Number One Movie Review

At 42 minutes, Number One just barely qualifies as a feature film, but Dyan Cannon packs quite a number of astute observations about kids and sex into the brief running time. One sequence, in which a little boy is chastised at the dinner table, is almost unbearable to watch. As writer/director/composer, Cannon shows more understanding and compassion for her characters than she did with any of the acting roles she tackled between 1970 and 1977. Working with a nominal budget, Cannon (and cameraman Fred Elmes) elicited strong performances from a cast of young children and she received an Oscar nomination for her first directorial effort.

1976 42m/B Nan Martin, Allen (Goorwitz) Garfield, Gary Lockwood; D: Dyan Cannon; W: Dyan Cannon; C: Frederick Elmes; M: Dyan Cannon.