You won't be disappointed!

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Opera Ghost Page2Another point that nsouthern51 made was that David Fowler 'drowns in isolation.' This in fact a bit of a complex statement and somewhat contradictory from the films point of view. This statement seems to suggest, or hint at, that David is either cutoff from the world or is completely unknown to the world or both. Perhaps, both statements are true. Perhaps, both statements are false. Or perhaps, one is true and the other false, or vise versa.Let's return to the film for a minute. David Fowler has known hundreds and HUNDREDS of women and is always looking for more. How can he be so lonely? If he was in-between women, he had the semilive-in girlfriend Courtney Wade. So he always, or almost always, had someone around him at home. If he was lonely, by knowing hundreds and HUNDREDS of women, he surely had telephone numbers to call and surely one would respond. Or reverse it, they could be calling him. With all thoughs women around, he would have to fight them off with a fly swatter or girl swatter. In the work place, we see that he had several assistants. So how can he be so lonely and cutoff? David Fowler wasn't a hermit like Howard Hughes nor an oddity like Glen Gould. From the film, we see that his work was well-known. He lived in L.A. but has a commission in Houston, Tx. So we see that he wasn't just a local artist, but someone who is well-respected on a national level.(This might be debatable.) From Sue the baby sitter, we learn that he is known in academia circles, 'Lipschitz, Henry Moore, and me.' We also see from the film that he wrote a book. I'm sure the book was meant for a national audience and not just one or two copies made for a private edition nor several hundred printed for a local audience. This again proves or demonstrates that he was well-known or was wanting more name recognition and wasn't trying to cut himself off from the world.In summary, do these contradictory statements mean anything? There might be something more going on at a much, much deeper level.When we get into the actual review, we will have to return to these statements. There is a lot to these statements. Like I said folks, this is one of most complex motion pictures ever filmed. This complexity that I speak of is not the complexity of cameras, film, lights, etc., of a "Lord of The Rings" type epic but of an quiet inner complexity ideas the likes of which this film "The Man Who Loved Women" has no equal. There are things going on in this movie that have never been done before and will never be done again. Ever.O.G.

This review is being extensively rewritten.While rewriting this review, I learned with great sadness that Blake Edwards had passed away. My deepest sympathy and condolences go out to Julie Edwards and to her entire family. The world will certainly miss a truly great director. I would have dearly, dearly loved to have met him while he was alive."The Man Who Loved Women" should be considered one of the world's greatest masterpieces. The film is one of the most brilliant, most deceptive, and one of the world's deepest films ever filmed in Hollywood or anyplace else in the world. The film should have won multiple Oscars for all concerned including Best Picture. And if it were at all possible Blake Edwards should have been awarded a Nobel Prize for the screenplay for its extreme complexity, extreme subtlety, and richness of symbolism. The screenplay is worthy of world class literature status and should be in every class room anthology that students have to read. If they can study Harry Potter in school, they sure should be able to read Blake Edwards extreme masterpiece. It is my intention to prove to you and to the rest of the world that that this film deserves all that I claim and more! And at the end, I would very much like future reviews to indicate how many stars, Oscars, and Nobels that they would award. And yes, you can totally disagree with everything that I will explain.I was reading one of the boards and noted one post that asked, "What is this movie about?" I can honestly say without ego that I'm probably the only person in the world who can understand about 99% of the movie. That is why this movie has had such great fascination for me over the years and why I believe so strongly that Blake Edwards should have been awarded a Nobel for the screenplay. This movie which on the surface app ears so utterly simple is, in fact, quite complex.But first, you must understand the purpose of the film. Along time ago, there was an unauthorized biography of Julie Edwards running around. In the book, Blake Edwards says something to the effect that-and this not a direct quote- that his wife is one of the deepest and most pro found women in the world. This fact is something that I've known for years long before the book came out. Anyway that leaves a problem. A big problem. And that is how to show it or pay tribute to her. I think Blake Edwards found away. In fact, I know he found a way.And now to the review, there are two major motion pictures and one minor motion picture interwoven into each other to form one great masterpiece. The minor motion picture is "The Man Who Loved Women." The other is Irving Stone's "The Agony and The Ecstasy" which based on the life of Michaelangelo. The other I will discuss later. In other words he used a minor motion picture to hide two major motion pictures behind it. And to prove my point, I have to discuss plots to two movies. If you have not seen either, DO NOT PROCEED. We are going to use DF for David Fowler and MA for Michaelangelo. So let's look at these "forced coincidence". These are not my words but come from another source. 1 DF Sculpture,writer. 2 MA Sculpture,writer. 3 DF Sports a beard. 4 MA Sports a beard. 5 DF Trouble with women. 6 MA Trouble with a women. 7 DF Trouble with a block of stone. 8 MA Trouble with a ceiling. 9. DF Goes to Marianna to get help. 10. MA goes to Contesstina to get answers 11. DF tells Nancy "thats my work." A piece of sculpture in the center of the floor. 12. MA Charleton Heston in voice over goes over the life work of Michangelo at beginning of movie. 13. DF Roy tells David Fowler, "I don't completely understand it." (Refering to David's sculptor.) "Something like my wife." 14. MA Michaelangelo complains to Pope Julius II, "why you send these fools to judge my work?" 15. DF Nanc y says over the phone' "Understand your time problem." 16. MA Pope Juliu s II asks, "when will you make an end?" 17. DF David has commission in Houston,TX not LA. 18. MA Michaelangelo has a commission in Rome not in Florence nor Bologna. 19. DF There is a work area at his house and shop. 20 . MA There is a work area at his apartment and Sistine Chapel. 21. DF Mariana comes to nurse maid David back to health at his place not hers. 22 . Contesstina comes to nurse maid Michaelangelo back to health at his place not her place. 23. DF David goes back to sculpting. 24. MA Michaelangelo goes back to painting. 25. DF David complains to Mariana about hyperventilating aka an attack to the lungs. 26. MA Pope Julius II whacks Michaelangelo on the back aka an attack to the lungs.

Has there ever been a film where Julie Andrews didn't do a good job? I thought she was great as David Fowler's analyst--so calm and poised, regardless of how ridiculous Fowler's problems got, or how agitated he became. Burt Reynolds was ... well, Burt Reynolds, but that's enough. Barry Corbin seemed a natural for the role of a Texas oilman/rancher in a cowboy hat. If he wasn't on 'Dallas' (and I don't think he was in the years I watched it), he should have been. I liked Marilu Henner as Agnes but wish we had seen more of her. I didn't recognize Kim Basinger or Sela Ward, but I like them both in most of what I've seen. It wasn't a great film, but a good one. It was funny enough of the time, though it could be depressing.

THE MAN WHO LOVED WOMEN begins with a sculptor roaming around LA trying to find out what makes women tick. The sculptor is played by Burt Reynolds, one of the biggest movie stars in the world, so I guess the women will pay attention. Actually, the movie begins with his funeral and we see woman after woman in all shapes and sizes, roaming up the cemetery grass to pay tribute to this guy.Now any movie with an opening like this had better feature one helluva guy so we immediately cut to the scenes of Burt seducing woman after woman, while providing some tender advice on life to keep them warm when he's gone in the morning. I really liked Burt Reynolds performance in this movie. He shows in this movie that when he wants to he can be a fine actor. We know Burt Reynolds has an amazing screen presence but it's nice to see him in a movie where he doesn't wink at the camera to show us how much fun he's having. His scenes with the feminist shrink(Julie Andrews) are funny as Reynolds exhibits every male symptom in the book. The women are Cynthia Sikes, Marila Henner and Kim Basinger to name a few, and rest assured that they're all(especially Basinger)very beautiful.If the movie had stayed true to this idea it might've been special.but it degenerates into a series of three's company set ups and grows tired. After Basinger stirs Reynolds interest they have a romp in her husband's condo. The husband arrives and Reynolds must lurch around. I couldn't count how many scenes there were like that. It's at this point we realize the movie isn't going to be as incisive as it promised. It's silly how Reynolds keeps getting into the same situation with the jealous husband and not very funny either, not even when he say, glues his hands to the steering wheel.Another major problem is the chemistry between Reynolds and Andrews. There's no heat between them and I suspect that maybe they didn't get along with each other on the set. This isn't the type of a man she'd go out with, canon of ethics aside. It's awkward at the end when Andrews drops everything to join Reynolds on vacation when we don't even believe he's gotten to first base. I can't quite recommend THE MAN WHO LOVED WOMEN, it's just not true to itself. The movie introduces us to an interesting man looking to make real discoveries and ends up with a bunch of people who aren't right for each other.DGSTAR STAR (out of four)