Word: zieff
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Directed by Howard Zieff...
HOUSE CALLS Directed by Howard Zieff Screenplay by Max Shulman and Julius J. Epstein, Alan Mandel and Charles Shyer...
...plot bring the laughs to an abrupt halt. The screenwriters have not found a way to integrate their hero's hospital shenanigans with the love story, and they build their narrative around the kind of forced farcical coincidences that went out of style with I Love Lucy. Howard Zieff, the talented director of Slither and Hearts of the West, works diligently to paper over the rough spots; he is an enviably good craftsman. Yet even he cannot rescue House Calls once it starts to become heartwarming. When a romantic montage concludes with Ann and Charley walking along a deserted...
Blithe Humor. Hearts of the West, Director Howard Zieff's second movie, abounds in happy eccentricity and cleverness, blithe good humor about fate and a buoyant faith in the happy ending. Lewis, the dumb but ingratiating innocent, is treated with the sort of subdued affection that never becomes condescending. The movie is well served too by an engaging Jeff Bridges and an altogether nifty cast of freshly minted characters, among whom Alan Arkin may be observed in full and wondrous cry. Arkin appears as an unctuous, anxious director named Kessler, a creation of devastating sardonic accuracy. His directions...
...there is a catch to all the movie's charms, it is simply that Hearts of the West stays stubbornly slight, a spell that does not linger long. On his next outing, Director Zieff might try to extend himself a little further. Hearts of the West shows he has talent enough to take the risk...