This is a pathetically uninteresting film. The only thing it has to offer is a terrific performance by Jack Lenoir as a character named Jean-Paul, a Parisian chauffeur who is a larger-than-life figure and a charming rogue. Lenoir died in 1981 aged only 54, which is why he is not better known. Apart from Lenoir, this film is not only empty but it contains characters who are repulsive, played by the leads Wayne Rogers and Gayle Hunnicutt. The Rogers character is so spoilt, narcissistic, brash, arrogant, and unsympathetic that one longs to throw him in the Seine with concrete weights tied to his ankles. The leading lady is played by Hunnicutt looking even more sinister and cat-like than usual. She is meant to be a woman of mystery, but the mystery is why would anybody give her a second look, as her supposed beauty is cadaverous and so decadent that I can only imagine a ghoul taking her seriously. Six years earlier, Hunnicutt had been very good indeed in the classic British TV series adaptation of the Henry James novel, THE GOLDEN BOWL (1972). That was the high point of her career. But she always repelled me as a woman, as I always thought there was the chill of the morgue about her. Nowhere have I seen that more evident than in this appalling film. Because Hunnicutt is well known for speaking fluent French, that came in handy for this film set in Paris, so that may be why she was cast. The story is about an odious young American screenwriter who makes his first trip to Paris and has a romance with Hunnicutt. How original can you get?
Review of Once in Paris...
