James Caan sells artificial stone facing for homes. His is married to Carrie Snodgrass with a son and a daughter on the way. Miss Snodgrass sends him out for cigarettes, and he moves in with Anjanette Comer.
It's half a century since I read the John Updike novel this was based on and found it a dull affair. To that extent, this is a good film version, because I found it dull. The characters are uninteresting, none of them very good at what they do. That is, I suppose the point of the novel. It came out in the 1960s, the post-war exuberance was fading, and Updike made a mantra of excoriating failure to the general applause of his colleagues on The New Yorker. Updike's pursed-mouth disapproval satisfied the literary lions and critics of the day, at least until he came out in favor of the Viet Nam War.
It's half a century since I read the John Updike novel this was based on and found it a dull affair. To that extent, this is a good film version, because I found it dull. The characters are uninteresting, none of them very good at what they do. That is, I suppose the point of the novel. It came out in the 1960s, the post-war exuberance was fading, and Updike made a mantra of excoriating failure to the general applause of his colleagues on The New Yorker. Updike's pursed-mouth disapproval satisfied the literary lions and critics of the day, at least until he came out in favor of the Viet Nam War.