A young woman goes home to New York after a long stay in Europe. Her former schoolmate introduces her to the decadence of New York and she ultimately falls in love with an older man who's a ... Read allA young woman goes home to New York after a long stay in Europe. Her former schoolmate introduces her to the decadence of New York and she ultimately falls in love with an older man who's a stand-in for her father, before tragedy strikes.A young woman goes home to New York after a long stay in Europe. Her former schoolmate introduces her to the decadence of New York and she ultimately falls in love with an older man who's a stand-in for her father, before tragedy strikes.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 1 win & 1 nomination total
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaLana Turner was offered to play the of Deidre but she balked at a scene where she kisses her female lover on the lips. The part was offered to Alexis Smith and she accepted.
- Quotes
January: [January contemplates renting her own apartment] I wouldn't ask Mike for the money. I have none of my own.
Linda Riggs: You'll work for Linda Riggs and Gloss magazine. With the circles you're traveling in, honey, you're an asset.
January: Linda, I can't write!
Linda Riggs: Neither can I! All you do is research. We have an entire staff of underpaid schmucks who do the writing. Oh, my dear, it's so lucky for you you've fallen into my hands. I'll teach you everything: writing, screwing, everything! Do you know what a man said to me last night? He said, "Linda, you have a ten fingers like a mouth and a mouth like ten fingers!" Now, you couldn't ask for a better reference than that, could you?
- SoundtracksOnce Is Not Enough
Lyrics by Larry Kusik
Music by Henry Mancini
Sung by The Mancini Singers
courtesy of RCA Records
* (out of 4)
I really hope the all-star cast got a good chunk of change to bring Jacqueline Susann's trashy novel to the screen. A burned out movie producer (Kirk Douglas) marries a billionaire (Alexis Smith) so that his virgin daughter (Deborah Raffin) can lead a good life. The daughter, who has some weird thing for daddy, gets jealous and moves out on the advice of a girlfriend (Brenda Vaccaro) who just happens to be "easy". Soon the daughter is courted by a playboy (George Hamilton) but soon she finds herself falling in love with an alcoholic writer (David Janssen) who hates her father because he ruined one of his plays. Did you catch all of that? I'll be honest and admit that I've never read the novel that this is based on and I'll admit upfront that I'm not at all familiar with Susann's work other than the reputation that it's trashy. With an all-star cast it's nearly impossible to stay away from this film and while all of the actors give strong performances you still can't help but scratch your head and wonder why such a talented cast would want to be involved with a film like this. The entire thing is just downright bizarre and it never really makes too much sense. The entire incest relationship between Douglas and Raffin is just downright creepy and it gets even worse when the "friend" suggests to the daughter that she should ask daddy to sleep with her. I can understand a girl saying that her daddy is her best friend but this film takes that a tad bit too far. The two love affairs that the daughter has are just as silly and the amount of melodrama thrown in makes me wonder what adult in their right mind would buy into it. It seems like not even a naive teenager would believe anything going on here so who exactly this film was meant for is beyond me. Clocking in at 121-minutes, this film goes from slow to slower and it just keeps getting worse. There's not a bit of pacing going on and the film just seems to go off in one direction after another. We start off thinking the film is going to be about Douglas but then it skips to the daughter and we get countless other characters that come in and out. What really kills this film is that the entire group of characters are just ugly people and it's impossible to care for any of them. It's not that a viewer can't enjoy ugly characters but the ones here are just so fake, so idiotic and so boring that you don't want to care with them. The shocking thing is seeing the cast give it their all and turn in fine work. Vaccaro picked up a Golden Globe win and she was nominated for an Oscar and she clearly steals the film and beings the only energy to the picture. Raffin is believable as the confused young woman and both Douglas and Smith are good in their parts. The supporting cast is strong but it really doesn't matter because the story is just so stupid and worthless.
- Michael_Elliott
- Nov 5, 2011
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- Also known as
- Jacqueline Susann's Once Is Not Enough
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Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $15,700,729
- Gross worldwide
- $15,700,729