Three

Based on an Irwin Shaw story, this film revolves around college pals Sam Waterston and Robie Porter on their summer trip through Europe. In their travels they meet Charlotte Rampling, who they invite to come with them, but on condition she pays her own way. Also, the guys have a pact that they will not let her come between their friendship. From landmarks to landscapes on their trek, we see them laugh, reminisce, and contemplate their own lives. We see chapels and beaches, as their summer comes to life. "Three" is a very natural, relaxing, and, I don't think I've described a film this way before, sexy. The exotic locales made me think of "A Little Romance" with Laurence Olivier." This is the sort of film that stays with you in a very haunting sort of way. Its stillness and romanticism is of an another era, a yesteryear. But it's also very real. You'd swear they weren't acting at all. A very interesting turn of events transpires, as their trip comes to an end, the kind of ending that makes you want to see it again. It makes you wonder if you've actually been paying attention. Its aloofness, a feeling it's short of reaching keeps you interested in the three lives. I had never seen Robie Porter in a film before this. He looks like a cross between George Segal and Dennis Quaid. For a very mature and memorable trip through Europe, take time with these "Three" as they learn about themselves, while taking in a little of the world.

This film wears well since the story is an age old one. So nice to see the young Sam Waterston and Charlotte Rampling in very picturesque european locations.What happened to Robie Porter? Two male friends in Europe meet a beautiful English girl who then travels with them on their summer tour (many young Americans did this in the sixties in Europe) One, Sam Waterston, is an idealist about love, falling for Rampling, but keeping a promise to his friend that everything has to be kept platonic for the three to survive as a group. Rampling needs the attractive company but also wants a physical relationship which Porter, at the end, gives to her. Waterston realises the magic of the threesome is broken and gives up the the romantic thoughts of studying in Paris and breaks away to return home. Thoughtful and well told, more through subtle actions than words.

I happened to see this film when off sick from school (possibly) some thirty years ago... Although I now recall very few details of the plot, the beauty of the then (almost) ingénue Charlotte Rampling drifting around Mediterranean locations, the strange, at least to a young boy, dynamics of the love triangle depicted and probably the overall impression I retain of an aura of autumnal melancholy have haunted me ever since. I'd love to see it again now as an adult (perhaps at the risk of experiencing my warm nostalgic feelings dissolve into disappointment?). Only the recent, but richly deserved renaissance of Ms Rampling's career as a character actor provides any glimmer of hope that this, admittedly minor, twilight of the 60s film will see a DVD release...

I didn't catch up to this film until thirty years after the fact, but I was pulled in by its simple, elegant emotional resonance. This is a pretty young Sam Waterston. Though the plot is rife with potential rivalries over Charlotte Rampling, the film lays an astute and well-observed tale about friendship over a road film and, happily, these guys aren't ugly Americans, and even make an attempt to try to speak the languages along the way. Wonderful, spare location photography. I started watching it out of morbid interest, but ended up being lulled by that heart ache and yearning at the center of a vacation and adventure movie.

I became aware of this one fairly recently via a thread on the “Criterion Forum”, where several people were asking about it; I happened to recollect that the film was turning up regularly on Cable TV and, so, made it a point to check it out the next time it was on!

Well, it emerges as nothing really special: a ménage-a'-trois romance on the lines of JULES AND JIM (1962), filmed in a fragmentary but not unattractive style. The script makes the occasional perceptive comment about its central theme (especially through the contribution of Sam Waterston as the shy prospective lawyer) but, given that the three friends/lovers agree on the fickle nature of the relationship beforehand, the romantic element isn’t particularly stressed – so that there’s little character growth and, consequently, none of the potential jealousy and heartache inherent in such a situation!

Frankly, the film is more valuable as a travelogue: the narrative (based on a story by Irwin Shaw!) denotes the adventures of a couple of vacationing American students in Europe – with Florence (Italy’s art mecca), provincial France and Spain for backdrops – falling under the spell of a sophisticated but free-spirited girl of British and French descent (played by Charlotte Rampling). Along the way, however, the two boys meet and hitch up with a number of other girls – one of these is Gillian Hills, whom I recently watched perform the notorious-but-now-very-mild nude scenes in Michelangelo Antonioni’s BLOWUP (1966); the film also boasts a pleasant score by Laurence Rosenthal.

Apparently, James Salter (whose only directorial effort this proved to be) is a highly respected author but I’d never heard of him personally; looking at his filmography on the IMDb, I notice that I’d already watched a film he scripted – Sidney Lumet’s THE APPOINTMENT (1969) – and I’ve got another one in my “To Watch” pile (recorded off Italian TV) that was based on a novel he wrote – the aviation drama THE HUNTERS (1958), starring Robert Mitchum!