Une fois ne suffit pas

I haven't seen this in a while, and miss this rarely seen pic, which deserves a cult following. Deborah Raffin is outstanding as a gorgeous young girl with strange feelings for her Dad. She gets involved with an unhappy alcoholic writer, played by David Janssen. Brenda Vaccaro is outstanding as her beautiful but embittered friend who is desperate for a man. And Melinda Mercouri is memorable as a lovely lesbian. They knew they were making a piece of trash here, and it is well worth your time. Good job. I esp. like those corny singers at the end of the film which seem to have stepped out of a 1960s movie!Deborah is good and she is fortunate to have such a great ensemble cast to support her. Enjoy!

Jacqueline Susann's glamorous, emotional, highly personal novels always lost something in their translation to the screen. Once Is Not Enough is another prime example. But it doesn't have the unintended hilarity of Valley of the Dolls, nor the compelling sleaziness of The Love Machine. The most outrageous and memorable elements of the book are excised completely, and the result is two hours of sudsy romantic nothingness. Without the pills, vitamin shots, wild sex (including an acid-fueled orgy), and disturbing violence that infused the compelling novel, the story is as flat as week-old ginger ale.

It's a slick production with an all-star cast, including the engaging Deborah Raffin as January, but the material is awful. The filmmakers' were obviously trying for a "respectable" approach, and the results are just plain boring. Case in point: Jackie provided the book with a surreal, escapist conclusion that's wholly amazing, whereas the movie just...ends. The book was about a naive girl trying to deal with life, and the movie is about--say it with me now!--LOOOOOOOVE! And it's like every other mediocre movie on the subject.

However, things are brightened by Brenda Vaccaro in her Golden Globe-winning, Oscar-nominated turn as uninhibited magazine editor Linda Riggs. She's the perfect realization of Susann's character (albeit with toned-down material) and provides a lot more spirit than this tepid production deserves. Her performance alone merits a viewing, but everything else is a daytime-TV-style mess. About as shocking as a trip to the supermarket--perhaps even less so.

While nubile daughter Deborah Raffin (as January) recuperates from a motorcycle accident, "Academy Award"-winning movie producer Kirk Douglas (as Mike Wayne) marries super-wealthy Alexis Smith (as Deidre Milford Granger). This is because Mr. Douglas has fallen on hard times and wants to continue living a champagne caviar lifestyle, and Ms. Smith wants a backgammon partner. Smith is having an affair with reclusive movie queen Melina Mercouri (as Karla). Recovering beautifully, Ms. Raffin loses her virginity to stud cousin George Hamilton (as David Milford), who is also seeing Ms. Mercouri...

Raffin eventually falls in love with alcoholic writer David Janssen (as Tom Colt), after he fails to copulate with her best friend, promiscuous "Gloss" magazine editor Brenda Vaccaro (as Linda Riggs). Mr. Janssen thinks Douglas' film version of his "Pulitzer Prize"-winning novel was awful. Douglas disapproves, naturally, of his daughter's affair with Janssen...

The main theme of "Once Is Not Enough" appears to be the borderline incestuous love between Raffin and Douglas. Also, most of the couples have at least one bisexual partner; although there is no overt indication Janssen has any sexual interest in handsome astronaut Gary Conway (as Hugh Robertson), it's difficult to ascertain another reason for his inclusion in the storyline. Apparently, much was cut from Jacqueline Susann's best-selling novel. She and Irving Mansfield began by assembling good production values, but lost control as the story was turned into something hesitating and vacuous.

Some trashy fun remains.

***** Once Is Not Enough (6/18/75) Guy Green ~ Deborah Raffin, Kirk Douglas, David Janssen, Brenda Vaccaro

"Once Is Not Enough" is a movie that starts off innocently enough but after a while, it's obviously a story adapted from a Jacqueline Suzann novel. I say this because in the 1960s and 70s, Suzann's stories resulted in several VERY salacious movies, including "The Valley of the Dolls", "The Love Machine" and this film. These movies deliberately pushed the envelope of good taste and the ratings board by including all sorts of adult themes. For example, in "Once Is Not Enough", the author tackles bisexuality, an Electra Complex (where a woman is essentially in love with her father or an older man as a 'daddy substitute'), alcoholism and more.

When the story begins, a famous but down and out movie producer (Kirk Douglas) learns that his daughter (Deborah Raffin) was badly injured in an accident. Apparently, she was in a Swiss clinic for years recovering and when she is released, she moves in with her father in a fancy New York apartment. She soon learns, however, that her father essentially sold himself to get her this apartment, as he's practically broke and married a rich woman (Alexis Smith) to give his daughter a fancy life. But over time, the daughter finds that living in this apartment isn't for her and she sets out to find herself in a new job, new apartment and, of course, sex.

The film certainly is very blunt when it comes to sex, so some viewers might be turned off by this. Of course, some also might find the plot terrific! I just mention this because this certainly isn't a movie for the prudish or conservative viewer. It also, at times, comes off as crass....and this, of course, depends on the viewer.

So is it any good? Some of the dialog is a bit cheesy...and some is simply fabulous. The acting is generally very good and the film looks lovely. As for the plot, subtle is ain't! I found the film entertaining but also pretty shallow and glossy. It's tough to love a film when you dislike pretty much everyone in the story! Worth seeing if you like that sort of thing...and far, far better than "The Valley of the Dolls", which was a bit of a bomb.

By the way, it is strange that Deborah Raffin receives 8th billing, as she is clearly the star of the movie and the plot centers around her. Of course, at the time, she was a 'nobody' and a lot of 'somebodies' were billed above her...even if they were barely in the movie.

If you happen to catch this movie, it could easily be mistaken for the pilot episode of an 80's prime-time soap. How the producers thought that anyone would seriously pay good money to watch this midday made-for-TV movie at the theater is incredibly hilarious.

Kirk Douglas surprisingly headlines this incestuous melodrama where his daughter January (Deborah Raffin) harbors some sort of daddy-complex since the day she was born. I would have loved to have sat through a theater screening of this and observed the faces of the audience around me. I don't know if I would have seen smirks or looks of discomfort, like someone shouldn't have eaten those bad tacos for lunch.

The movie is very outdated. It's lifted right from a Jacqueline Susann novel (or basically take your pick from any Harlequin read) and plays out just like it on the small screen. Most of the close-ups are shot through a filter, the soundtrack is hijacked by Henry Mancini's orchestrated strings, and all the actresses parade themselves with such high camp you'll find it hard not to fall in love with this atrocity.

Most hilarious is January's attraction to David Janssen's character. Talk about taking the daddy-complex to the next level! Brenda Vaccaro who received an Oscar nomination(!!!) for her portrayal of a man-hungry sex-starved magazine editor is absolutely stunning. She delivered plain awful dialog with perfect snap, "He laid me, and then he fired me!" and also managing to keep a straight face at the same time, she definitely deserved the nomination.

The best line comes out of the mouth of Douglas' long-suffering housekeeper, Mabel (Lillian Randolph), "For twelve years, it's just been a parade of poon-tang!", as she boards the bus to Santa Monica.

Throw in a closeted lesbian millionaire engaging in a secret relationship with a reclusive Hispanic actress (where else could you view an interracial middle-aged lesbian sex scene!!), gratuitous shots of Gary Conway (portraying an astronaut LOL!) running in short shorts on a beach and Deborah Raffin staring blankly into the camera as if she were doped on percosets, and you have the ultimate camp classic of 1975.

There was a scene with Raffin's character walking blankly across the road (nearly getting run over by a taxi) after she is devastated by Janssen's character, and yet I still could not determine any difference in her acting from that scene to the entire film.

Vaccaro is definitely the one thing that holds this movie together, although her character isn't necessary to the story. She seemed to express more personality than all of the other characters combined that it was a joy to watch her self-diagnosing, "Sleeping with men makes me feel better!" It made me feel better too.