User reviews

I have been searching for this for years and finally found it on DVD. It is well worth seeing though not quite as funny as I once thought it was. It doesn't all work but the parts that do are great.

A young couple (Michael Brandon and Bonnie Bedelia) are about to get married but have not told their parents that they have been secretly living together. The supporting cast is great, many of them achieved bigger fame in TV. Anne Meara plays a frustrated wife whose husband (Harry Guardino) is not interested in sex anymore. The father of the bride (Gig Young) is a "with it" guy who does not believe in the Generation Gap. He is also cheating on his wife (Cloris Leachman) with a hysterical Anne Jackson. Bob Dishy is a lecherous usher who is desperately trying to bed a spacey bridesmaid (Marian Hailey). Best of all Beatrice Arthur and Richard Castellano (nominated for an Oscar for this) are the Italian Catholic parents of the groom. Their chemistry is hilarious and they also find out their other married son is looking to divorce his wife (played by Diane Keaton). Castellano is so old fashioned he threatens to give his 30 year old son a beating with his belt! There are two interesting bits by uncredited Conrad Bain and Jerry Stiller. Bain plays a priest who hears the confession of his future "Maude" co star Bea Arthur. Stiller (Anne Meara's real life husband) plays a wedding guest. The beautiful song "For All We Know" won the Oscar, it was later a big hit for the Carpenters.

This film is a wonderful comedy, with glowing portrayals, a great comic atmosphere, and some deliciously insightful moments of human interaction. I wish that I owned it on video. Watch for Bea Arthur and Richard Castellano, they are simply marvellous. Highly recommended.

"Lovers & Other Strangers" was a big hit back in the day and much of it still works. An outstanding ensemble cast was gathered and they made the best of the material. Gig Young, Beatrice Arthur, and Richard Castellano are especially deserving of critical praise. The best scene would have to be the wedding itself between Michael Brandon and a very young Bonnie Bedilia, which the theme is especially poignant. More great scenes are when Michael Brandon's parents tell their older son and daughter in law (Diane Keaton & Joseph Hindy) about their secret marital problems and how they coped with them. Other parts of the film don't work well, in spite its good actors. The martial problems of Anne Meara and Harry Guardino are believable at first, but then go over the top. The set-up date between the usher and bridesmaid is mostly exasperating. Anne Jackson is stuck with a completely one-note role, where her character is constantly crying about something. This film is overrated and dated, but it works more often than it doesn't.

This is wedding movie that is less about the actual couple than it is everyone around them. So many characters are at turning points in their lives that it's difficult to keep all the story lines straight. Many of the characters are unsympathetic, but that is not necessarily a bad thing, as the movie would be dreadful if they were all nicey-nice.

At the same time, unsympathetic doesn't have to be as annoying as Anne Meara's character, who is sympathetic at firs but then turns shrewish as she spits out some homophobic dialogue about her husband's manhood. (For this, I have deducted a full point in my rating, because even back then writers Joseph Bologna and Renee Taylor should have known better.) Diane Keaton fares better in her brief screen time (her character is discussed more than seen for much of the film), looking much different (and quite fabulous) but one can tell it's definitely her once she begins speaking with other characters.

The film definitely deals with relationship/marital issues that are still relevant today, and I liked the way the stories were wrapped up at the end. For that reason, I say this film is still a worth see, though maybe no longer a "must see." (Although I'm sure Golden Girls fans will consider it a must to see a post-Broadway but pre-Maude Bea Arthur.)

Having just purchased the DVD of this movie, and not having seen it for more than ten years, I feared perhaps it would too antiquated and dated to still be worthwhile owning. This was certainly not the case.

Lovers And Other Strangers is totally charming and lovable movie that despite the emphasis on the year it was made(there are many references to 1970) is still very relevant and moving. I admit to being close to tears at one scene, between a father and son, towards the end. I was also laughing out loud at many other scenes such as the hysterical Italian parents trying to scare their son into remaining in his unhappy marriage(a classic scene with hilarious dialogue you won't ever forget) and the furtive passionate embraces with the bride's father and his mistress in every available bathroom.

The themes that are relevant to today is the search for love in an increasingly uncertain age. The film opens with an outpouring from the groom to be, about all his fears of the future of the world and his doubts about marriage. Today all those fears are still there plus many many more. There is also power struggles between the genders, casual sex, extra-marital affairs and the dilemma of staying in an unhappy relationship. Some of these were very new themes explored in movies at the time it was made.

Having said that there are elements of the film that are charmingly dated which obviously include the music, the clothes and some of the social attitudes(it was at a time when divorce was still a disgraceful scandal for many families, particularly Catholic families). These dated elements though give it more of a nostalgic feel rather deter any enjoyment.

Michael Brandon and Bonnie Bedilia are lovable as the newly weds and Bea Arthur and Richard Castellano are the hilarious parents of the groom. The whole of the ensemble cast is great and watch for Dianne Keaton's film debut as the estranged daughter-in-law.

A hilarious romantic comedy, adapted from a play, offering a raw and cutting analysis of relationships in its historical context.

The marriage of Michael Vecchio (Michael Brandon) and Susan Henderson (Bonnie Bedelia) is an opportunity to reunite their two families, which offer a very diverse emotional panorama. On one side, the marriage of the paternal parents, Franck Vecchio (Richard S. Castellano) and Bea (Bea Arthur), married forever, who have built, day after day, their union with tenacity and mutual understanding; on the other, the bride's father, Hal Henderson (Gig Young), histrionic, charming, and indecisive, who continues to cheat on his wife with her lover and vice versa.

A sparkling debut for Cy Howard, characterized by very strong and rigorous direction; the screenplay is by Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna, who, with the help of David Zelag Goodman, revisit their successful stage play, adapting it for the big screen without losing any of its brilliance and vivacity; the cast is well-rounded, enhanced by the nomination of Richard Castellano and the debut of Diane Keaton.

Best moment: So many love stories, all with a romantic ending, but if I had to choose one, the newlywed storyline is the most satisfying.

Mike (Michael Brandon) and Susan (Bonnie Bedelia) are getting married. The movie deals with them and their various families preparing the wedding. Bedelia's parents are played by Gig Young and Cloris Leachman--and Young is sleeping with a cousin played by Anne Jackson. Mike's parents are played by Beatrice Arthur and Richard Castellano who hate each other. Also Mike's brother Richie is divorcing his wife played by Diane Keaton (in her film debut). There's also Jerry and Brenda who just date for the wedding--and fall in love and Anne Meara and Harry Guardino as a couple constantly bickering over who's the boss. Meara's husband Jerry Stiller also appears unbilled and her daughter Amy (who is billed).

As you can see there's a LOT going on in this film--you're never bored. It is very dated--the talks about sex, marriage, relationships and male and female roles are VERY 1960s...but they are quite interesting. The script is sharp and the characters believable and there are funny lines flying nonstop throughout the movie. It's also amusing to see how Mike and Susan are living together before they get married--but can't tell any of their parents as it would kill them! Some of the sexual stereotypes get to be a bit much (Guardino especially is just appalling) but that's a sign of the times. A song in this movie ("For All We Know") won the Academy Award for Best Song at the Oscars but it's sung by a man here not the Carpenters (who had a BIG hit with it).

This was originally rated R for the frank (for the time) sex talk, a flash of nudity and some mild swearing. It's PG now but I wouldn't let kids watch it--it's not too dirty they just wouldn't understand it.

Bssically a fun movie with an outstanding cast. Worth seeing.

A big, bright cast including Gig Young, Beatrice Arthur, Cloris Leachman and Diane Keaton (in her debut) can't quite make this lackluster comedy worth seeing. A critical success at the time, the film, about young lovers prepping their respective families for their upcoming wedding, is full of subplots that don't play, fall flat, or are gratingly unfunny. It begins promisingly but soon comes undone, and Cy Howard's direction is like that of a traffic cop. Arthur has the funniest moments as the all-knowing mother of the groom, and Keaton is very attractive. Oscar winner for its lovely theme song, "For All We Know". *1/2 from ****

This is a very warm and extremely funny film that for some reason seems to have been totally forgotten. It has a fine ensemble cast including Gig Young, Harry Guardino, Jerry Stiller, Anne Meara, Bea Arthur, Diane Keaton and Richard Castellano (So Richie...what's the story?).Buy it, rent it, SEE it!! A lost classic to be sure..and it features the wonderful Carpenters song "For All We Know". This movie is a gem!

I watched this movie yesterday and it's not that great.

Based on a stage play, It can never get away from those stagey origins, and most of the scenes are just a couple of people sitting around talking. If it weren't for the song (NOT sung in the movie by the Carpenters, by the way) this film would be forgotten, even allowing for the many big names who star in it.

As a period piece from the mid-60s it is vaguely interesting...too bad it was made in 1970, when Hollywood still thought that people talking about sex was daring.

There was one good bit, though, and that was when a very young Diane Keaton is talking to Bea Arthur. Bea mentions the Bing Crosby-Ingrid Bergman film "The Bells Of St. Mary's", which Diane hadn't seen.

But she does get to see it, of course, because that is the movie she is coming out of with Al Pacino in "The Godfather" when they read that Don Corleone has been shot.

Skip it, or watch it on fast-forward.

Classic comedy with legendary comedians (e.g. Stiller and Meara.) Imagine holding up and being topical for more than 35 years! While the superb writing as mentioned holds up fantastically, the 60's style also adds to the overall pleasure of this movie. Do you get the feeling I like this flick! Do yourself a favor and take the time to watch this when you get the opportunity. Check out the cast and see just how amazing an impact this movie had - Bea Arthur year before being cast as Maude in All in the Family (Conrad Bain in small role, to be linked as Maude's neighbor within a couple of years of the movies release.) And the casting director, was he prophetic or what, see how many appeared for the first time in a movie here, Diane Keaton of course, but how about Sly Stallone as an extra, Jerry Stiller, etc, etc.

This was the first "R" rated film that we ever took my mother to see. The whole family saw it at the Dyker Theater in Brooklyn, and we just about fell out of the balcony from laughing so hard! Nobody does the culture clash between Italian-Americans and the rest of the US of A better than Joe Bologna and Renee Taylor.

Although some of the humor is a bit dated, most of the gags hold up very well. The interplay between all of the various Vecchio family members is timeless. The whole rap about "they're STILL together" is classic!

While Gig Young is spot on as the philandering father of the bride, the best repartee is by and between Bea Arthur and Richard S Castellano. Joseph Hindy is a stalwart foil for Castellano. Bob Dishy, Ann Meara and Harry Guardino have memorable character turns to flesh out a top-shelf ensemble.

The characterization of a working-class Italian-American family is perfect. When Mama Vecchio uses "Have some more soup, Frank" as the double -edged sword of nourishing her family while attempting to steer away from conflict, I could almost hear my Nonna (grandmother). She used soup to solve all the world's problems one bowl ata a time, too! My Mom still thinks that this is one of the funniest pictures she ever saw. I concur.

This is one of the funniest wedding pictures I have ever seen. The film pretty much accurately portrays a lot of the things that go on around the time of a wedding. Things like the mother of either the bride or groom about to suffer a nervous breakdown, one couple on the verge of a divorce while the brother (or sister) is getting married or one of the groomsmen trying to make it with one of the bridesmaids. The writer must have been to a lot of weddings to really come up with this great slice of life comedy.

As for the cast, Bonnie Bedelia and Michael Brandon are perfectly cast as Susan and Mike, who seem to be the only ones that are happy while everyone else isn't. Cloris Leachman (a few months before taking the role of Mary Richard's annoying and overbearing neighbor Phyllis) is also great as Susan's mother, who is oblivious to her husband's philandering. Also, in a very quiet performance, Dianne Keaton makes a solid debut as Mike's soon to be ex-sister-in-law, who show's up even though she know's she has to face her in-law's as well as her estranged husband. However, Bea Arthur (a couple of years before her career defining role as overbearing liberal Maude) steals the show as Mike's overbearing, devoutly Catholic mother. This film is definitely a sleeper.

A man who is about to get married feels like everyone around him is sad. His brother is divorcing for the pettiest reasons, his best man is trying to pull a fast one with a relationship crazy bridesmaid, a lot backdoor affairs AND a disappointed father and mother of the bride who might be unhappier than they refuse to tell.

Forgettable romcom of the era.

Though, I would not deny its watchablity though. It just feels far too prude and written mostly in a man's viewpoint. I felt like the story feels old in a bad way. The women in this film are in servitude to the point that its quite annoying. Most of them are trapped in this modicum that leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. It does not really help that the overall tone is just confounding sad and sleazy. I wish their is more trailblazing about it sadly. In a way, it reminds me of Heartbreak Kid - in that it flows really well but that one has something to say in the end AND smartly focused on one thing.

The performances are fine. Some familiar faces - Arthur, Castellano, Leachman and Keaton but mostly B- Stars. Castellano shockingly got a nomination out of this but was ok. No one really pops off in the whole ensemble if I am being fair.

Not recommended but very watchable. I think this falls because of its ensemble storyline is far too much too handle for its short runtime. Just too much different focus to be honest.

A couple decides to get married (finally) and we see the preparations and wedding from their point of view as well as her parents, his parents, and their other family members and friends. Originally a play with separate scenes presenting the different points of view, it was wonderfully and smoothly incorporated into one screenplay. Many memorable lines, scenes, and performances. This is another of the movies I consider to be perfectly cast, from the lead roles to the bit players. Don't see it alone--this movie was meant to be shared.

I saw this movie when it first came out, and I hadn't seen it for more than 30 years. Imagine my delight to pick it up for $8 at the DVD store and watch it again. Of course Diane Keaton was lovely in her first film, but I'll bet more people were surprised to remember how beautiful Bonnie Bedelia was at age 22. Some of the 1970 stuff wears a little thin, and of course it's sad to remember what happened to Gig Young, but all in all, this was a wonderful time capsule of a movie. And yes, "For All We Know" was part of the music the first time I got married -- in 1975. I wish I could find more movies from this time period in DVD. Of course, they are all starting to come out slowly. Too bad the DVD didn't have any extras, even the trailer.

Lovers and Other Strangers (1970) Dir: Cy Howard Diane's first feature film and it's a hit! A classic early '70s comedy concerning the events leading up to and including the traditional family wedding. Diane has a small part but makes the most of it. The Carpenters' title single figures prominently in the movie and became an instant real life wedding fixture. Screenplay by sometime acting husband and wife duo Joseph Bologna and Rene Taylor (of The Nanny fame).

Quite a few reviewers accuse this film of being dated. But when I first saw it in 1970, it already defied that idea because it saw through the zeitgeist. Rather than getting mired in passing fads and causes, the writers fondly made light of the clash of generations. Writers Joe Bologna and Renée Taylor exaggerate the tensions and conversations in the two families of the engaged couple, as well as the period fashions and furnishings, just enough to make the film entertaining, but also witty and touching.

The movie spares nobody. Hidebound Italian Catholics, bourgeois suburbanites, a macho ex-marine married to a feminist, an usher seducing a bridesmaid, counterculture cohabitation-- the superb cast delivers it all. Superficially, they all represent stereotypes, but-- and here's the trick-- they also defy simplistic categories they are unique individuals, and you cannot predict what any of them will say or do next. No Archie Bunkers or Meatheads here.

It's not Balzac, but it is a classic human comedy realized as popular art, two families afloat in the late '60s, when parents thought they were losing their offspring, because their kids were questioning traditions. But those kids were questioning ingrained habits, not traditional virtues, the deep values and ethics that form our larger society. "No gap here," is the refrain of Gig Young, a buffoonish patriarch determined to keep everybody happy-- but ultimately he's right. They all have more in common than they know, and by the time the young couple is married, we don't have to be told that their marriage will be every bit as complicated as their parents' are. The movie already told us.

If the movie has a core, it's Richard Castellano's speech to his elder son who is about to divorce his wife, an unthinkable first in the family. Castellano (in the same role he played in the original Broadway play) got an Oscar nomination, and he's wonderful throughout, but especially delivering the speech that becomes the spoken soul of the movie. It includes: "We're all strangers. But after a while you get used to it. You become deeper strangers. That's a sort of love."

Anything from New York is a true gem. "Lovers and other Strangers" is a comedy farce that takes you to the lives of lovers in different places. Here you have a couple who are about to get married, and there's a couple whose marriage is on the rocks. One couple is in new romance, the other is heading towards divorce because of communication problems. Then you have a bachelor who is totally luckless in love until he meets a cousin of the soon-to-be married couple who is indeed book smart, but doesn't follow what that person says, because she thinks it's misleading. The cast of the characters are well put: Beatrice Arthur, Harry Guardino, Richard Castellano, Anne Meara, Bonnie Bedelia, Cloris Leachman, and several others makes this movie a moment that will never be forgotten. The scenes I've seen are truly amazing, and the storyline is unforgettable. This one movie I think is a real keeper. I would also say, this is for New Yorkers only too. Rating 4 out of 5 stars.

One of the finest ensemble comedies ever. A first rate cast delivers warmth and tenderness to Joseph Bologna and Renee Taylor's play about marriage, infidelity and the true meaning of love. Young, Arthur and Castellano are especially marvelous. Castellano also starred in the stage version of the play.

This movie has a first rate cast like Bea Arthur who plays Italian matriarch, Bea Vecchio. Her Italian husband is played by Richard Castellano right before he filmed Godfather. The rest of the cast includes Bonnie Bedelia who plays Susan, the bride to be, and Michael Brandon who played Mike Vecchio as the nervous groom. His brother's wife is played by Diane Keaton in her first film appearance ever as Joan Vecchio. Anne Meara has a part as Wilma, a woman who seeks equality in her marriage to Johnny, a mama's boy. Then there is Hal (played by Oscar Winner Gig Young) as father of the bride and his wife, Bernice (played by Oscar Winner Cloris Leachman) and her best friend, Kathy (played by Anne Jackson). Even Conrad Bain and Jerry Stiller have a small appearance in the film, the film was written originally as a play by real-life couple Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna. I would have loved to have seen them on screen as well. Anyway, the couples trade usual barbs about men and women and relationships. The film might be a little dated since it might offend some people but it was set in 1970 New York City. My other complaint is the lack of use of Cloris Leachman in the film. She wasn't used enough as mother of the bride which was a shame because she's an excellent actress. Anyway, the film is worth watching for 70s nostalgia and a look at how relationships haven't changed much since then. Bea Arthur steals the film away in my opinion as the interfering, loving Italian Catholic mother and wife.

The story is a good movie - very entrenched in 70's comedy and wit. A beautiful ensemble cast that works well together and throw in Diane Keaton in her film debut - great. Bea Arthur and Richard Costellano steal the picture tho as italian parents of the groom. I saw the film in 1970 when it came out. Granted, there is a couple of lines of politically incorrect dialogue and a couple of the jokes are dated and fall flat = still it's a good film that keeps the pace going.