At Long Last Love
Cole Porter started writing the lyrics to the song 'At Long Last Love' while waiting for medics to arrive after being in an accident which left him partially paralyzed.,Elizabeth: Well, what do they call you, big boy?
Rodney James: Rodney James.
Elizabeth: "Rod".
Rodney James: That, I'm afraid, is the diminutive.
Elizabeth: Well, I'll bet you ain't.,The Camera begins on a silver music box on which rest bas-reliefs of the 4 principals, they dance to a song and then the camera pans around Kitty Kelly's sumptuous black-and white art deco penthouse.,TV version was re-edited and reworked by director Peter Bogdanovich and runs three minutes shorter than the theatrical release.,Featured in Musical Hell: At Long Last Love (2013),Overture
(uncredited)
Words and Music by Cole Porter
Performed by the 20th Century-Fox Studio Orchestra,Writer-director Peter Bogdanovich attempts to resurrect the fast-talking, romantic-minded musicals of the past with "At Long Last Love", but he fails to infuse it with the proper talent. As a wealthy heiress in smart society circa 1935, dating an immigrant gambler but in love with a playboy, Cybill Shepherd doesn't quite invoke the spirit of Jean Arthur or Ginger Rogers. She's boxy and flippant, like a female impersonator, and she never connects with anyone else on-screen. Burt Reynolds fares a bit better by emulating Clark Gable--affable yet quizzical--though he has more rapport with Madeline Kahn as a Broadway chanteuse than with shallow Shepherd. We can see that, but why can't Bogdanovich? Because the picture is meant as a showcase for Shepherd's musical and comedic talents, however her dancing abilities are nil and she's pseudo-addlepated without being funny. The movie, scored with Cole Porter songs (which the actors sing live), doesn't soar, however Kahn manages to blossom regardless--and in unexpected ways (she's softer and more womanly than ever before). John Hillerman, as Reynolds' valet, and Eileen Brennan have a nice romantic subplot, and Mildred Natwick is well-cast as Burt's dotty, energetic mother (essentially the same character she played in "Barefoot in the Park"). Bogdanovich approaches the material with a giddy sense of fun, but the results are like an inside-joke: the audience comes in after the punchline. *1/2 from ****,