Gene Hackman plays a man who was just fired from his executive job. He's demoted to being the night manager at a 24 hour drug store. He doesn't get along with his wife (Diane Ladd) or his 18 year old son Freddie (played by 26 year old Dennis Quaid). Freddie is sleeping around with his 4th cousin Cheryl (Barbra Streisand). George tries to put a stop to it and Cheryl dumps Freddie and starts sleeping with him! This is a strange one. It came out in 1981 and bombed immediately. It had a lot of bad publicity with Lisa Eichorn being fired and replaced with Streisand. Also Streisand re-wrote the entire script to make her part bigger. She wanted to try something different with this movie. That's fine but why redo the script? This story was about George and his dealing with being fired and being middle-aged--Streisand should have left the script alone. As it is it's a terribly uneven movie--veering wildly from drama to comedy. The drama is pretty heavy and the comedy is, at best, subtle. It was pushed as a romantic comedy which it certainly was not. However it was never dull and works as a mild dramady. W.D. Richter wrote the original screenplay and he always writes (and directs) offbeat movies so this being a strange movie makes sense.Acting is all over the map. Streisand (wearing a blonde wig) plays her role in a muted way. She only sings one song (badly) and doesn't play the tough-acting role she's well known for. She tries for something different but it doesn't work. Hackman is just great in his role--he really brings the movie to life. Ladd is hardly in this and Quaid is WAY too old for his role--and looks it. So it is uneven and strange but worth a look. I give it a 5.

Streisand is on record saying ( god please let this be right and I"m not put on her TRUTH ALERT) website, that she was an Actress who sings.For almost all her films, she acts, but is always being Streisand. In ALL NIGHT LONG, she's actually acting. And is pretty good at it.Yet today people still look at it as a disaster and it's not. Not at all. Yet when all clips of Streisand were on display during the American Film Institute when she was honored, not one clip of ALL NIGHT LONG was shown. I don't know if she's ashamed of it (I would think she wouldn't be) or more than likely, she probably could care less.Same here. ...Yet I'm taking time out to express my thoughts. That makes no sense.

Except possibly for the slapstick comedy FOR PETE'S SAKE, ALL NIGHT LONG is most likely the most obscure title in Barbara Streisand's career. It is hard, at first, to understand this. She is starring opposite Gene Hackman, and Dennis Quaid is in the cast (as is Diane Ladd, Kenneth Dobson - from Telly Savalas' KOJAC series, and the always droll and dependable William Daniels). But it is the character she is playing. Some of the writers on this thread have pointed out that her character is not well thought out. Certainly it does require fleshing. But Cheryl Gibbons comes across as a sweet, kindly, but essentially weak woman. The last portion of her character is not usual for Streisand, who usually is intelligent and strong in determination. Think of her trying to play opposite Robert Redford in THE WAY THEY WERE where she is not a fiery liberal and libertarian, but a mousy type. Redford's Hubble would probably not have been interested in her, but if he developed an interest he would have found her a perfect mate because she would never have tried to be his constant conscience.Here she is a sweet rag doll, first married to Dobson (who is somewhat abusive - more could have been developed there), then playing around with Quaid, and finally ending up with Hackman (who needs such an agreeable woman as his mate - he needs someone who will support and believe in him, not like the critical Ladd). To add to the character switch, Streisand is given blond hair in this film (the only time that happened). It is as though the production was determined to present Streisand as a totally different actress. And it succeeds.As an interesting exception to the rule of her films ALL NIGHT LONG is worth watching. It gave some nice moments for Hackman and certainly showed Dobson in a good negative part. But for all the good work from the cast, it is a decidedly minor film. I rank it a "7" because of the production, cast, and unusual situation for Streisand.

This is not a typical Streisand film for Streisand fans!!/ This is a very good comedy drama about mid life crisis. Gene Hackman is the guy in this quandry...He wants to hold onto to his fast fading youth change his career, his marital situation etc... problems with his nagging wife, Diane Ladd, and his difficult son, Dennis Quaid, leads him to the arms of Cheryl , BLONDE SEXY CHERYL, PORTRAYED BEAUTIFULLY BY STREISAND !!. Not Fanny Brice, or Dolly Levi, or even Katie.. this is a different totally different Streisand in a beautiful subtle comic performance...She's like a subdued Marilyn Monroe, and plays the part so well you totally forget its Bab! Thats acting world, and she should have been praised ,not panned for this performance !! Hackman is excellent, & the entire cast plays their roles well. Not a great movie, but certainly not the disaster most critics declared it to be.. nice enjoyable adult comedy, with a an interesting slant on a mid life crisis.Deserves to be seen !! When I saw this film opening day in NJ,,there were about 15 people in theatre... critics had already killed it, unfairly... go see for yourself!!