University of Virginia Library

Poor Acting

The weak performance of Miss
McGraw tends to make Ryan
O'Neal appear to be the more
appealing of the two characters. His
performance is surprisingly
confident and controlled and, I
hesitate to use the word, a highlight
of the film. The very weak father
characters are played by John
Marley and Ray Milland. Mr.
Milland's presence adds
considerably to the limited strength
of Oliver Barrett, III, but Phil
Cavilleri is as confusing as his
vaguely drawn counterpart in print.

Hiller's direction is clumsy and
heavy handed. Miss McGraw
delivers one of her cute lines and
walks out of the frame so we can
see O'Neal's reaction. Then he does
the same, complete with walkout.
The snow frolic lacks imagination,
but will be called lyrical by some.
The hand held camera is senseless,
yet the rapid circular tracking shot
during the wedding is the biggest
joke. You can actually get dizzy and
nauseous when Hiller's camera goes
spinning around his characters. The
squash games are tired looking and
confusing. The only good thing
Hiller has done is in avoiding slow
motion and different color film
stocks and other camera tricks.