This semi-comedic female wrestling flick was director Robert Aldrich’s final film, and shows ample evidence of his willingness to tackle even the most unusual topics. Although it’s no longer widely available, it’s easy to understand why Peary lists All the Marbles (a.k.a. The California Dolls) as an erstwhile cult favorite, given that it stars two strong, sexy females who spend most of the film wearing form-fitting leotards and cat fighting in an arena — indeed, fans of female wrestling won’t be disappointed, as there’s plenty of girl on girl action scattered throughout. 

 

Fortunately, those of us not so interested in either t&a or wrestling can still appreciate the humorous rapport between Falk (excellent as always) and his two appealing “dolls” — one of whom (Frederick) is his sometime-lover, and the other of whom (Landon) suffers from a “mild” addiction to prescription drugs. 

 

Indeed, Landon’s professed but unseen “problem” with drugs is indicative of the film’s overall attitude of glowing unreality: Frederick and Landon should by any account be black-and-blue given the thrashings they encounter in the ring,but the most they ever seem to suffer from is a hurt back or a mildly split lip.Ultimately then, All the Marbles is more of a fairy tale fable than an expose, with the Dolls conveniently triumphing by the end.

 

It wasn't all that long ago that actress Laurene Landon got her big break in Hollywood. Granted, the movie wasn't nominated for any Oscars, but in no way does that dampen the fact of having achieved what the majority of wannabe actors can only dream about.

 

"I think it's remarkable that people remember me from the film. When I go to the store and different places, it amazes me the number of people that come up to me and say 'Oh my God, you're the girl from All the Marbles," said Landon in an interview with SLAM! Wrestling from her home in Hollywood, California.

 

It wasn't just some walk-on role that launched an active career performing in front of the movie camera. Landon in fact was one half of the ass kicking, voluptuous women's tag team known as The California Dolls in the MGM movie, All The Marbles.So how did this Canadian native (hailing from Toronto) score the role that is still winning over fans after all these years? Landon traced her journey to Hollywood from her days at the Los Angeles campus of Cal State. 

 

 

Landon and her family had relocated to California when she was only three.However, being an officer of the law meant carrying a side arm. As she discovered when applying her marksmanship skills at the shooting range, firing a gun was just not for her.

 

"When it came to shooting the gun, I realized I was much too emotional to actually kill someone. I felt guilty shooting at the targets," confessed Landon.

 

Abandoning her aspirations for the law, Landon enrolled in acting classes. The move proved to be a good one, landing her first role in front of the camera for a TV commercial after only two weeks of classes. Small movie roles would follow, along with modeling jobs. In fact, it was while pursuing one specific modeling assignment that she would stumble upon a lead that would eventually take her to that elusive spotlight of fame.

 

"I went to Las Vegas where they were casting for the Miss Black Velvet billboard girl," told Landon. "I flew up to Las Vegas, met with the casting director and I just missed it. They picked another girl. While I was up there, the casting director told me that down in Los Angeles they're casting this huge movie and they're not happy with any of the girls they've found. They had been across the country, back and forth, looking for two girls."

 

Specifically, they were looking for were two females to play the role of professional wrestlers. As Landon went on to explain, attempts were made to get actual women professional wrestlers to take on the roles.

 

 

With a phone number in hand, Landon setup an appointment with a casting director for the film. It would be at that meeting where she would meet with the man who helmed the movie, director Robert Aldrich.

 

 

A prompt apology followed from Landon and perhaps the thought that her big chance at fame had come to an abrupt end with the blunder. Instead, she got an invitation to be screen tested for the film.Leading up to the screen test, it was revealed that Peter Falk, forever immortalized for his portrayal of the meandering, crafty homicide detective Lieutenant Columbo from the TV series Columbo, would be cast in the leading role as the manager of the tag team.

 

"He was a doll, he was wonderful -- one of the most caring people I every met in my life," praised Landon."I was very apprehensive and scared to meet this famous actor.I was living in trepidation during the screen test period because I just felt that I'm going to get busted that I can't act. He (Falk) gave me a lot of confidence. He had a brilliant sense of humor and that helped too."

 

According to Landon though, Falk was not the first person the studio had in mind.

 

"They were going to use Paul Newman at first, but he decided to do another film, so Peter Falk was brought on board.""I was not selected right away," Landon added. "Twelve of us were screen tested out of 2,000. It was a dramatic spot and I played a lesbian initially. It was a scene where Peter Falk was yelling at me for being a lesbian and I broke down and cried. That was the scene that got me to the top four.""After that, Robert Aldrich called us in and said 'There's only four of you left now and we're only using two of you and two of you are backups.' He was very forthright and I truly respected him for that because he could have just tricked us and said you're all going to be in it."