MovieChat Forums > House of the Long Shadows (1984) Discussion > Desi Arnaz Jr. was a bad choice for this...

Desi Arnaz Jr. was a bad choice for this movie!

posted 14 years ago by hannahp1
4 replies | jump to latest

He was terrible! Its best he stayed away from acting the last half of his life because he was no good at it! The movie itself was also a letdown-I realize it was a comedy of sorts but you are supposed to laugh and I did not.

It was great seeing the great Cushing, Lee, Price and Carradine in one picture that was the only reason that I watched. But their talents were wasted.

Still for nostalgia alone you could do worse.

4 out of 10.

[–] Thindy_Brady 14 years ago

He was, stilI I'm glad thistv had it on its roster. For some weird reason it only played once but I would watch again -especially now that I know the twist. I agree w/questioning it as a comedy -it was full of suspense & I was jumpy, not laughing. +8

[–] sentiovereor 14 years ago

I agree about Desi Arnaz Jr,but.. he was not as horrible and unbelievably annoying as Julie Peasgood

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[–] tpupkin 11 years ago

While watching this, I tried to imagine if the movie would have been any different if Arnaz had been replaced by either Tony Dow (Wally from Leave it to Beaver) or Mike Lookinland (Peter from The Brady Bunch). I don't think it would have mattered. Maybe Dow would've been slightly better.

[–] TheSolarSailor 9 years ago

Desi was very bad here, but I would go further and say that the character he plays was badly written as well. He's a cocky jackass that you can never truly root for. The lesson he is supposed to learn falls pretty flat, coming off as totally unbelievable that writing a quickie book in an old house overnight would magically make one suddenly appreciate the importance of character in a story. Just badly written, made worse by Desi who simply lacks the ability to bring anything more to the screen than exactly what is written for him.

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