All Fall Down (1962)

Plot: A family feuds over their worthless, good-looking son and his love affair with an older female border.
Stars: Warren Beatty, Angela Lansbury, Karl Malden, Brandon De Wilde

An overly familiar Inge family drama with some good acting, All Fall Down has a great first 15 minutes as we follow Berry-Berry’s (Beatty) antics in seedy Key West. However, once the film moves to Cleveland it becomes Berry-Berry boring. The focus shifts to the parents (Lansbury/Malden) and De Wilde. Only the Eva Marie Saint-Beatty affair livens things up. The ending is abrupt. There’s nothing really wrong with the script, we’ve just seen it all before: the dysfunctional family, the coming-of-age writer, the dissolute son, the alcoholic Dad, etc.

Acting – Acting honors go to Eva Marie Saint for her portrayal of an old maid (age 31!) in love with Berry-Berry. De Wilde is surprisingly effective and carries the movie. Poor Angela Lansbury (12 years older than Warren) is stuck with another Old Mom role. Beatty does well at being the lady-killer/drifter, who likes to hit women, less well when dramatics are called for.

Most Annoying thing:  That damn name:  Berry-Berry.  Why not Kumquat? At least its one word.

Best Scene:  De Wilde goes to a downscale Key West bar, is hit on by a Stripper, and gets kicked out once its known he's Beatty's brother. 

Summary: Too bad All Fall Down didn't stay in Key West and focus on Bad-Boy Beatty. He should have been the lead actor - not De Wilde. But that movie wasn’t made. Instead, we get a well-done family drama. Unfortunately, those kinds of movies bore me and All Fall Down seemed very old hat. A box-office failure, probably due to its downbeat nature and hollow conclusion. Rating **1/2