Review of A Touch of Class (1973) by Stephen M — 01 May 2008

This amazing film is a slice of the seventies - and a really fun one, too! It shows the moods and attitudes of the sexually free.. even if it does mean that one of those sexually free is a philandering husband who is cheating on his wife!

The interesting thing about it is the frankness with which the characters negotiate their affair. She knows he is an adulterer, he knows he is cheating; they just don't care! It's just sex, after all. And in the seventies, that was the deal.

Let's be honest, though. All throughout history there have been sexcapades and infidelities - the sixties brought about a sexual revolution, though, that led to a decade of cheating and swinging and bedhopping, sadly ended by the AIDS crisis of the 80s. What I love about A Touch Of Class is that it captures, very nicely, that mood of just living free and sleeping around. After all, not only do we have Steve Blackburn and Vicki Allessio having an affair; we have them doing it on a week long holiday where his close friends have the opportunity of witnessing the infidelity! It isn't (necessarily) judged by his friends; it is seen, noted, discussed, advised and then the philanderers are left to enjoy their fling. Then there are incidental characters like a travel agent who also witnesses the infidelity, an apartment building filled with hookers who all have the same last name and hotel employees who handle the follies of the philanderers.

And follies there are - aplenty. One mishap after another threatens the affair (hilariously so!) but to no avail. The adulterers fall in love and continue their affair in their real lives, giving Glenda Jackson the chance of a lifetime to run the gamut of emotions from bitingly funny to heartbreaingly human. There is a big pay off for the audience and for the actress.

She got the Oscar for this film, famously beating out Barbra Streisand for The Way We Were.

Ultimately, it is a dated piece of artwork; but it is happily dated because it isn't a movie made NOW about the seventies. It is a real time look at how it was; and it is wonderfully written with humour and humanity and a fun seventies score featuring a great song: All That Love Went To Waste.

This movie is a keeper - one to be watched and enjoyed over and over.