Love Me or Leave Me Movie Review

This overblown biopic of singer Ruth Etting (Doris Day) follows the Star Is Born template pretty faithfully, only with the spin of James Cagney as a gangster underwriter, not to mention historical underpinnings.

Cagney's work here is fairly rote, and Day's portrayal of Etting isn't exactly spot-on, but both are good enough for the job they've been tasked with. The problem comes from the abrasive repetition in the story, which has Cagney's Martin Snyder continuously beating and shooting people that stand in Etting's way, then nurturing her all lovey-dovey like. Two hours of this is just too much, even if it does feature a handful of Etting hits (including the title number).

Give it a shot if you want to see Day in one of her vampiest roles. The film also earned six Oscar nominations and won one for Best Story.