...All the Marbles

Harry is the manager of a tag team of attractive female wrestlers, Iris and Molly. On the road, they all endure a number of indignities, including bad motels, small-time crooks and a mud-wrestling match while trying to reach Reno, Nevada, for a big event at the MGM Grand Hotel. ==Cast==

• Peter Falk as Harry • Vicki Frederick as Iris • Laurene Landon as Molly • Richard Jaeckel as Dudley • Burt Young as Eddie Cisco • John Hancock as John "Big John" • Faith Minton as "Big Mama" • Chick Hearn as Himself ==Production==

Development Aldrich said he wanted to make the film "because nobody's done anything about women's wrestling before." "It's purely, totally commercial," added Aldrich. "It fits in with my philosophy, which is that the process is at best a craft, not art." Aldrich says he was brought the story by Mel Frohman "and we stole the whole psychological drive and ending from Abe Polonsky's Body and Soul (1947)", a film on which Aldrich had been an assistant director. Aldrich said that "Rocky was Body and Soul except that an Italian fighter wins, and in the original, a Jewish fighter loses. We have here two girls and a manager of questionable credentials. All three have already fallen from grace, and they struggle to redeem their self esteem. Hopefully, it will take two funny hours to happen." The film was financed by MGM who had recent appointed David Begelman head of production and revitalized its movie-making operations. The film was announced in May 1980. Casting The film needed a male star. "I couldn't make Sister George in this market," said Aldrich around this time. "I couldn't make Baby Jane, Attack! or The Big Knife in this market. It used to be that the script was the big thing and the actor secondary. Now it's the star. And it's got to be a big star. Get Burt Reynolds and you can shoot the telephone book." For the female leads, Aldrich said "We made the decision to take actresses and turn them into wrestlers instead of vice-versa. If we were right, it will make the picture." The women auditioned for the female leads were narrowed to eight and were sent to wrestling school. (Another account says 12 actors were screen tested and four sent off to wrestling school).) Aldrich reportedly told the women "the two that wrestle the best get the parts." The last 19 days were just filming wrestling. Laurene Landon was upset when Robert Aldrich told her and Vicki Frederick there was going to be a nude scene. "We figured out a way that we could get away with not showing our breasts. When we were wrestling, we kept covering our breasts with the mud, or wrestling in the mud at the other girls to cover our breasts. We thought we got away with it. Well, we got a call from Aldrich the next morning in a rage. He was very angry that we didn't show our breasts. In addition to that, they struck the mud wrestling set the night before. He said 'I know what you two tricksters are up to. We're building the set all over again because of you two.' We had to go in there again and wrestle and show our breasts so to speak. I was mortified; I was so ashamed and embarrassed," Landon said. ==Reception==

United Artists reportedly spent $7 million to promote the film. "I'm 63 and I've had hits every 10 years, and I just hope I can function long enough to have one in the 90s," said Aldrich. Critical reception In his October 16, 1981, review in The New York Times, the film critic Vincent Canby singled out Falk for "one of his best performances". Box office The film began disappointingly at the box office, only making $1.7 million in its first week, putting sequel plans on hold. According to Laurene Landon (who portrayed California Doll Molly), while the film did not perform well at the box office in the United States, it made a healthy profit in foreign markets, and producers were planning a sequel, set primarily in Japan, when Robert Aldrich's death put a halt to the project. Awards The film won Japan's Hochi Film Award for Best International Picture. ==References==