"The director, Sydney Pollack, has said ... that when the charters of a novel are put on a screen, they must be filled in with action and dialogue so that they won't seem hollow. But the whole point of Gloria is that she should seem hollow. The filling-in, the provision of little climaxes and of switches to her viewpoint, make her an aggressive toughie, almost as if she were conscious of being tough in a movie.
"Jane Fonda plays the role, and readers may remember that I have been enthusiastic about her possibilities as actress ever since her film debut ten years ago. She has given some very good performances and some very lazy, absentminded ones since then. Here, in this italicized character, she supplies a cutting edge that at least gives it presence. She is made up and coiffured to look like a harpy in a Lynd Ward woodcut of the thirties, and she gets an effective ham relish out of her moral slumming. But there is a fundamental flaw, which Pollack has not caught: Miss Fonda plays this Texas-born tramp with her own good Eastern finishing-school accent. She says "goddam" as if the term following were going to be "debutante's ball" instead of "dance marathon."
"....The only interesting character is the one that has been arranged for Gig Young...."
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