This low-key, unassuming movie is clearly a true gem from the mid-1970s! It is remarkable such a movie could be produced at a time when rock music prevailed. Indeed, the scene when Maureen Stapleton's character is criticised by her daughter for her appearance (coloured hair, makeup) points up to the unreasonable expectations of age.

And indeed, we see the effort Ms. Stapleton's character makes in being her own woman. It mirrors what teens were going through then and now.

This movie would hit home for me in another way, in that I am reminded of older relatives who would tune in to see "The Lawrence Welk Show." The dance hall scenes look much like the show, though this setting is in New York City. The big band music works very well here, and is well done.

And the singing! Ms. Stapleton does a decent job, and Charles Durning is fantastic! You might indeed wonder if Lawrence Welk himself might have wanted Mr. Durning as one of his singers! No matter what, this is one of the best movies to come out in 1975!

Maureen Stapleton's husband dies. Her friends start moving halfway around the world to California. One day, the waitress at the coffee shop suggests she join her for a night of ballroom dancing at the Stardust Ballroom. At first, Miss Stapleton has a horrid time; the man her friend fixes her up with is a fancy-schmancy dancer who dances around her. Somehow, she dances with Charles Durning and romance blooms. So do problems.

This award-winning TV movie was clearly aimed at the older demographics. Miss Stapleton was a triple-crown winner (Tony, Oscar, and Emmy for this movie),almost invariably cast in supporting roles; likewise, Durning was no one's idea of a matinee idol. Their aging, ordinary appearances is a primary point in this show.

It's a musical, although most of the numbers are recitatives, expounding on their thoughts. Although this movie is a minor affair, its themes and performances lift it out of the ordinary.

Maureen Stapleton plays a middle-aged widow in the Bronx who gets invited out for an evening with the girls to a local ballroom for elderly hoofers; there, she meets portly, starry-eyed Charles Durning, whose adoration makes her feel good about herself for the first time since her husband was alive. Acclaimed TV-movie approaches some interesting subjects (a sister's jealousy, an overprotective daughter's anger, a romance blooming in the autumn of a woman's years),and yet the plastic coating over this production is so thick that little of it rings true. The ballroom itself, filled to capacity with wily men eager to get out there and strut there stuff, may be a metaphor for the lives of its graying dancers--Last Chance For Happiness--but the collection of colorful characters Stapleton meets there are a romanticized group. Writer Jerome Kass even throws in the gambit of sung lyrics used as innermost thoughts, when what his teleplay really needs is some casual, natural interaction (there's really only one sequence which achieves this, a scene between Stapleton and son Michael Brandon doing the dishes). Although the people are phonied-up, the performances are generally likable, particularly Durning's. But who can take that ending seriously? Not after 90 minutes of sonnets, soliloquies and stardust!