User reviews

Movie based on Jacqueline Susann's best-selling novel. It's about Robin Stone (John Phillip Law) a ruthless TV anchorman who claws his way to the top. It details his love life concentrating on Amanda (Jodi Wexler) and Judith (Dyan Cannon). It also shows his total inability to commit to anyone and instead sleeps with any woman he can get.

The novel is no work of art (it's not even good literature) but it's a quick, silly, trashy read. However, compared to this movie, it seems like a masterpiece of fiction! This is a textbook example of how NOT to do a movie adaptation. First they condense the novel terribly. In the book Stone's inability to commit is dealt with and it's revealed why. Here it's brought up...and ignored. Characters from the book are either totally left out or changed completely. One of them (Maggie) pops up for two pointless scenes and then disappears completely! Also there's a truly revolting scene in which a woman is brutally beaten. It's in the book--but there IS a reason totally left out of the movie. And the book dealt with three women--not two. Don't even get me started on the homophobia. The movie is almost worth sitting through for a no holds barred fight at the end between Law, Cannon and David Hemmings.

Adaptation aside the acting is pretty terrible. Law is just horrendous as Stone--VERY wooden and boring--you seriously wonder why all these women are after him. To be fair to Law another actor was cast but had a very bad accident before shooting began and Law stepped in at the last minute. Wexler is terrible as Amanda; Maureen Arthur is truly astoundingly bad as Ethel Evans; Shecky Greene is unbearable as Christie Lane. Only three performances stand out: David Hemmings (having a GREAT time) camps it up as a gay photographer; Cannon is actually very good and Robert Ryan is just great. Also Dionne Warwick sings the catchy opening song ("He's Moving On"). Also Jacqueline Susann has a cameo as a newscaster.

It IS bad but I watched the whole thing and it is (in a silly sort of way) a lot of fun. I'm giving it a 3.

The network TV news business as a sleazy cesspool, with John Phillip Law as the titular news-anchor who sleeps his way to the top. Nice idea to have Dionne Warwicke do the song vocals for this movie-adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's bestseller (a la "Valley Of The Dolls")...though it's really too bad this sudser doesn't have Patty Duke's Neely O'Hara to spike the story. "The Love Machine" is unrelievedly dull. Even the final brawl (with an Academy Award as a fight prop!) can't save it. Dyan Cannon seems embalmed in her heavy pancake make-up and cumbersome fall (although her tiny, suntanned figure is a beauty to behold), Law is a handsome block of wood, while David Hemmings is embarrassing in gay-mode as a flamboyant photographer. And where is Robin Stone walking to at the end? Is he trekking out to the waterfront to pick up some sailors? After Cannon has deflated his masculinity, it would be a safe bet. In that case, "Love Machine--The Final Episode" might have been a more interesting flick. Certainly better than this yawn-inducing snooze-opera. *1/2 from ****

The price the studio paid for the film rights from Jacqueline Susann's novel set a record...which is surprising considering what a disaster her first movie, "Valley of the Dolls", was. To put it mildly, it was a campy and sleazy stinker...more of interest for audiences needing a good laugh than anything else. Is this one any different or better?

The story is about a handsome but incredibly narcissistic news reporter, Robin Stone (John Phillip Law). When the story begins, he's being given a HUGE promotion...to head of the news department at the network. He's also involved with a model who loves him...and he treats her like dirt...until he finds some other woman ready to sleep with him...including the network president's wife! How many people can he use and mistreat until he gets him comeuppance? Or, will he?

This film is what I expected...filled with sex (though showing little actual skin), sleaze and histrionics. It's far from subtle and is often unintentionally funny...especially in a few scenes where woman have HUGE outbursts over him. It's also entertaining...mostly because it's so excessive and awful. Not quite as much a sleazy bad film like "Valley of the Dolls"...but not a major improvement either. Overall, rather silly and salacious...with songs by Dionne Warwick which have some unintentionally funny lyrics. Not a film to show your mother, your kids or Father O'Malley if he stops by for a visit. As for me, I felt like I needed to take a bath after seeing it...to get all the stink off of me! A great film for MSTK3000...with so many over the top moments to laugh at because it's so excessive.