Two for the Road

Rating:
Summary: A Classic - TRUE Classic
Review: Well first i should say that Two For the Road is practically my life and my partner's life story. However, four years before I was married I had first seen the film.....little was i to know.

Now thirty-three years later, more happily married than ever, I look at this film as a timeless, classic work that survives while so many others have failed.

The writing is superb in its wit and poignancy - a poignancy that was applicable then and is as pertinent now.

Lines like, Finny pointing to the obnoxious child, "Do you Still want a Child.." And Hepburn replies, "Yes! just not THAT child.." The statement speaks volumes for those deciding on children or not....it exemplfies how individual that decision is.

Finny is as funny as hell as a typical male and Hepburn is sweetness personified in her portrayal.

They grow old together, in sickness and in health, good times and bad, joy and happiness and pain and sorrow. They live in a world of reality where life is a roller coaster and no one is perfect. They make it through the times of deceipt and betrayal by knowing the greater part of their marriage is positive and rewarding.

The film is brilliantly photographed, the score is uncomplicated and lovely. Sub plots like the erosion of the environment because of over-building and the superficial needs and crutches of the overly monied add to support the central them of compromises and misfortunes even in the best of worlds and relationships.

Rent it -- Oh and for god's sake will someone please get this on DVD -- and see a big dose of healthy truth wrapped in glorious scenery, incredible fashions and wonderful performances.

God i LOVE this movie.

Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Movie!
Review: This delightful vehicle for the most beautiful Audrey Hepburn and the terribly charming Albert Finney never fails to make me smile & sigh. While following the pair through France, and through the first decade of love and marriage, director Donen gives us old-fashioned romance combined with a very realistic view of how love once so cherished becomes neglected and abused.

Memorable movie lines:

Finney to Hepburn who is sporting a tiara: "If you want to be a Dutchess, be a Dutchess; but if you want to make love it's hats off".

Hepburn to Finney: "You don't know what love is".

Rating:
Summary: Two for the Road
Review: This is one of the best (if not THE best) dissections of a marriage ever put on film. The stars are gorgeous, the locations are gorgeous, Mancini's score is gorgeous.... And then there's Eleanor Bron and William Daniels -- AND RUTHIE BELLE!!! And let's not forget Jacqueline Bisset (I think Truffaut references this performance in Day for Night). Frederic Raphael's script is a model of wit and sophistication -- it's not a movie you leave and come back to; if you do, you'll be lost. This movie isn't on DVD yet (A CRIME), so this review is for the tape. But even if the DVD comes out with 0 extras, the movie still rates 5 stars!

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing star vehicle
Review: This was clearly an experiment in teaming up the long-established (and ever-charming) Audrey Hepburn with up-and-coming British star Albert Finney, who never did quite go on to become the matinee idol some had hoped, despite getting a good headstart with Tom Jones (1965). Here, however, the match is awkward, and not helped by a fairly witless script and an overall lack of coherence. The thin plot is terribly structured, meandering here and there at a deathly pace, and ending up nowhere in particular.

The combination seemed great: Donen directing Hepburn with a snazzy score by easy listening giant Henry Mancini; It was never meant to be, however. This reviewer was left sorely disappointed, wondering where the last two hours of his life had vanished to.

Rating:
Summary: why i love stanley donen, audrey hepburn, and henry mancini
Review: most anyone who enjoys older movies enjoys stanley donen, whether they realize it or not. this is the man who brought us singin' in the rain, seven brides for seven brothers, and funny face, after all. and his turns directing non-musicals are equally impressive - just watch charade.

audrey hepburn, of course, needs no introduction.

why then this movie -the last of three the two made together- is so often overlooked is beyond me. this poingant, wildly inventive look at marriage has been cited by many as hepburn's best performance. it is possibly even donen's best film, of a repitoire which is hard to beat. it is simply a fantastic movie.

in short... go watch two for the road!

Rating:
Summary: A SAGITTARIUS ROMANCE*
Review: Although some may find this delightful 1967 British film more than a little dated, it holds a special place in many hearts including mine. In the opening, Finney and Hepburn are driving in their Mercedes-Benz from England to the French Riviera. He's an architect, and they're driving to the home of Maurice Dalbret, the Frenchman who gave successful Finney his start. During the road trip, its obvious the marriage is headed for trouble. Flash Back time. Twelve years ago, Finney is a back-packing student looking at buildings and Audrey is among a bevy of female music students going to a festival. The happy times, the trials and tribulations and the whole gist of the film will appeal to many but not to others. (oh, well). I like it. Some felt that Hepburn was too old (7 years, to be exact) for Finney, but this is hardly a problem (wasn't Lucy older than Desi?). The usually fastidious Hepburn was dressed by Mary Quant, Paco Rabannne & Ken Scott: she even wears blue jeans! The stunning location scenes where filmed on location: St. Tropez, Paris, Nice and Beauallon. *If the viewer is or knows a true Sag, they know what I meant by the heading: I was born 5 December: at 42, it remains my passion to travel!

Rating:
Summary: DVD
Review: WHY ISN'T THIS MOVIE AVAILABLE ON DVD?????? YOU CAN GET SOME OF THE MOST WORTHLESS FILMS ON DVD, BUT NOT GREAT ONES LIKE "TWO FOR THE ROAD" WHY IS THAT?

Rating:
Summary: comedic reality
Review: I first saw this film when I was 17 years and loved every minute of it! So much so that my best friend and I snuck back into the theater and sat through the movie a second time(which was easy back then when your downtown area still had movie houses that only showed one film/night.) Not only was it funny, it also added a dose of reality to my romantic musings about love and marriage. I remember Ms. Hepburn's wonderful outfits and the hip, modern architecture(or so it seemed 35 years ago!) While styles have changed many times since the film's first release, the story is timeless - marriage requires committment and hard work. If only this film would be released on DVD....

Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest films!!
Review: Not one scene of Two For The Road should be missed. Way ahead of its time on marriage and the humor, drama, the sense of loss at the close make it watcahble many times over.

Hepburn and Finney are so fabulous, and the rest of the cast is up to the standard set by the two magnificent leads. Can Audrey Hepburn do any wrong?

Stanley Donen directed with the same genius as Singin' In The Rain(forget Kelly), and Funny Face. This is sheer magic, but it has twists and things to say that do not fit middle class sensibilites, thank God.

Buy this on DVD. You will adore it. One cannnot say enough about Two For The Road.

Rating:
Summary: Enormous pleasure
Review: "Two For the Road" is a lovely, seriocomic movie about the ups and downs of a long relationship between Joanna (played by Audrey Hepburn) and Mark (played by Albert Finney). Joanna and Mark first cross paths as students traveling across Europe. They wind up hitchhiking together and eventually falling in love.

The story is told through flashbacks. We follow the couple from their early carefree infatuation through marriage, parenthood, boredom, infidelity, and finally renewal of their relationship.

Along the way, there are some memorable vignettes involving Joanna and Mark vacationing with another couple Howard and Cathy Manchester (amusingly played by William Daniels and Eleanor Bron) and their daughter Ruthie Manchester. Howard and Cathy must be the most wittily neurotic twosome in movies and their daughter Ruthie is probably the most obnoxious child in movie history.

The performances are uniformly excellent. The direction by Stanley Donen is stylish and sophisticated. Frederic Raphael's screenplay is alternately romantic and cynical. And Henry Mancini's exquisitely beautiful score is one of this fine composer's very best. "Two For the Road" is an enormous pleasure.