a huge roll of the dice that wipe out francis ford coppola zoetrope studio and saw him spend the next decade churn out picture to pay off the debt the $ 28m flop leave him with and one from the heart be one of those film i really want to like to love and even but which just would not let me . visually it a triumph and but the tom wait suicide blue score rarely work a a screen musical and a a human drama it kept firmly on the ground by the fact these character just aren not likable . coppola seem more interested in his lavish studio setting than what happen in them and with even the most mundane sequence shoot like an imaginatively staged theatrical musical with intricate shift of light and colour and dissolve wall and neon dream . but perhaps the big problem of all be that coppola doesn not seem to have make this film for the audience but for himself and and so it probably never connect with anyone not on his personal wavelength . the trailer give away a big part of the problem represent the 1982 release stress the godfather and apocalypse now a evidence of coppola genius while the 2003 reissue trailer run off a list of critical superlative in a sternly unemotional voice represent joy isn not on the menu here . that the story be so simple a to be almost invisible a couple split up over the 4th july weekend and become involve with new partner needn not be a problem represent after all and three sailor on furlough look for miss turnstile or a backwoodsman convince his six bachelor to kidnap six local girl to marry aren not exactly complex . with good casting and good writing and good musical number and there no real reason it shouldn not work . unfortunately it doesn not get them . the argument that kick off the split be atrociously write and just a badly act you have see more vicious spat on the dick van dyke show and because we never buy it for a moment the film be handicap almost from the start . the fact that either lead can carry a movie and be even more of a problem and leave you with a film without any heart at it centre represent raul julia be the only member of the cast who really shine and and he probably have the least screen time of anyone in the picture . the constant crosscutting doesn not help and with coppola cut away as soon a one scene start to gel to focus on an awkward one that never do . despite input from gene kelly ( barely noticeable ) and michael powell ( visually very noticeable ) and it not even quite a musical aside from a couple of fantasy number it opt yentl like to keep the singing a an invisible chorus or underscore not so much commenting a set the melancholy tone that counterpoint the bright and garish visuals . the film one promising musical number and where julia serenade of teri garr spill out onto the street of la vega and be never allow to play uninterrupted without meander shot of frederic forrest wander through the neon street . coppola 2003 re edit of the film do nothing to improve matter . the revised opening be a little smoother but at the expense of forrest character and remove all remain trace of colour to make him even more of a boring homebody . it an excellent dvd and however and with everything you could want to know and more and offer some fairly frank insight into the failure of coppola attempt to ally the expertise of the old studio contract system with the modern advance of electronic cinema and not to mention the constant financing problem . it just a shame that the film itself be so damn hard to love .