Film Forum

(1980, Louis Malle) Oscar-nominated Lancaster, as a small time hood and ex-numbers runner, gives “probably his funniest (and finest) performance” (Pauline Kael) in screenwriter John Guare and Malle’s Grand Hotel on the Jersey shore, with cast including Susan Sarandon and Michel Piccoli. 35mm. Approx. 104 min.

Reviews

“John Guare’s screenplay is full of ingenuity without ever abandoning realism… It’s a light, whimsical film, fond of its dreamers, and just a touch generous to them all… This is five nominations better, and several degrees more facile, than The King of Marvin Gardens.”
– David Thomson

“The film operates by its own laws in its own world, and it has a lovely fizziness.”
– Pauline Kael

“Eclectic, pacey and hard to categorize, it’s part crime thriller, part love story, part fairytale, and part a gentle, generous examination of certain dying aspects of American culture. Lancaster turns in the performance of his career… Between the gripping and beautifully staged action sequences, Malle contrasts the rather sad and slightly seedy lives of various loners with their romantic dreams of success, wealth and fame, while never treating his characters with condescension or contempt. Witty, warm, but never sentimental.”
– Geoff Andrew, Time Out (London)