The One and Only
The One and Only
PG | 03 February 1978 (USA)
The One and Only Trailers

1951: Andy Schmidt is in his last year of college. Taking life easy and always a saucy joke on his lips, he manages to win fellow student Mary's heart, although she's already otherwise engaged. But getting a job after college turns out much harder than expected; most directors take offense at his free interpretation of his roles. Desperate, he tries in wrestling. To avoid getting beaten up he stages the fights - and incidentally invents show-wrestling.

Reviews
IslandGuru Who payed the critics
RyothChatty ridiculous rating
Marketic It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.
SteinMo What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.
axeldahl Caught this on the french cable a few weeks ago and instantly felt "at home" with this films' characters and story. As I gradually found out, there's a reason for this : The One and Only is a straight retake of Fred Coe's A Thousand Clowns (1964), one of my favorite films ! Two of the original actors were even imported : Gene Saks and William Daniels, the latter having been in the original cast of the Herb Gardner play (if I remember correctly).The global plot and situations are altered but the result is the same : how to (try to) keep youth spirit in a grim and conventional world... and make it alive ! Not as memorable as the original film (or the play) but just as lovely.
batman_09470 ...I saw this on cable back in the late 1980's as I was a big wrestling fan since 1986. I saw this on VHS in a 'for sale' bin and bought it.In 1998, I started training as a wrestler after the Air Force and would always go back to watching this to see how it was a very accurate portrayal of people that are involved with wrestling ( families and friends that wouldn't understand us, the travel, the heartbreak, etc. ). Henry Winkler is funny and sometimes sad to watch as nobody else can understand what a genius he is creatively. A great way to separate himself The Fonz character he played on Happy Days at the time. Plus, look at the cast...William Daniels ( Knight Rider ), Polly Holiday ( Alice ), and wrestlers Roddy Piper and Chavo Guerrero Sr. If you get a chance, watch it.
apes_a_poppin Ah gees...well so many fantastic words you could use to describe The One & Only. Words such as.....er....um...ah..well atleast it's better than Nightshift. Look out for a surprise appearance from none other than Tom Bosley - as the bad guy wrestler Mr.C
RobP While this movie isn't a classic by any stretch, it is very entertaining as I remember it. I saw it about 15 years ago on HBO and loved the movie. It was written by the same guy that wrote and directed "Arthur" and though it isn't as funny as that movie, it does show the potential that Steve Gordon reached with "Arthur".