They All Laughed (1981)

My original motivation for watching this film was the appearance of John Ritter, but it turns out this film has a number of other noteworthy cast members as well.

John Ritter was not as we usually expect him.  While for most of the film he is pretty straight forward, you do see occasional silly moments, reminiscent of his days on "Three's Company"

Also, there was a number of noteworthy cast members, none of whom I recalled until after watching the film and rereading the Wikipedia entry.  Most note worthy was Audrey Hepburn.  I have never seen a film with her before (and am waiting for just the right moment to watch Breakfast at Tiffanys or Roman Holiday), and she wasn't particularly noteworthy in this film.  She appeared as an older woman (which she was) and didn't give off any special charm to allude to her great popularity.

A side note, many years ago I was in conatct with a group of Japanese students and they had written me a letter telling me how sad they were that Audrey Hepburn had just passed away.   I was suprirsed that they had interest in the actress and kind of shocked that no one around me had even known or taken note of her passing.

Dorthy Stratten appears in this film, and she really was hard to ignore.  What was really impressive about her was that her face was so stunning, I never once looked at her body.  It's a terrible shame what happened to her, and I feel she could have had a great career as an actress, as she gives off such appeal and likability.

This film is neither a comedy, nor does it appear as to be a romance.  It centers around 3 men who work for a private investigator, charged with following two different women but they to do a poor job of it, and are more focused on getting laid than their job, especially with the women they are charged with observing.

Of particular note here is Ben Gazzara's character, who seems to have women coming out his ears, but never gives us the impression that he is overwhelmingly handsome or charming.  While it's easy to show him getting so many girls in a film, it's impossible to believe he would have any kind of success in real life.

This, like many other films is puzzling in why it was made.  There doesn't seem to be anything the director is trying to tell us.  It's more a series of random and not particularly noteworthy events, with no clincher of an ending.