Author, Author! ~ The Movie Review:

It is Sunday afternoon.  After our company went home, we settled in to watch the last three quarters of Al Pacino and his friends in the movie  Author, Author!  It is not a new movie, of course; it was made in 1982.  But somehow today is the first time that I have ever watched it.  I want a copy.  It is most likely in the $5.00 basket at Walmart every once in awhile, and when I find it, I am buying it.


It is funny.  It is touching.  It is about a family man doing the right thing by his kids (biological or not), as he is trying hard to get his Broadway play on track in the theater.

Author, Author! ~ Wikipedia

Al Pacino - Ivan:

Ivan is married to Gloria.  They live in a big house in NYC and have a yours and mine situation regarding the children.  Ivan wrote a play that is under production.  The second act is not quite right, but the rest of the play is pretty darn good.  Well, somehow (before I tuned in to watch) Gloria splits the family scene.  Much to Ivan and the kids dismay.  They like each other lots, even if she got tired of the whole deal.


After Gloria and three of the children move out, Ivan gets propositioned by the pretty lady in his play, and they give it a whirl for a while.  Alice, the actress, is nice, but is not used to kids, so it doesn't last very long.  Family life is boring compared to the life of an almost famous actress.

Ivan, Igor and Geraldo bach it for a while, and after lots of other funny twists and turns, all's well that ends well.  You'll just have to watch the movie to see the rest.

What I like about this movie is that Ivan, who loved his family, was a responsible person who took everybody back in after their mother abandoned them and they ran away from their biological fathers.

Tuesday Weld - Gloria:

What is with Gloria, anyway?  Terribly flighty, to say the least.  Known for dumping her husbands and abandoning her children for a new man, Gloria is not very likable.   The kids love their stepdad, and tell him not to even bother trying to get Gloria to come back home.  Because, when she's gone ... SHE is GONE.  Done deal.  Oh, Gloria.  Look at the hurt you are doing to your children, chick.  "That's who I am.  That's what I do!"  It just doesn't cut it.

Dyan Cannon - Alice:

Alice is the in-between girlfriend, the star of Ivan's play, who moves in with him and two of the boys for a little while.  A nice lady, really.  I wonder whatever happened to Dyan Canon anyway?  She was in that movie with Willie Nelson.  And there was something about Burt Reynolds.  Then, poof, I do not remember seeing her around anymore.  Of course, as you can tell, I am not that much of a movie buff.  Your hint about that particular fact is that it took me almost 30 years to watch this particular one.

The kids in this movie are great.  Three boys and two girls; only the older son, Igor, is actually Ivan's.  The girls have the same father.  The other two boys had different fathers.  After Gloria dumps her own children, once again, she sends them all off to their respective fathers, except for the youngest boy, Geraldo who never does leave.  Why?  That is in the part of the movie that I missed.

When this was made, back in 1982, divorces and stepfamilies were getting pretty common.  Not as common as today, but they were getting there.  The second generations were beginning their own first divorces.  I know, because I was.  There are many complicated twists in all of that, believe me.  Divorce and step-families are not for the faint of heart.  But sometimes you are not the one calling the shots.  Then again, sometimes you are.

So, anyway, if you get a chance this is bound to be "an old favorite" for many.

~ Kathy