In a vulnerable role that would have been perfect for either Montgomery Clift or Anthony Perkins, big, hulking JAMES GARNER is supposed to be afraid of who he is and why he can't remember anything. Somehow, it just doesn't work.
Not all of the fault his his. The script is a muddled thing, and has him going from woman to woman trying to find himself. He thinks each woman is Grace--someone from his past that he hasn't forgotten. A low point is a rather embarrassingly written scene with ANGELA LANSBURY as a warm-hearted, boozy type who slobbers all over him when she realizes his predicament is really too much. A little less risible is the sequence with SUZANNE PLESHETTE, but it too is poorly conceived and written. Most of the characters he comes into touch with are either obnoxious or stupid. So much for the screenplay...and the film itself has to be regarded as a complete misfire.
That this is directed by Delbert Mann is surprising. He's usually so tight and forceful in his direction--whereas MR. BUDDWING is a series of vignettes that don't ever seem real, however unpredictable they are.
Nice try--and maybe Evan Hunter's novel got it right--but the only redeeming feature of the film is some nice location shots in New York City's Greenwich Village area.
As for JAMES GARNER, he's much more suited to the cocky sort of roles that he played later on in films like THE GREAT ESCAPE. Vulnerability is not his forte.
Not all of the fault his his. The script is a muddled thing, and has him going from woman to woman trying to find himself. He thinks each woman is Grace--someone from his past that he hasn't forgotten. A low point is a rather embarrassingly written scene with ANGELA LANSBURY as a warm-hearted, boozy type who slobbers all over him when she realizes his predicament is really too much. A little less risible is the sequence with SUZANNE PLESHETTE, but it too is poorly conceived and written. Most of the characters he comes into touch with are either obnoxious or stupid. So much for the screenplay...and the film itself has to be regarded as a complete misfire.
That this is directed by Delbert Mann is surprising. He's usually so tight and forceful in his direction--whereas MR. BUDDWING is a series of vignettes that don't ever seem real, however unpredictable they are.
Nice try--and maybe Evan Hunter's novel got it right--but the only redeeming feature of the film is some nice location shots in New York City's Greenwich Village area.
As for JAMES GARNER, he's much more suited to the cocky sort of roles that he played later on in films like THE GREAT ESCAPE. Vulnerability is not his forte.