User Reviews

Considered the favorite of director Bogdonovich's own pictures, this is a very personal movie featuring his friends and characters based on his friends and himself. It's also astonishingly indulgent, which may put off many viewers (as it did upon first release.) Gazzara, Ritter and Novak play private investigators, hired to spy on a pair of married women who may be indulging in extramarital affairs. Ritter and Novak are tailing pretty, young Stratton while Gazzara has his eye on wealthy wife and mother Hepburn. During the peeking, peeping and following, other characters are woven into the mix such as the men's employer Morfogen and his efficient secretary MacEwan, sensuous cab driver Hanson, enigmatic Latin Ferrer and bombastic, frenetic country singer Camp. They bop around New York as if it's a tiny hamlet such as Mayberry, constantly running across each other and interacting, associating and cross-pollinating. Ritter, enacting the director's alter ego, goes for slapsticky laughs throughout with middling success. He tries hard, but his character isn't particularly interesting, engaging or even appealing, really. Gazzara coasts through the movie on understated charisma, allowing only an occasionally glimmer of spunk to show through. Hepburn isn't heard until halfway through. She lends an air of grace to the movie that would otherwise be absent, but also seems out of place against most of her other cast-mates save Gazzara. Rail thin, she's like a hairy Q-Tip with oversize designers sunglasses on much of the time. Stratton is truly pretty and occasionally displays a propensity for screen acting, but she has no character to play whatsoever. She's a prop. Novak is even skinnier than Hepburn and hairier, to boot! His "cool" character is frequently annoying. Camp is practically unbearable. Bogdonovich has said that she's basically playing herself throughout which is certainly no compliment! The less said about the rest of the cast the better because they are almost all really bad and, fortunately, most of them only did another project or two before disappearing from the movie camera's eye forever. Hyser and Pena being exceptions. Though the film is a Valentine to Manhattan, and parts of the city have rarely been presented so prettily lit and so affectionately displayed, the good news mostly stops there. The story, such as it is, is vague, non-involving and tiresome while the characters are alternately dull or grating. There is very little to take an interest in or root for, though there is a palpable sense of regret and suffocation where Hepburn is concerned. Music in the film ranges from classy and appropriate to intrusive and obnoxious. There's genuine sadness in the fact that Stratton is seen here playing a lovely woman, married to a lout, being followed by a detective when in real life she was a lovely woman, married to a lout, being followed by a detective and when the detective discovered she was being unfaithful, her husband killed her and then himself. This fact has been blamed for the film's dismal box office performance, but that's not the reason it failed. It failed because it is too personally specific to appeal to most people and too off-putting and self-indulgent to even bother delivering characters and plot that anyone could care about. Were "Giant" and "Rebel Without a Cause" hampered by the death of James Dean prior to their release? Did "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" tank when Spencer Tracy died soon after filming wrapped? Did people stay away from "The Dark Knight" following Heath Ledger's death? No. People actually are curious to see a movie after the star has died suddenly unless the movie is simply no good.

In 1981, I took a trip to my local theater when seeing the trailer for this on TV, it was the very same day, only just over an hour later. Being 13, it of course was for the very reason John Ritter (then of "Three's Company") was going to be in it.

Goes without saying, I expected 2 hours of high comedy from him and the cast. I may have also taken the title literally then. It's safe to say, many young people can take things like a movie trailer at face value.

Nothing of an "overwhelming" nature happens throughout the film but the main point is, the men in the movie are detectives hired to follow these women , to see if they are engaging in marital infidelity aka cheating on their husbands.

It takes a little while to figure out just where the story is headed but what's clear is Ben Gazzara, John Ritter and Blaine Novak work for the Odyssey Detective Agency, which is truthfully advertised by the line 'We never sleep'.

Gazzara's been assigned to track Audrey Hepburn's character by her husband, while Ritter & Novak trail Dorothy Stratten as she slips away from her husband, to rendezvous with young Sean Ferrer's character.

Oddly, Audrey didn't speak for the entire first hour (much of the film is devoted to the vague observation on the part of the detectives), but ultimately she emerges as the most mature and discreet character in the group, in terms of how she carries herself and her affairs.

Certain plot points have an eerie resemblances to the cirumstances leading up to Stratten's real life 1980 murder, as she too, had been followed by a detective hired by her husband. (See the movie "Star 80", for better detail on her life events.)

A palm reading scene in where Ritter predicts that her marriage will come to a swift end ( and she wonders if she has much time left ) is chilling for those familiar with the Stratten case.

To the 13 year old me, this was a bit confusing as I really did have very little idea why all this running around New York was going on.

I remember only laughing at 2 things then. Ritter is in Stratten's apartment, her dog doesn;t like him. There's this little window, with a tiny stone ledge for placing a plant. He looks at that, then the dog, "You wanna go play on the balcony?"

What's amazing is that Ritter had worked with Peter Bogdonovich before and with great results. The results here are merely, adequete.

The other one , is the detective with long hair, has it all tucked underhis hat at first, then in some store, removes the hat to reveal its length. I wasn't expecting that.

Otherwise, I found it dull and confusing. Anyhow, long after that time, I found the movie on video and rewatched it. It made more sense and I understood it all and it's point...but for me, it wasn't any the less dull.

I'm not for marital infidelity but I found it hard to find the urgency in the situation.

I can only say the actors did a 'good' job but it honestly could have used more energy and tension. All of them were good actors, so I feel just about anyone might expect a bigger picture.

It's very low key. ...but there are those who obviously like it more than myself. So, with all due respect to tham and the actors who are no longer here, I still rate "They All Laughed" with 5 stars.

Stratten was just getting underway in acting, who knows what she could have brought to film, had she not been killed? Gazzara, Hepburn and Ritter...the movie takes nothing away from their great careers. (END)