Einmal ist nicht genug (1975)

Einmal ist nicht genug: Directed by Guy Green. With Kirk Douglas, Alexis Smith, David Janssen, George Hamilton. 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.

“Once Is Not Enough (1975)u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e* (out of 4) u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI really hope the all-star cast got a good chunk of change to bring Jacqueline Susannu0026#39;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 u0026quot;easyu0026quot;. 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? Iu0026#39;ll be honest and admit that Iu0026#39;ve never read the novel that this is based on and Iu0026#39;ll admit upfront that Iu0026#39;m not at all familiar with Susannu0026#39;s work other than the reputation that itu0026#39;s trashy. With an all-star cast itu0026#39;s nearly impossible to stay away from this film and while all of the actors give strong performances you still canu0026#39;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 u0026quot;friendu0026quot; 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. Thereu0026#39;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 itu0026#39;s impossible to care for any of them. Itu0026#39;s not that a viewer canu0026#39;t enjoy ugly characters but the ones here are just so fake, so idiotic and so boring that you donu0026#39;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 doesnu0026#39;t matter because the story is just so stupid and worthless.”