Gable and Lombard

Might not be the best movie, but most of the incidents in this film really took place (read the book by Warren G. Harris)! Some of the character's are fictionalized, but the story about the romance is not. James Brolin IS Clark Gable. Brolin has Gable's personality and mannerisms down to a "T" and plays Gable with dignity and grace(unlike Edward Winter did in Moviola:The Scarlett O'Hara War. Winter played him as down home, backwoods, stupid hick, which Gable was FAR from!) I don't know if Brolin did any research for his role but he's sure got Gable down pat!! Jill Clayburgh, on the other hand, overplays her role a bit, but maybe that was the way Lombard really was! All in all, Gable and Lombard is an excellent movie for film buffs, fans of Gable and/or Lombard, or suckers for old fashioned romances. Unfortunately, the only way to see this film is on cable in a heavily edited TV version. Put it out on DVD!!

This movie was quite maligned when it came out. Since I had been a big fan of both vivacious Jill Clayburgh and the manly James Brolin at the time I went to see it. Since I was a teen, I took a lot of what was portrayed as quite accurate. True it is a mostly fictionalized account of the two stars, but it has got some redeeming qualities. Namely, Brolin's dead on Gable. He is indeed very good, and I kept forgetting that it was not really Clark Gable. Clayburgh, as attractive as she is does not have Lombard's classic beauty or figure, but she's so gosh darn likable as Lombard one can overlook her shortcomings. Seeing it again recently, Jill Clayburgh as Lombard is a stretch, but I felt she put so much into the character, and a better script couldn't have hurt. Physical aspects aside, the two actors have great chemistry, and one gets the impression they are really crazy about each other. It's ashame that neither Brolin or Clayburgh got more to do...the story does meander at times and the film is a tad too long. Although it's not a great film, it's definitely worth checking out. Be on the lookout for Melanie Mayron as Dixie, before she went from frump to vixen.

I graduated in 1971 , so when this movie came out in 1976 I was 23 and at a time in my life when showing any emotion was something that only women would do.Then I went to see this movie about Clark Gable and Carol Lombard and it absolutely changed my outlook towards what real love should be.James Brolin was great in portaying Clark,they could not have picked a better actor for the part.Jill Clayburgh was also wonderful and held her own.This movie could lift you up with laughter and then make you wish that the end would never come,and to think it was a true story.This movie never got a fare shake from the critics, which has convenced me to never listen to critics on anything anymore and that really the only critic should be yourself and how you feel about something.I highly recommend this movie to anyone who would like to have a heartfelt experience.I give this movie its 4 star rating it deserves.Thank you , Jon Kodi

Highly fictional movie about the love affair between Clark Gable (James Brolin) and Carole Lombard (Jill Clayburgh). It chronicles how they first meet and hate each other but eventually fall in love. The problem is Gable's first wife won't give him a divorce and their studios are threatening to drop them.

There are so many factual errors here it's pointless to try and discuss them all. The biggest one for me was the portrayal of Louis B. Mayer (badly played by Allen Garfield) as a kindly man. He was loud and obnoxious and treated the actors like dirt. Here he comes across as a nice gentle father figure which is wildly inaccurate. Still if you just accept this as a fictional tale it's not too bad. It's pretty obvious they spent a lot of money on this--there's some truly beautiful sets and clothes. Also the script isn't too bad. It mostly consists of Brolin and Clayburgh screaming and arguing with each other or hopping into bed...but it still works.

Brolin is VERY convincing as Gable. He looks like him and sounds like him. Also, from what I've heard, he pretty much gave an accurate portrayal of Gable as he really was. Clayburgh looks nothing like Lombard but her acting is excellent and she does show Lombard as she actually was--strong, funny and independent. Also Red Buttons is excellent as a studio publicist. Beautiful music score too.

There are a few problems. The movie is way too long--it's 131 minutes and should have been shorter. Also there's a truly tacky sequence involving a "c**k soc" that should have been eliminated. But, as a fictional tale, this is pretty good. R rated for swearing and very frank sexual talk.

Slammed by critics in 1976 for playing loosely with the Hollywood facts (to put it mildly), this expensive, handsome-looking bio-pic regarding the romance between 1930s screen idols Clark Gable and Carole Lombard actually doesn't take the facts into consideration at all. Perhaps starting with the presumption that nobody knows the real dish, screenwriter Barry Sandler concocts a movie star yarn around personalities we mostly remember today through their pictures. Of course, film-historians were quick to point out all the inaccuracies, but I don't think Sandler nor director Sidney J. Furie was preoccupied with the truth. Sandler's Gable and Lombard appear to be based solely on his (and our) movie memories of them both, and leads James Brolin and Jill Clayburgh approach their roles in this precise spirit (particularly Clayburgh, who models her performance on Lombard's performance in "My Man Godfrey"). In a way, this was a novel concept considering that 1930s reality has now been permanently blurred via time and celluloid. Now for the bad news: Sandler's 'plot' spends far too much time on the loving couple having to sneak around since Gable was already married, and their meetings with Louis B. Mayer (Allen Garfield, playing Father Confessor) are pointless. In actuality, Clark and Carole brazenly showed up everywhere together, and the public ate it up. Sticking to the truth in this instance might've served Sandler better than the silly melodrama on display, which mitigates the screwball humor Furie stages at the beginning. This picture is a real mess from a narrative standpoint, and the acting isn't dynamic enough to hold interest. There's a terrible, shapeless sequence wherein Lombard barges into a Women's Press decency meeting yelling, "Cock-a-doodle-do!" and a limp bit in the courtroom with Carole getting blue on the stand (much to everyone's delight). Brolin has Gable's squint, mouth movements and vocal inflection down pat, yet his King is made to be so downtrodden that it comes as a surprise when Lombard expresses rapture over his bedroom prowess (again, in reality, the comedienne once famously confessed she adored 'Pa' but that their sex life was lacking). Had Sandler gone full-throttle with a high-comedy approach, the movie may have been a hoot. However, the phony dramatics overshadow everything in the end--and since the film is useless as a biography, a good portion of "Gable and Lombard" is utterly without purpose. ** from ****