As Bus Riley, Michael Parks shuffles and mumbles his way through this small-town melodrama.
He’s a former sailor twice jilted by the voluptuous Ann-Margret, who has married a sugar daddy but still fancies Bus.
There are lots of secondary characters – Jocelyn Brando is Bus’s mother, Janet Margolin the “nice” girl in town – all well-knit together by debutant director Harvey Hart, who came from TV.
Parks is something of a weakness – the movie really needed a Robert Redford or a Warren Beatty – but this is a quiet, understated study of frustrated ambition.
The original author, noted playwright William Inge, had his real name removed from the credits and the movie bombed at the box office.
Laurel
Ann-Margret Bus Riley
Michael Parks Judy
Janet Margolin Slocum
Brad Dexter Mrs Riley
Jocelyn Brando Howie
Larry Storch Spencer
Crahan Denton Gussie
Kim Darby
Director
Harvey Hart
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