Ambitious seriocomedy about the father-son relationship of a diabetic Willy Loman and an ad-agency whiz kid. (Ambitious, at least, for the TV mentality of director Garry Marshall.) The "live" presentation of a possible TV spot to a potential airline client is charming, or anyway the woman on guitar is charming. The more overt gags, however, are cranked out as if to meet a quota. (A golf novice steps up to an eighteen-inch putt and strokes it like a nine-iron chip shot.) There are frequent shifts, with much grinding of gears, from glibness to grimness; and both men, near the end, take a turn at sobbing in order to show that the movie has heart. Tom Hanks, Jackie Gleason, Eva Marie Saint, Hector Elizondo, Bess Armstrong. (1986) — Duncan Shepherd
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