Warren Beatty stars in All Fall Down as the worthless no good son of Karl Malden and Angela Lansbury who is as he says determined not to ever actually work for a living. As he says it's his philosophy why should he actually work when after he gets paid he's too tired to spend it. Better to use good looks and charm to sponge off women. If this film had been made a generation later he might well have been sponging off men too.
All Fall Down bears a lot of resemblances to two real classics that ironically both came out in 1962, Long Day's Journey Into Night and Hud. It seems as though the creators of All Fall Down and Hud were channeling Eugene O'Neill.
Brandon DeWilde was in both All Fall Down and Hud and playing the same kind of callow youth and idolizing kid brother until he gets a good look Beatty up close and personal.
Before she became Jessica Fletcher, Angela Lansbury essayed a few overbearing monster moms and in All Fall Down she's another. She can't help it, it's second nature to her. She might have been the real reason that her husband has taken to drink as opposed to his ravings about the capitalist system.
Karl Malden's best moment comes when he invites three stew bums to come to Christmas dinner at his house. Though it costs a bit Lansbury gives them a Christmas present they much prefer to a nice turkey dinner which they can get at the Salvation Army.
Everybody gets a reality check when Eva Marie Saint comes to town and even more so when she leaves. Not unlike Patricia Neal's housekeeper in Hud she gets both Beatty and DeWilde's hormones into overdrive. She's the daughter of a friend of Lansbury's who stays as Lansbury's guest at their home. Given Beatty's character what occurs is probably inevitable.
All Fall Down had Broadway playwright William Inge do the screenplay for James O'Herlihy's novel with John Frankenheimer directing. A lot of talent in front of and behind the camera make All Fall Down worth a look or three.
All Fall Down bears a lot of resemblances to two real classics that ironically both came out in 1962, Long Day's Journey Into Night and Hud. It seems as though the creators of All Fall Down and Hud were channeling Eugene O'Neill.
Brandon DeWilde was in both All Fall Down and Hud and playing the same kind of callow youth and idolizing kid brother until he gets a good look Beatty up close and personal.
Before she became Jessica Fletcher, Angela Lansbury essayed a few overbearing monster moms and in All Fall Down she's another. She can't help it, it's second nature to her. She might have been the real reason that her husband has taken to drink as opposed to his ravings about the capitalist system.
Karl Malden's best moment comes when he invites three stew bums to come to Christmas dinner at his house. Though it costs a bit Lansbury gives them a Christmas present they much prefer to a nice turkey dinner which they can get at the Salvation Army.
Everybody gets a reality check when Eva Marie Saint comes to town and even more so when she leaves. Not unlike Patricia Neal's housekeeper in Hud she gets both Beatty and DeWilde's hormones into overdrive. She's the daughter of a friend of Lansbury's who stays as Lansbury's guest at their home. Given Beatty's character what occurs is probably inevitable.
All Fall Down had Broadway playwright William Inge do the screenplay for James O'Herlihy's novel with John Frankenheimer directing. A lot of talent in front of and behind the camera make All Fall Down worth a look or three.