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Based
on the novel by Jacqueline Susann, Once is Not Enough (1975)
may not be as campy as the previous film adaptations of her best
sellers, but scandalous lesbianism, Freudian daddy fixations and
a loud-mouthed feminist character that more than resembles the opinionated
author herself, means there's still plenty about it to recommend.
While
his daughter recovers from a near fatal motorcycle accident, down
on his luck producer Mike Wayne (Kirk Douglas) woos wealthy socialite
Deidre Milford Granger (Alexis Smith). After months of physical
therapy in a Swiss clinic, Mike welcomes January (Deborah Raffin)
home to New York. As they embrace at the airport, January comments
that, "I hope nobody thinks we're father and daughter. I hope
they think you're a dirty old man and I'm your broad." They
celebrate her return with champagne and caviar as well as a "Welcome
Home" message spelled out on the Goodyear blimp.
Mike
has another surprise in store and introduces January to Dee, her
new mommy.
On
a hill in Central Park, January tries to cope with the fact that
the man she idolizes has a new woman in his life. "Do you even
like her?" she asks.
"It's
difficult not to feel a little something for a woman with all that
money, especially when you're broke," he tells her, detailing
the arrangement he has with Dee. "So, we're married."
"You're
married. She's between divorces."
January
visits her old pal Linda Riggs, "The oldest, the ugliest and
the smartest girl at school." At first she doesn't recognize
her former friend.
Linda
quickly recites the laundry list of cosmetic procedures she's had
done. "My navel, I'm proud to say, was untouched." As
played by Brenda Vaccaro, Linda embodies the crass, no nonsense,
sexually adventurous modern gal that January aspires to be. Shortly
after reuniting with January, Linda proudly drops this feminist
bombshell, "I've screwed every guy in this organization, literally
and figuratively, and I gave the shaft to every woman who stood
in my way. Now, at twenty-eight, I am the youngest editor Gloss
magazine has ever had."
Later
that night, January agrees to a date with man-about-town David Milford
(George Hamilton). After an evening spent at a chi-chi nightclub
with the "beautiful people", David makes his move, "Frankly,
I'd love to sleep with you." January puts a stop to the date
immediately.
Linda
can't believe that her friend turned down the biggest stud in town.
She soon realizes that the only explanation for January's strange
behavior is that she is (gasp!) a virgin. "You've got the guilts,
it's like cheating on Daddy," she theorizes. The only way for
January to cure her unfortunate case of virginity and gain some
life experience is to get out from under Mike and Dee's thumb. Linda
gives January a job and gets her an apartment in her building. "It's
lucky for you that you've fallen into my hands. I'll teach you everything
- writing, screwing - everything!"
January's
second date with David ends back at his place, an unbelievable Matt
Helm-style swingin' bachelor pad. "I wanted it to look like
a bordello," he tells her as a pair of automated drapes reveal
a circular bed.
"You've
succeeded."
After
the deed is done ("I didn't know men used hairspray,"
she says, trying to run her fingers through his hair) they take
a cab back to January's apartment. "David, I wanted to fall
in love with you, I really did," she explains, "If the
music, champagne and a round bed couldn't do it…" Though
romance may not be in the cards for January and David, Dee certainly
enjoys her afternoon trysts with reclusive international film star
Karla (Melina Mercouri).
Later,
January and Linda meet astronaut Hugh Robertson (Gary Conway) and
hard-drinking novelist Tom Colt (David Janssen). "Forgive me,"
an inebriated Tom flirts, "But I can't take my eyes off your
ass."
With
a pick-up line like that, how could a girl possibly resist? Linda
invites the guys home for a nightcap, but Tom only has eyes for
the daughter of his mortal enemy, Mike Wayne. While Linda puts the
moves on Tom, January innocently asks if there's any man she won't
sleep with. "If there is, I haven't met him." To escape
Linda's clutches, Tom climbs out the window and up the fire escape
to January's apartment, where he entertains her with drunken platitudes
and a semi-respectable kiss. A sappy lovers montage soon details
their May/December romance, though taking into account the tremendous
age gap (and our heroine's name) perhaps it should be reclassified
as a January/December romance.
The
affair creates a rift between January and her father. Mike can't
understand what she sees in the guy. "I'm not looking for a
wonderful guy like David, I'm looking for a terrible man like my
father."
"I
hate what that man's done to you."
"And
I'm not exactly crazy about what Dee's done to you."
Linda
subjects January to some dime-store psychoanalysis, theorizing that
her relationship with Tom Colt is simply a result of January's daddy
fixation. "I would be a lot healthier if you just got it over
with and went to bed with your father. Why don't you ask him?"
Linda's
prognosis is right on the money, but without the sexual tension
between father and daughter there'd be no movie, so January and
Tom head off to the Hamptons for a romantic weekend. Though January
tries everything she can think of, it soon becomes clear that Tom
has some… well, performance issues. But after a glimpse of
January soaping up in the shower, Tom has no trouble rising to the
occasion. "That's the first time I've made it in years,"
he tells her as they bask in the afterglow of their love. He then
proceeds to tell January that, despite the loveless arrangement
he has with his wife, he has no intention of getting a divorce.
When
Tom is asked to adapt one of his books for the movies, it's off
to Hollywood they go. Their happiness is short lived when Mike bursts
in on them and beats the hell out of Tom. Mike insists that January
leave Tom and join him and Dee in Palm Beach.
While
cleaning his bloodied face, Tom forces January to choose, "I've
always had a hunch I was just a replacement, now I'll know…
It's me or daddy, not both of us."
As
Mike flies back to Florida alone, he considers what he'll have to
do to win back January's love and respect. The first order of business
is divorcing Dee. "I married you and I lost her," he explains
as they make the civilized arrangements for the annulment of their
marriage.
While
in the middle of a mundane lovers quarrel with Tom, January receives
word that the charted plane carrying Dee and her father has crashed.
Linda, always the epitome of decorum, gripes, "I hate funerals,
they depress the hell out of me."
After
dealing with her father's death and inheriting a sizable chunk of
Dee's fortune, January learns that Tom has returned to New York
without bothering to get in touch with her. In a crowded bar Tom
gives her the brush off, "You gave a middle-aged guy his last
pretense of being a stud."
"We
did have something special didn't we?"
"We
did once."
"Well,
once is not enough."
Heartbroken,
January returns to her apartment to find an inconsolable Linda.
"First he laid me," she wails after sleeping with her
publisher, "and then he fired me! He said that I was a great
lay but that I was a lousy editor!"
After
calming her frazzled friend, January goes for a walk and considers
the men that she has loved and lost. Cue the montage of happy moments
with Tom. But those moments quickly fade to memories of the only
man she ever truly loved, her father. A heavenly choir sings the
sappy theme song as scenes from earlier in the film are replayed.
The movie ends abruptly with January placidly walking through the
pre-dawn city streets.
Author
Jacqueline Susann was often involved (to varying degrees) with the
page-to-screen adaptations of her best sellers, but it was no secret
that she was seldom satisfied with the changes Hollywood made to
her books. While Valley of the Dolls (1967) and The Love
Machine (1971) remain true to the spirit of their source material,
there were several cuts and alterations made for the big screen.
Though Susann visited the set of Once is Not Enough, she
was too ill to shoot a cameo (as she did for the previous two films)
and passed away before the film's premiere. It's unlikely that she
would have enjoyed this adaptation either. Several key subplots
and character motivations were truncated, including that of the
Karla character. In the film, Karla remains an enigma, appearing
in only one scene. In the book, it is explained that Karla uses
the money and expensive gifts from her many lovers to care for a
handicapped daughter that she has kept secret for decades.
The
end of the story was also changed. But as unsatisfying as the end
of the film is, the alterations may have been for the better. In
the book, after dealing with the death of her father, January gets
high, participates in an orgy and tries to jump out a window. She
then drives to the beach and disappears, the victim of a bad acid
trip, a daddy induced seaside suicide or an alien abduction, it's
unclear which. Susann intentionally left the ending ambiguous, though
it bears more than a passing resemblance to the ending of Yargo,
a sci-fi novel that Susann had penned several years earlier. The
manuscript for Yargo, which was quite unlike the glitzy tell-alls
she was famous for, was discovered after her death and published
posthumously.
Despite
the end result, Once is Not Enough has perhaps the best cinematic
pedigree of all the Susann adaptations. The legendary Kirk Douglas
certainly adds to the patina of quality, as well as direction by
Academy Award winner Guy Green. Green directed the Sidney Poitier
film A Patch of Blue (1965) as well as the Yvette Mimeiux
melodramas (and Cool Cinema Trash favorites) Light in the Piazza
(1962) and Diamond Head (1963). The script was by Oscar winner
Julius J. Epstein, the man who penned Casablanca (1945).
Brenda Vaccaro, who isn't usually high on the list of critically
lauded actresses, won a Golden Globe for her role in Once is
Not Enough. But even more shocking is that she got an Oscar
nomination as well!
Valley
of the Dolls is available on DVD in a deluxe two disc special
edition. The Love Machine and Once is Not Enough are
only available on VHS. Both titles are currently out-of-print and
are often difficult to track down.
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