...All the Marbles
...All the Marbles
R | 16 October 1981 (USA)
...All the Marbles Trailers

A two-bit promoter tries to take a women's wrestling team to the top.

Reviews
Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.
HottWwjdIam There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.
Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.
Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
JasparLamarCrabb How can you not enjoy Peter Falk carting around two very feisty lady wrestlers? Robert Aldrich directed this witty cross between ROCKY & THE KANSAS CITY BOMBER. Falk is the not very good but extremely enthusiastic manager of sexy wrestlers Vicki Frederick & Laurene Landon (aka The California Dolls). The three travel from one dingy arena to another as the Dolls try for the big time in Reno. Falk is hilarious, basically acting like Peter Falk. Landon, and especially Frederick are not only sexy, they're smart, funny and tough as nails, both in and out of the ring. They're never made to look anything but smarter than the rowdy audiences who come to see them. They're in on the joke! This is a very funny, very affectionate road film with very likable characters. Burt Young is a mean-spirited & ruthlessly stingy wrestling promoter. Lenny Montana (Luca Brasi from THE GODFATHER & a one-time wrestler himself) gets a lot of laughs as Young's morally superior bodyguard. The script by Mel Frohman and others is full of priceless one-liners.
dougdoepke No need to recap the plot since the movie's really a character study.The girls, Iris and Molly, are sure a long way from the helpless female. I pity any mugger who tries to mug one. Those body slams on canvas sound like hammers hitting anvil, and catch how effortlessly they pick one another up. Oh sure, I know it's all choreographed, but still the girls are real athletes. Can't say the same for their manager Harry (Falk). His main job appears to be checking them into flea-bitten motels, driving a smog belching junk heap, and touring the girls through every tank town in the country. That is, when he's not cursing somebody out. They're quite a team, but despite it all, kind of admirable in their dedication.This is the American Dream at the lowest level of show biz, so we know why they have to be tough. However, I'm still wondering whether to call this a comedy or not. It's got its funny moments, but it's also sad at times and poignant too. Two-thirds of the time, the girls are bitchin' at Harry for his latest scam, but somehow they're all hitched to the same uncertain star and they know it. There're times, however, when the screenplay rambles enough you may think it was put together in the dark. Nonetheless, these are characters you won't soon forget, and if the movie's beyond categorizing, it's also oddly entertaining.All in all, it's an unusual swan song for that fine macho movie-maker Robert Aldrich to go out on.
merklekranz This not so easy to find film starring the late Peter Falk seems to be almost forgotten. Truth is, it touches on a very slight subject, female wrestling, and that alone might have contributed to "All the Marbles" obscurity. Definitely the best moments are in the ring, with a lot of dull small talk in between. The "California Dolls" are easy to look at, and the matches are well staged. The fact that a lot of the conversations between Falk and the girls take place off screen is kind of distracting, and much of it meaningless besides. There is some nudity, and a relationship between Falk and one of the wrestlers is never developed. As light entertainment, the movie delivers, just don't expect anything memorable. - MERK
Macholic Talk about buried treasures, this is such a one: A tough, gritty movie that has the feel of a fly-on-the-wall documentary. Aldrich has produced a no-holds barred roadmovie about a female freewrestling tag team, marvelously played by drive-in favorite Laurene Landon and Vicki Friderick and Peter Falk plays the girls greasy manager, a perfect role for him. The team wrestles in rundown industrial towns in hardhitting, brutal battles. Amazing choreography is sure to keep you at the edge of the seat However many are likely to find this movie too brutal for their taste, so if Rollerball is you cup of tea, step right up. If you taste more goes in direction of Driving Miss Daisy, this may not be the movie for you. Overdue for DVD release. 9/10