Michael Scott (Roger Moore) prepares weapon transport for NATO. The whole operation is of course top secret, but one very inquisitive journalist, Julia Richardson (Susannah York) discovers what's going on and accidentally gets to know Michael. The problem begins when they fall in love with each other ...

Anyway, I suggest you watch "That Lucky Touch" and that's not only because of a fantastic performance given by Lee J. Cobb, and real good-looking pair Moore-York (they both had played together before in Peter Hunt's "Gold" (1974)) but also because it's a good "lonely-Friday-night" movie and Christopher Miles' gentle direction will make you feel relaxed.

I was about 14 year old when my cousin told me he had seen a movie with my favorite actor, Roger Moore, set in Belgium. I would have believed him if he hadn't added that the end of the film was set in the castle of Rumbeke, the village my grand parents lived. That sounded just way to unreal. But he was right. 'That Lucky Touch' which was first going to be called 'Heaven save us from our friends' was shot entirely in Belgium (most of it in Brussels) and it's climax was shot in the forest of the castle of Rumbeke. I like this film. Living in the states, it gives me a warm feeling each time I see it. It makes me feel like being home again. My favorite scene is the one in which Roger Moore and Suzanne York are sitting in a cozy pub on the famous grand place in Brussels. Moore tells York that he wants to show her what Belgians do in the early morning hours ... they eat onion soup!?!?!? Hmm, what movies can teach you about your own national traditions.....

In an odd premise, the two romantic leads in That Lucky Touch are an arms dealer and a liberal journalist. Who would think to put that combination in a comedy? Roger Moore, in a very un-Bond-like role, plays the arms dealer who has no qualms about arming bad guys for potential WWIII. Susannah York is his neighbor who accidentally get locked out one night after a party. Of course, he's very accommodating, offering her to spend the night in his place. He disconnects his phone and pretends it's out of order, but his seduction fails when Susannah finds out his occupation. The rest of the film has a little bickering, a few jokes, and a bit of a quirky feel to it. I stuck in there for the supporting cast.

Shelley Winters steals the show early on in the movie, as she talks Susannah into binge-eating with her. "You're far too skinny to sleep alone," she says with both envy and a twinkle in her eye. It's because of little moments like that why I'll watch any movie with Shelley Winters. In another hilarious scene, Shelley calls her husband, big military general Lee J. Cobb, while he's busy planning important war strategies. She accidentally uses the presidential emergency line and excuses her faux pas by insisting her reason for calling is an emergency: she needs an extra officer attending her party that evening. And finally, when Lee goes on a quail hunting outing, she waves him off with a cheerful, "Tally ho! I'll be rooting for the birds." She and Lee make a cute couple, probably helped by their friendship from their early New York stage days.

If you love the cast, check this obscure 1970s romance out. It's not really that great unless you're invested in the actors. And I'll admit, if some other character actress was cast instead of Shelley, I might have picked another movie to watch instead.

Perhaps when it came out, this movie could be watched as a light-hearted romantic comedy, but 30 years later, it's hard to buy a story about an international arms dealer selling automatic weapons to Saudis - and the 'spunky' feminist investigative reporter who loves to hate him - as a 'comedy', let alone a 'lighthearted' one.

The movie is marketed as an 'international adventure with Roger Moore', so you think you're getting a James Bond-type film with lots of action; instead, what you get is a slow-moving, heavy-footed piece of cheese - Swiss cheese, in fact, given the number of plot holes.

Moore plays arms dealer Scott, who finds himself living next door to an investigative journalist (played by Susanna York) in Brussels. He's in town to sell some hard-core weapons to the US military; she's in town to cover war games. I think he is supposed to be a charming-but-insincere international playboy, while she is supposed to be a highly principled feminist (!) just trying to get ahead in a man's world.

Unfortunately, the whole thing never really gets past the level of farce: it's just one stereotype after another. Her portrayal of 'feminism', for example, seems to consist entirely of shrieking about how terrible men are and storming off in a huff. And we never actually see her doing any 'reporting' at all, unless putting a piece of paper in a typewriter just before getting distracted by something (a phone call, a daydream) counts as 'reporting'.

Now this kind of stereotyped farce works fine when you've got lots of action, a fast-moving plot, evil villains, stylish art directing, great music, etc. But this movie hasn't got any of that. On top of which, the supporting actors don't seem to know whether they are in a comedy, a drama, or an action film.

Bottom line: Only for die-hard fans of Roger Moore or British films set in European countries during the 1965-75 period.