This is a real downer from director Francis Ford Coppola and no mistake. p> Not surprisingly, he had to wait for The Godfather to bring him overwhelming public and critical recognition.

The characters here, though their fates are tragic, are uncharismatic and unsympathetic, and Shirley Knight an annoying central figure as the pregnant housewife who runs away from her husband because she needs some time to herself.

Needless to say, all sorts of things happen to her, including meeting James Caan as a brain-damaged football player and, giving the only decent peformance in the film, Robert Duvall as a widower cop whose libido comes to the fore at the wrong time for everyone.