This is one of those movies from the late 1960s and early 1970s in which young characters ramble around the country (or in this case, Western Europe) vaguely trying to "find themselves" and experiencing even vaguer interpersonal conflicts. A very young Sam Waterston and the more conventionally handsome Robie Porter (an Australiian pop performer who soon left acting to go back to music, particularly as a very successful producer) play American best friends touring "the Continent") for a summer before differing responsibilities (including the draft) will call them back home. They meet Charlotte Rampling, a worldly, directionless and faintly bored young woman who "sort of" lives in Paris, and is likewise just kicking around. The three agree to travel together for a time--strictly platonically, with the two men vowing not to become rivals over her.
Of course, that plan doesn't really work out. But neither does much real conflict arise in "Three," which is intelligently crafted and acted but simply has little narrative drive or psychological depth to bolster its attractive locations and photography. Yes, Rampling (who apparently was unhappy at finding herself working on such a small movie right after Visconti's "The Damned") looks gorgeous, and the two male actors are appealing. (As for the claims of Waterston being full- frontal nude, however, either I blinked and missed it, or that shot was excised from the print I saw.) But there's just not much going on here. The film's rather tepid stab at "offbeat" isn't helped by still-active (at 90!) Laurence Rosenthal's score, which in a typical move for the era drapes a movie that could use more flavor in nicely composed yet very conventional orchestral soundtrack fodder.
Like other, similar rare movies of the era (say, "Thumb Tripping"), this one is worth seeing if you've always been curious about it (it's been very hard to see since it's original release), but it's not exactly a major rediscovery. You can see why it stirred little critical or commercial interest at the time. It was the only film directed by novelist and scenarist James Salter.
Of course, that plan doesn't really work out. But neither does much real conflict arise in "Three," which is intelligently crafted and acted but simply has little narrative drive or psychological depth to bolster its attractive locations and photography. Yes, Rampling (who apparently was unhappy at finding herself working on such a small movie right after Visconti's "The Damned") looks gorgeous, and the two male actors are appealing. (As for the claims of Waterston being full- frontal nude, however, either I blinked and missed it, or that shot was excised from the print I saw.) But there's just not much going on here. The film's rather tepid stab at "offbeat" isn't helped by still-active (at 90!) Laurence Rosenthal's score, which in a typical move for the era drapes a movie that could use more flavor in nicely composed yet very conventional orchestral soundtrack fodder.
Like other, similar rare movies of the era (say, "Thumb Tripping"), this one is worth seeing if you've always been curious about it (it's been very hard to see since it's original release), but it's not exactly a major rediscovery. You can see why it stirred little critical or commercial interest at the time. It was the only film directed by novelist and scenarist James Salter.