Review of All Fall Down (2014) by Kurtis E — 22 Mar 2010

Man enough to attract a dozen women, not man enough to be faithful to one, All Fall Down is one of Warren Beatty's finest hours. He portrays a broken young man with much more than a chip on his shoulder; and he gives a standout performance overall. In main roles are actors Eva Marie Saint, Karl Malden and a truly remarkable Angela Lansbury; who proves to be the standout cast member of the film.

The film is an adaption of a best selling 1960's novel of the same name. Two argumentative and bickering middle aged parents, who have two adolescent sons; become even more at odds with each other when their eldest son Berry Berry (Beatty) starts yet another love affair, this time with a much older Echo (Saint). The film delves into the issues of suicide, family tragedy and love triangles involved around this Ohio based family.

In her finest role to date, Lansbury is superb in her role as the controlling and over protective mother Annabelle. Malden is convincing as the family patriarch, who always tries to please his sons, but Lansbury still outshines Malden.

Beatty's performance is so realistic and convincing that you feel a great deal of pain for what his family is going through due to his new dalliance.

The script is also very well written, with some very good one liners and big emotional scenes in which the characters bring to the screen very well. Many events through out the film are totally unexpected but all add up so all the actions root back to the plot.

The only thing that brings this film down is it's quality. I'm quessing that the production budget wasn't very high, thus the film was shit in a very dated (even for 1962) black and white. Films with average to high budgets from the 50's onwards mostly shot in colour. Too modern audiences, this can be the downfall for the getting the most out of the film.

All Fall Down is a must see over-looked memorable film for all performers involved, as it brings out some great performances for all the cast. It may however be quite hard to sit through due to the poor quality as it is shot in a a very bad quality black and white.