"Breezy"

A surprising number of films are overlooked for reasons other than lack of merit. Some are poorly marketed, some are foolishly pulled from distribution for business decisions unrelated to art (e.g., to create a tax loss).

One such film is "Breezy", a 1973 labor of love by Clint Eastwood. Clint directs the movie but doesn't appear in it. The film was barely released and obviously not marketed properly. The studio didn't get behind the film so it died at the box office despite getting good critical reviews. This fate is unfortunate because the film is certainly worth watching. Happily it's now available on streaming (Amazon Prime).

The story is about a jaded older man (in his fifties) who encounters a drifting young woman (20-ish). After several encounters the two slowly fall in love despite the older man's skepticism. This is certainly a May-December romance but handled with more delicacy than usual. Also there's significant nudity which is sensitively presented. The actors are well-known: William Holden and then-newcomer Kay Lenz. (Three years later Lenz married teen heart-throb David Cassidy of "The Partridge Family." Her star went up, his went down and their marriage crumbled as a result.)

I enjoyed this film. The acting is superb and the plot plausible. A romance with a happy ending, something rare these days.