''Lovers and Other Strangers'' is a 1970 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by

Cy Howard Cy Howard (September 27, 1915 - April 29, 1993) was an American director, producer and screenwriter. He won an Primetime Emmy Award in the category Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series for the television program ''The Smothers Brothers C ...

, adapted from the 1968 Broadway play of the same name by

Renée Taylor Renée Adorée Taylor (née Wexler; born March 19, 1933) is an American actress, screenwriter, playwright, producer and director.Taylor was nominated for an Academy Award for co-writing the screenplay for the film '' Lovers and Other Strangers' ...

and

Joseph Bologna Joseph Bologna (December 30, 1934 – August 13, 2017) was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter notable for his roles in the comedy films ''My Favorite Year'', ''Blame It on Rio'' and ''Transylvania 6-5000 (1985 film), Transylvania ...

. The cast includes

Richard S. Castellano Richard Salvatore Castellano (September 4, 1933 – December 10, 1988) was an American actor who is best remembered for his role in ''Lovers and Other Strangers'' and his subsequent role as Peter Clemenza in ''The Godfather''. Early life Castella ...

Gig Young Gig Young (born Byron Elsworth Barr; November 4, 1913 – October 19, 1978) was an American actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in ''Come Fill the Cup'' (1952) and '' Teacher's Pet'' ...

Cloris Leachman Cloris Leachman (April 30, 1926 – January 27, 2021) was an American actress and comedian whose career spanned nearly eight decades. She won many accolades, including eight Primetime Emmy Awards from 22 nominations, making her the most nomina ...

Anne Jackson Anne Jackson (September 3, 1925 – April 12, 2016); retrieved April 16, 2016Archivedfrom the original on April 16, 2016. was an American actress of stage, screen, and television. She was the wife of actor Eli Wallach, with whom she often co-sta ...

Bea Arthur Beatrice Arthur (born Bernice Frankel; May 13, 1922 – April 25, 2009) was an American actress and comedian. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, Arthur began her career on stage in 1947, attracting critical acclaim before achieving ...

Bonnie Bedelia Bonnie Bedelia Culkin (born ) is an American actress. After beginning her career in theatre in the 1960s, Bedelia starred in the CBS daytime soap opera ''Love of Life'' and made her film debut in ''The Gypsy Moths''. Bedelia subsequently appeare ...

Michael Brandon Michael Brandon (born Michael Feldman; April 20, 1945) is an American actor. He is known for his role as James Dempsey in the British drama series '' Dempsey and Makepeace'' (1985–1986). His theatre credits include the original Broadway produ ...

Harry Guardino Harry Guardino (December 23, 1925 – July 17, 1995) was an American actor whose career spanned from the early 1950s to the early 1990s. Biography Guardino was born to an Italian family on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and raised in Bro ...

Anne Meara Anne Meara Stiller (September 20, 1929 – May 23, 2015) was an American actress and comedian. Along with her husband Jerry Stiller, she was one-half of the prominent 1960s comedy team Stiller and Meara. Their son is actor, director, and producer ...

Bob Dishy Bob Dishy is an American actor of stage, film, and television. Biography He is best remembered today for playing Sergeant John J. Wilson, Columbo's polite, respectful assistant in two episodes of ''Columbo'' ("Now You See Him" and "The Greenho ...

, Marian Hailey, Joseph Hindy, and, in her film debut,

Diane Keaton Diane Keaton (''née'' Hall, born January 5, 1946) is an American actress and director. She has received various accolades throughout her career spanning over six decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Glo ...

Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Enzio Stallone (; born Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, ) is an American actor and filmmaker. After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, h ...

was an extra in this movie. The film was nominated for three

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

(it won the

Academy Award for Best Original Song The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who have composed th ...

), and was one of the top box-office performers of 1970. It established Richard S. Castellano as a star (receiving an Oscar nomination for his performance) and he and Diane Keaton were cast in ''

The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, ...

'' (1972). The Oscar-winning song, " For All We Know", was composed by

Fred Karlin Frederick James Karlin (June 16, 1936 – March 26, 2004) was an American composer of more than 130 scores for feature films and television movies. He also was an accomplished trumpeter adept at playing jazz, blues, classical, rock, and mediev ...

, with lyrics by

Bread Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made f ...

Jimmy Griffin James Arthur Griffin (August 10, 1943 – January 11, 2005) was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter, best known for his work with the 1970s soft rock band Bread. He won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1970 as co-writer ...

and

Robb Royer Robert Wilson Royer (born December 6, 1942, in Los Angeles) is an American musician and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the soft rock band Bread (band), Bread from 1968 to 1971. While he was with the band, they had a #5 UK/#1 US ...

. It was famously covered by

The Carpenters The Carpenters (officially known as Carpenters) were an American vocal and instrumental duo consisting of siblings Karen Carpenter, Karen (1950–1983) and Richard Carpenter (musician), Richard Carpenter (born 1946). They produced a distinct ...

. ''Lovers and Other Strangers'' was originally distributed by

Cinerama Releasing Corporation Cinerama Releasing Corporation (CRC) was a motion picture company established in 1967 that originally released films produced by its namesake parent company that was considered an "instant major".Page 10. History In 1963, the owner of the Paci ...

. The film was released on VHS in 1980 by

Magnetic Video Magnetic Video Corporation was a home video/home audio duplication service that operated between 1968 and 1982. History Magnetic Video Corporation was established by the co-founder Andre Blay, an American film producer in 1968 with Leon Nichols ...

, but was soon deleted. The Magnetic Video release was a collector's item for many years, but the film was eventually re-released on VHS by CBS/Fox Video in the 1990s. It is now available on DVD from

MGM Home Entertainment Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment LLC ( d/b/a MGM Home Entertainment and formerly known as MGM Home Video, MGM/CBS Home Video and MGM/UA Home Video) is the home video division of the American media company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. History ...

, and on Blu-ray by Kino-Lorimer. Taylor and Bologna followed up with their second screenplay the following year, '' Made for Each Other'' in which they also starred.

Plot

Mike Vecchio and Susan Henderson are engaged to be married. Mike wants to call off the wedding, arguing that it would be hypocritical for them to get married when they have already been living together for one year and a half. Mike relents on calling off the wedding after learning that Susan went to her first Halloween party dressed as a bride. Mike's brother Richie and his wife Joan have grown "incompatible" and are considering divorce. Mike's Italian Americans-Italian-American parents, Frank and Bea, are relentlessly trying to dissuade Richie and Joan from divorcing.

Cast

Beatrice Arthur Beatrice Arthur (born Bernice Frankel; May 13, 1922 – April 25, 2009) was an American actress and comedian. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, Arthur began her career on stage in 1947, attracting critical acclaim before achieving ...

as Bea Vecchio *

as Susan Henderson *

as Mike Vecchio *

Richard Castellano Richard Salvatore Castellano (September 4, 1933 – December 10, 1988) was an American actor who is best remembered for his role in ''Lovers and Other Strangers'' and his subsequent role as Peter Clemenza in ''The Godfather''. Early life Castella ...

as Frank Vecchio *

as Jerry *

as Johnny * Marian Hailey as Brenda * Joseph Hindy as Ritchie Vecchio *

as Kathy *

as Joan Vecchio *

as Bernice Henderson *

as Wilma *

as Hal Henderson * Anthony Holland as Donaldson * Bob Kaliban as Hotel Clerk * Amy Stiller as Flower Girl / Carol * Charlotte Jones as Johnny's Mother * Morton Marshall as Father Gregory *

Conrad Bain Conrad Stafford Bain (February 4, 1923 – January 14, 2013) was a Canadian-American comedian and actor. His television credits include a leading role as Phillip Drummond in the sitcom ''Diff'rent Strokes'', as Dr. Arthur Harmon on '' Maude'', ...

as Priest In Confessional (uncredited) *

Connie Mason Connie Mason (born August 24, 1937) is an American model and actress who was ''Playboy'' magazine's Playmate of the Month for its June 1963 issue. Mason then acted in the gore movies pioneered by Herschell Gordon Lewis, ''Blood Feast'' and ''Tw ...

as Wedding Guest (uncredited) *

Jerry Stiller Gerald Isaac Stiller (June 8, 1927 – May 11, 2020) was an American actor and comedian. He spent many years as part of the comedy duo Stiller and Meara with his wife, Anne Meara, to whom he was married for over 60 years until her death in 2015 ...

as Jim (uncredited) *

as Groomsman (uncredited)

Release

Home media

The vinyl LP soundtrack of the film was released by ABC Records in 1971, catalogue #ABCS 0C 15. It has not been released on

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

. The film was released by MGM on DVD on July 6, 2004 in full-screen format. The film was released on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

by KL Studio Classics on March 19, 2019 in anamorphic format with an HD master from a 4K scan of the original camera negative, and includes an audio commentary by film historian Lee Gambin. The aspect ratio for the Blu-ray is 1.85.1 (i.e., the screen dimensions of the original film).

Reception

Box office

The film was popular at the box office, earning $7.7 million in gross rentals in North America. It recorded an overall profit of $790,000.

Critical response

The film received positive reviews.

Accolades

Footnotes

External links

* * * * * {{tcmdb title, id=22800, title=Lovers and Other Strangers 1970 films 1970s romantic comedy-drama films ABC Motion Pictures films Adultery in films American films based on plays American independent films American romantic comedy-drama films 1970s English-language films Films about marriage Films about weddings Films scored by Fred Karlin Films set in New York City Films that won the Best Original Song Academy Award Cinerama Releasing Corporation films 1970 independent films 1970s American films