# A Touch of Class (1973 film)
*A Touch of Class* is a 1973 romantic comedy directed, produced, and co-written by Melvin Frank, starring [George Segal](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-segal) as Steve Blackburn, a married American insurance executive in London, and [Glenda Jackson](https://www.edgepedia.org/glenda-jackson) as Vickie Allessio, a divorced British fashion designer who becomes his clandestine lover in a London–Spain tryst.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55067-A-TOUCHOFCLASS?cp=1&pos=3&sid=659e60d1-a176-48c8-ab70-e9a987610bdd&sr=0.09648186) Jackson won her second [Academy Award for Best Actress](https://www.edgepedia.org/academy-award-for-best-actress) for the role, and the film received five nominations in total at the 46th Academy Awards.[2](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1974)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writers / producer | Melvin Frank (director, producer, co-writer) and Jack Rose (co-writer)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55067-A-TOUCHOFCLASS?cp=1&pos=3&sid=659e60d1-a176-48c8-ab70-e9a987610bdd&sr=0.09648186) |
| Starring | George Segal (Steve Blackburn), Glenda Jackson (Vickie Allessio), Paul Sorvino (Walter Menkes)[3](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/4c661e02-0457-585c-8548-31c75cbe4491/a-touch-of-class) |
| Production | Brut Productions, Inc., a Fabergé offshoot; produced by Joseph E. Levine and Brut[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55067-A-TOUCHOFCLASS?cp=1&pos=3&sid=659e60d1-a176-48c8-ab70-e9a987610bdd&sr=0.09648186) • [4](https://www.alhirschfeldfoundation.org/piece/first-season-brut-productions-films) |
| Release | UK May 25, 1973; US June 20, 1973 (New York City)[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070819/releaseinfo/) |
| Runtime and format | 105–106 minutes, Technicolor, Panavision, MPAA rating PG[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55067-A-TOUCHOFCLASS?cp=1&pos=3&sid=659e60d1-a176-48c8-ab70-e9a987610bdd&sr=0.09648186) |
| Box office | $16,800,000 domestic[6](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Touch-of-Class-A) |
| Academy Awards | Best Actress (Jackson, winner); Best Picture, Original Dramatic Score, Song, and Story and Screenplay nominations[2](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1974) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Steve [Blackburn](https://www.edgepedia.org/blackburn), an American insurance executive living in London with his wife and two children, meets Vickie Allessio while the two mutually hail a taxi in the rain. Vickie is a divorced fashion designer with two children of her own. Attracted to each other, they arrange a week in Spain, where their first night together goes wrong: an argument over which side of the bed each gets ends with Steve's back going out. After a fight in which lamps and furniture are thrown, the two really fall in love. Back in London they rent a flat in Soho for their liaisons, and Steve finds that combining parenthood, marriage, career, and an affair takes its toll; the film ends with the two, still in love, reaching a sad but rational decision to part.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55067-A-TOUCHOFCLASS?cp=1&pos=3&sid=659e60d1-a176-48c8-ab70-e9a987610bdd&sr=0.09648186) • [7](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/a-touch-of-class-1973) • [8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/touch_of_class)
## Production
The film was shot on location in [Estepona](https://www.edgepedia.org/estepona) and Marbella in Spain and in London, England, with interiors at Lee International Film Studios in London; production ran from early May to early July 1972.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55067-A-TOUCHOFCLASS?cp=1&pos=3&sid=659e60d1-a176-48c8-ab70-e9a987610bdd&sr=0.09648186) According to a May 1972 *Variety* news item, British designers Jean Muir and Jeff Banks were creating Glenda Jackson's wardrobe, although neither was credited onscreen or in reviews.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55067-A-TOUCHOFCLASS?cp=1&pos=3&sid=659e60d1-a176-48c8-ab70-e9a987610bdd&sr=0.09648186)
**Brut Productions.** Brut Productions, the studio behind the film, was a subsidiary of the Fabergé cosmetics firm, run by its owner and chief executive George Barrie and taking its name from a men's cologne Barrie had devised. *A Touch of Class* was part of Brut's first slate of motion pictures, which also included *Night Watch*, *Book of Numbers*, and *Hugo the Hippo*; it was the biggest hit of that first season.[4](https://www.alhirschfeldfoundation.org/piece/first-season-brut-productions-films)
One production detail inside the film: a few moments of the 1945 British Cineguild production of *Brief Encounter* are shown as Vickie and Steve tearfully watch it on television in their Soho flat.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55067-A-TOUCHOFCLASS?cp=1&pos=3&sid=659e60d1-a176-48c8-ab70-e9a987610bdd&sr=0.09648186)
## Release and box office
The film opened in London in May 1973 and in the United Kingdom on May 25, 1973; the United States release followed on June 20, 1973 in New York City, distributed by Avco Embassy Pictures.[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070819/releaseinfo/) The Numbers records a domestic box office of $16,800,000, with a June 20, 1973 wide release by Avco Embassy.[6](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Touch-of-Class-A) A December 1978 *Daily Variety* item noted that Brut Productions filed a five million dollar lawsuit against Avco Embassy Pictures Corp. over the film's distribution and Avco's failure to pay a percentage of the gross receipts.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55067-A-TOUCHOFCLASS?cp=1&pos=3&sid=659e60d1-a176-48c8-ab70-e9a987610bdd&sr=0.09648186)
## Reception and awards
Contemporary reviewers responded positively. [The Hollywood Reporter](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-hollywood-reporter), New York Times, and Los Angeles Times critics agreed that the film, as the Hollywood Reporter put it, "revive[d] the spirit of the romantic screwball [of the 1930's and 1940s]."[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55067-A-TOUCHOFCLASS?cp=1&pos=3&sid=659e60d1-a176-48c8-ab70-e9a987610bdd&sr=0.09648186) Penelope Gilliatt, writing in *The New Yorker* in July 1973, called it "often spry" and praised Jackson's gift for light comedy, while noting that the story added up to "an oddly illiberal love story" with moments of "reckless funniness."[9](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1973/07/09/the-wits-vs-the-nitwits)
Roger Ebert, the film critic of the *Chicago Sun-Times*, gave the film three stars in July 1973. He called it "a sharp-edged, often very funny dissection of a love affair between two possibly incompatible people" and praised Jackson's role as a return to the competent, intelligent women of early 1940s films, but objected that a movie lighthearted most of the way had not earned its unhappy ending.[7](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/a-touch-of-class-1973) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an 86% Tomatometer from 14 reviews.[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/touch_of_class)
At the 46th Academy Awards, held April 2, 1974, Glenda Jackson won Best Actress, her second Oscar. The film was also nominated for Best Picture (Melvin Frank, producer), Music (Original Dramatic Score) for John Cameron, Music (Song) for "All That Love Went to Waste" (music by George Barrie, lyrics by Sammy Cahn), and Writing (Story and [Screenplay](https://www.edgepedia.org/screenplay) based on material not previously published or produced) for Frank and Rose.[2](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1974)
## Music and crew
John Cameron composed and conducted the score, and the songs include "Amor Mio," "A Touch of Class," "All That Love Went to Waste," and "Nudge Me Every Morning" by George Barrie and Sammy Cahn, plus "She Loves Me, She Told Me So Last Night" by Melvin Frank and Marvin Frank, sung by Jackson and Segal. The crew included cinematographer Austin Dempster, editor Bill Butler, production designer Terence Marsh, and costume designer Ruth Myers.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55067-A-TOUCHOFCLASS?cp=1&pos=3&sid=659e60d1-a176-48c8-ab70-e9a987610bdd&sr=0.09648186)
Jackson, Segal, and Sorvino were reunited with Frank and Rose in the 1979 production *Lost and Found*.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55067-A-TOUCHOFCLASS?cp=1&pos=3&sid=659e60d1-a176-48c8-ab70-e9a987610bdd&sr=0.09648186)
## References
1. [A Touch of Class (1973), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55067-A-TOUCHOFCLASS?cp=1&pos=3&sid=659e60d1-a176-48c8-ab70-e9a987610bdd&sr=0.09648186)
2. [The 46th Academy Awards (1974), Oscars.org](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1974)
3. [A Touch of Class (1973), British Film Institute](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/4c661e02-0457-585c-8548-31c75cbe4491/a-touch-of-class)
4. [First Season of Brut Productions Films, Al Hirschfeld Foundation](https://www.alhirschfeldfoundation.org/piece/first-season-brut-productions-films)
5. [A Touch of Class (1973) release info, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070819/releaseinfo/)
6. [A Touch of Class (1973), The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Touch-of-Class-A)
7. [A Touch of Class movie review, Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times (1973)](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/a-touch-of-class-1973)
8. [A Touch of Class, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/touch_of_class)
9. [The Wits Vs. the Nitwits, The New Yorker (July 9, 1973)](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1973/07/09/the-wits-vs-the-nitwits)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of the 1970s › Released 1970 to 1976*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license