Unfaithfully Yours (1984)

Director:

Howard Zieff

Writers:

Preston Sturges (1948 screenplay)
Valerie Curtin (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

10 February 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Music | Romance

Tagline:

A toast to the man who has everything. Fame, fortune, a beautiful young wife - and a friend he hopes he can trust. [UK Theatrical]

Plot:

Dudley Moore plays a composer who suspects his wife of cheating. He plots to kill her and frame it on her lover. The whole movie sort of compares his expectations of a perfect result to reality. In the end nothing turns out as planned.

Plot Keywords:

Adultery | Remake | Jealousy | Beautiful Woman | Halloween

Cast

Dudley Moore	...	Claude Eastman
Nastassja Kinski	...	Daniella Eastman
Armand Assante	...	Maxmillian Stein
Albert Brooks	...	Norman Robbins
Cassie Yates	...	Carla Robbins
Richard Libertini	...	Giuseppe
Richard B. Shull	...	Jess Keller
Jan Triska	...	Jerzy Czyrek
Jane Hallaren	...	Janet
Bernard Behrens	...	Bill Lawrence
Leonard Mann	...	Screen Lover
Estelle Omens	...	Celia
Penny Peyser	...	Jewelry Salesgirl
Nicholas Mele	...	Waiter
Benjamin Rayson	...	Judge
Art LaFleur	...	Desk Sergeant (as Art La Fleur)
Magda Gyenes	...	Hungarian Singer
Fred Franklyn	...	Elevator Operator (as Frederic Franklyn)
Alison Price	...	Kissing Girl
Frank DiElsi	...	Kissing Man
Eddie Zammit	...	Lobby Attendant (as Edward Zammit)
Tony Abatemarco	...	Repairman
Daniele Jaimes Worth	...	Autograph Seeker
Alexander B. Reed	...	Man at Plaza
Ralph Buckley	...	Nut Vendor
Steven Hirsch	...	Movie Patron
Murray Franklyn	...	Movie Patron
Betty Shabazz	...	Woman at Plaza (as Dr. Betty Shabazz)
Ed Van Nuys	...	Doorman
Robin Allyn	...	Teenager at Plaza Hotel
Ricky Paull Goldin	...	Teenager with Mask
Evan Mirand	...	Teenager with Mask (as Evan Hollister Miranda)
Elana Beth Rutenberg	...	Teenager with Mask
Rochelle Kravit	...	Woman Patron (as Rochelle L. Kravit)
Gabriel E. Gyorffy	...	Comic
Linda Stayer	...	Woman in Mink
Bob Larkin	...	Security Guard
Kim Leslie	...	Ballet Dancer
Camille Hagen	...	Trixie
Mary Alan Hokanson	...	Lady on 57th Street
Jacques Foti	...	Maitre D' (as Jacque Foti)

Directed by
Howard Zieff

Writing credits
Preston Sturges		(1948 screenplay)
Valerie Curtin		(screenplay) &
Barry Levinson		(screenplay) and
Robert Klane		(screenplay)

Produced by
Jack B. Bernstein	....	associate producer
Daniel Melnick	....	executive producer
Joe Wizan	....	producer
Marvin Worth	....	producer

Original Music by
Bill Conti

Cinematography by
David M. Walsh		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Sheldon Kahn

Casting by
Lynn Stalmaster

Production Design by
Albert Brenner

Set Decoration by
Rick Simpson

Costume Design by
Kristi Zea

Makeup Department
Gary Liddiard	....	makeup artist
Shirley Padgett	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Jack B. Bernstein	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Hope R. Goodwin	....	second assistant director
Jerry Sobul	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Camille Abbott	....	production illustrator
Lawrence J. Cuneo	....	set designer
Spencer Deverell	....	assistant art director (as H. Spencer Deverill)
Douglas Forsmith	....	property assistant
Michael R. Gannon	....	property assistant
David M. Haber	....	assistant art director
Sherman Labby	....	production illustrator
Howard McCormick II	....	leadman (as Howard McCormick)
Keith McCormick	....	property assistant
Everett Olson	....	construction coordinator
Richard M. Rubin	....	props
Michael J. Smith	....	construction coordinator
Dianne Wager	....	set designer (as Dianne I. Wager)

Sound Department
William Hartman	....	sound effects editor
Don Isaacs	....	sound effects editor (as Don V. Isaacs)
Jerry Jost	....	sound mixer
Godfrey Marks	....	dialogue editor
Richard Overton	....	sound re-recording mixer
Hank Salerno	....	dialogue editor
Kirk Schuler	....	sound effects editor
Theodore Soderberg	....	sound re-recording mixer
Paul Wells	....	sound re-recording mixer

Special Effects by
Henry Millar Jr.	....	special effects (as Henry E. Miller)

Visual Effects by
Bill Hansard	....	process rear projection coordinator

Stunts
Richard Brown	....	stunts
Cliff Cudney	....	stunt coordinator
Sorin Serene Pricopie	....	stunts
Karyn Raymakers	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Larry Barbier	....	still photographer
Robert Edesa	....	camera operator
Norman Harris	....	gaffer
Richard Moran	....	key grip (as Richard L. Moran)
Michael Nash	....	assistant camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Darryl M. Athons	....	costumer: men (as Darryl Athons)
Thalia C. Macarthur	....	costumer: women
Guy C. Verhille	....	costume supervisor

Editorial Department
Ron S. Herbes	....	apprentice picture editor
Saul Saladow	....	assistant editor
Maria Stinnett-Busby	....	assistant editor (as Maria Stinnett)

Music Department
Richard S. Kaufman	....	music coach
Greg Mathieson	....	song producer: "Unfaithfully Yours" (as Greg Mathison)
Lionel Newman	....	music supervisor
Ken Runyon	....	music editor
Leonard Slatkin	....	conductor
Armin Steiner	....	scoring editor
Pinchas Zukerman	....	musician: violin
Tommy Tedesco	....	musician: guitar (uncredited)

Transportation Department
Aram Betkijian	....	transportation captain

Other crew
Huw Davies	....	location manager (as T. Huw Davies)
Wayne Fitzgerald	....	title designer
Lewis Gould	....	second assistant director: New York
Harry Kohoyda Jr.	....	auditor (as Harry Kohoyda)
Patinka Kopec	....	violin coach
Claire Mactague	....	production coordinator
Betsy Norton	....	script supervisor
Deborah Rosen	....	unit publicist

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1984) (USA) (theatrical)
• CBS/Fox (USA) (laserdisc)

Other Companies

• Cineriz  clip courtesy: "L'Avventura" (as Cineriz Distributori Associati S.p.A.)
• Pacific Title  opticals
• Toni Howard & Associates  casting
• Trans World Airlines  airport facilities (as Trans World Airlines Inc.)
• Trans World Airlines  transportation (as Trans World Airlines Inc.)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Norway:12 | Australia:M | USA:PG (certificate #26841) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Iceland:L | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-8 | Sweden:11 | UK:15

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

This is the second straight film that composer Bill Conti had written the score for in which Armand Assante was the star of the film and also takes place in New York. The other film was I, the Jury (1982), which was filmed in 1982 and this one was filmed in early 1983.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Unknown Peter Sellers (2000) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Unfaithfully Yours (One Love)

A last gasp of classical Romantic Gypsy violin music; Moore's swan song

This film marks the culmination of the most prolific, popularly loved form of music that the human race ever conceived. That is, the Romantic style. You may find, for example, a CD of pianist Horowitz produced a couple of decades ago entitled "The Last Romantic" - and you might understand the sentiment behind such a title. It is a dying breed of music. Rather, it is dead. Left are museum pieces rehashed by earnest musicians who love the style, or at least the memory of it, but performed/recorded for audiences/listeners who for the most part don't understand it. For to understand it, one must absolutely not be pragmatic. And as we've all been told time and again of late, if you're not pragmatic (if you haven't gone to college, for example, in order to obtain a degree/career) you don't have a life. Few these days, not even crack dealers, are willing to trade monetary responsibility for an enhancement of their souls.

Likewise, Dudley Moore acted the lead in this film, and in doing so, he didn't create much of a life, in terms of this film being appreciated by the mainstream. But Moore was one of the funniest comedians that ever graced American film/sound stages. His improvised drunk bits rival Jackie Gleason's improvised drunks. Of course nowadays such drunk humor is politically incorrect, which marks yet one more creative form that has recently bitten the dust. Oh well, at least kids are safe from drunk drivers.

But the greatest moment in this movie was the violin battle. You see, it's a prerequisite for talented, narcissistic classical/Romantic musicians, such as Dudley Moore (pianist), to hold a dark sense of humor. It's the kind of passive resistant, anti-successful state of mind that made Charlie Brown, Woody Allen, Bartleby, John Lennon and countless negative/alternative reasoning popular during the 60s-70s. And that alternative culture, or revolution, was merely a revamping of an earlier, more formidable anti-capitalism known as the period when occurred the French and American revolutions. In music, this was the time of Beethoven's rise to fame. This style he and others (even Mozart to some extent) propounded is known as the Romantic style. And the single greatest musical influence upon these western European proponents of the Romantic style was the music emanating from the streets: Gypsy music. It's also important to remember that such Gypsy music was itself influenced by a combination of east European folk music and the traditional music of the middle east, an area of the world from which all western civilization is derived, and thereby for which all of us should have reverence, or at least respect.

Basically what we're talking about here, what was the greatest influence upon the invention and prosperity of the Romantic music style, is the harmonic minor scale, and the claiming of this scale upon the hearts of a vast majority of music lovers world wide 1750-1980. It is a scale that gave birth to Romantic styled chromaticism, the most prolific harmonic form ever. In its early stages, when Mozart and papa Haydn dabbled in it, women and other faint hearted individuals tittered. When Beethoven got hold of it, such women literally fainted in the aisles. That's how naturally such chromaticism is capable of affecting the emotions of people. It requires an open heart, however. Today such Gypsy styled music is a laugh; that's how jaded western civilization has become. The smallest of minds are bold enough to regard it as merely "Jewish music," which informs us that its demise is likely, at least partially, the result of anti-Semitism.

Such Gypsy/Jewish etc. scale's greatest instrument, or agent provocateur: the violin. Hence, the extraordinarily emotional/comedic violin battle scene in this film, a rare tribute to this dying style of music. If there are any film makers, or any creative artists, who are interested in bringing back to vitality such Romantic/Gypsy/Jewish/harmonic minor scaled music, seeing this film might give them a good start in the right direction. It should also be stated that the Gypsy music that has recently surfaced in "World Music" and in university studies of Ethnomusicology, while more authentic, has, by way of pedantically narrowing the interpretations, caused the less authentic Romantic style to be ignored in its works.