Lucky Lady

20th Century-Fox. Director Stanley Donen; Producer Michael Gruskoff; Screenplay Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz; Camera Geoffrey Unsworth; Editor Peter Boita, George Hively, Tom Rolf; Music Ralph Burns; Art Director John Barry

Gene Hackman
Liza Minnelli
Burt Reynolds
Geoffrey Lewis
John Hillerman
Bobby Benson

What appears to have been conceived as a madcap Prohibition-era action comedy, combined with an amusing romantic menage, emerges as forced hokum.

Successive vignettes take the stars through a series of expansive smuggling routines. Burt Reynolds, a gringo on the lam in Mexico, figures he can assume the dual role of major smuggler and lover of Liza Minnelli when her husband dies. Gene Hackman, also on the run, assumes a leadership role and the trio begin running hooch.

They encounter the likes of Michael Hordern, an urbane ship captain; John Hillerman, a feisty hood and Geoffrey Lewis, trigger-happy Coast Guard.

Some smart-looking production work survives the plot (admitted budget was $12.6 million).

(Color) Extract of a review from 1975. Running time: 177 MIN.

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