Stephen Alfieri
George Segal and Glenda Jackson make "A Touch of Class" enjoyable to watch. While they are no Tracy and Hepburn, they still have a mild amount of chemistry, that's at least interesting enough to enable you to last thru the end of the picture.This is a rather ordinary film that was made during a year in which on two great films were made ( The Sting and The Exorcist). There weren't really that many good film performances either (If I remember correctly Marsha Mason and Ellen Burstyn were the other strong candidates for the Oscar that year, for "Cinderella Liberty" and "The Exorcist", respectively). Seen today, it is badly dated, and not very funny.5 out of 10
bethmorris2002
I saw this movie in 1976 and loved it. It was the first time I saw a movie where a woman had an affair with a married man that made me sympathize with the woman. At the same time I also felt sorry for the man, but not as much because he lied to her about his marriage making her think he wasn't happy with his wife and that their marriage was a sham. I've tried several times to rent this movie but have not been able to find it. I've tried all the main rental places such as Hastings, Hollywood Video and several smaller mom and pop type video rental places, but all to no avail The movie is good because it shows all the pitfalls of getting involved with someone who is married and yet has a tenderness about it that makes you understand why it happens. It is good for young girls to see because they can see how a man can take advantage of a gullible young woman by saying the right things. At the same time, it is interesting that the lead female role play by Glenda Jackson is anything but gullible in every other way. She is a strong woman with a strong personality who speaks up for herself but falls into the all too often belief that her love can make all the difference and that their love is so unique and wonderful that it cannot possibly fail and that he will leave his wife for her because he cannot live without her. Unfortunately, real life is not like fantasy and the practical takes over when the sun rises on the often cold reality of the pain and financial strain that breaking off a relationship can bring. Also, this man like many others didn't want to leave his marriage he just wanted to have an affair to fill whatever voids were there real or imagined. Still, I liked this movie and have often thought about it over the years. For me this is the true test of how effectively a story touches me.
sol-
Glenda Jackson won the Academy Award for her performance here, and whilst not brilliant, she plays her character very well and she has good chemistry with George Segal. The dialogue is at times sharp and witty, yet the film's screenplay is not all that great because the content is stretched a little thin to bear the stretch of feature length. Also, the supporting characters are mostly silly stereotypes that hang around the set but add little to the story. Some of the jokes are also repetitive and predictable. However, it is an interesting enough film to watch, despite the premise being unoriginal, because of the two lead characters being well-mannered, refined types - quite different to the average couple in this type of film.
michelerealini
The main interest of the film is the presence of two wonderful actors, Glenda Jackson and George Segal. They support the movie from the beginning with very good acted dialogues and a lot of humor. "A touch of class" works very well for the first part -the way the two meet in London and their funny holiday in Spain-. After that the film becomes less interesting, many scenes become quite boring. It seems that director Melvin Frank put all his energy in showing how this two people learn to accept and to love each other... Even if the movie doesn't end in a conventional way, it begins to lack speed in the second half.It's a pity, because it could have been a classic.
AD
