My One and Only: Quotes and Notes

Actor George Hamilton’s mother is the subject of “The One and Only,” a 2009 film loosely based upon a road trip that she took her children on after leaving her husband.

Set in 1953, the film opens up with 15-year old George at a car dealership, eyeing up a 1953 azure blue Cadillac Eldorado. The car salesman tells him to buzz off until George pulls out a huge wad of bills and offers to buy it in cash. George has to explain to the dealership owner how he came by so much loot at such a tender age or they’re going to call the cops. He tells them about his parents: father Dan Deveraux, a bandleader whose “life relies upon improvisation”; and mother Anne, whose “life is guided by a large number of aphorisms.”

Kevin Bacon and Renee Zellweger as Dan and Anne Deveraux

One recurring saying of Anne’s throughout the film is “Everything will work out for the best. It always does.”

The scene where his mother catches his dad in bed with another woman is shown. After helping the woman with her bustier, Anne coolly collects her belongings and leaves Dan.

You know, you really shouldn’t wear this color.
It makes you look like a tramp.
What am I saying? You are a tramp.

Anne then rounds up her boys and heads to the bank to clean out the safe deposit box.

Mark Rendall as Robbie and Logan Lerman as George

That’s where George got the dough. Arriving at the dealership, the men explain the art of negotiation to Anne. She’s a fast learner: “$2950, Fred, or we’re out of here faster than a cat in a rainstorm.”

They get the car and head off to Boston, where Anne plans to hook a new husband by looking up all her old boyfriends. George is anything but enthusiastic about going and even less so when his mother gets a date with her first prospect:

George: You’re like some predator.
Anne: I’m merely having dinner with an old friend.
George: Like the angler fish we studied in biology.
Anne: Never compare a woman to a fish, George — or anything with scales for that matter.

Steven Weber as Wallace

That doesn’t go too well. Wallace just wanted to hit Anne up for a $75,000 loan: “I am broke, babe! The wolves are circling.” He emptied out her purse when she went to the ladies’ room and left her to deal with the maitre d’. Harlan Williams, a military man, comes to her rescue and they are soon engaged.

Chris Noth as Harlan Williams

The boys aren’t too thrilled about him, particularly George, who can’t stand being called “Georgie Boy” and getting slapped on the back “like he’s trying to dislodge a piece of meat from my throat or something.” But Harlan soon shows his true stripes and that’s the end of that. It’s off to Pittsburgh from there.

Anne: I almost married a man in this city.
George: You almost married a man in every city.
Anne: Sarcasm is the refuge of scoundrels.

But one old beau is a masher and another has a girlfriend who is much younger than Anne. George notices, even if Anne doesn’t want to.

George: Charlie Currell is not interested in you.
Anne: You know that for a fact, do you?
George: Yeah. Everybody knows that. That girl he was with today is closer to my age than she is to yours. … You’re too old for him. Isn’t it obvious? It is to everyone else.

While Anne goes to meet Currell, George goes to meet his father, who has a Pittsburg gig and doesn’t even know his estranged family is living there. It doesn’t go well for either of them. Dan tells George that he’s just not cut out to be a good father and won’t let George come with him. Anne overhears Currell’s girlfriend say “When your old friend shows up, you can dance with her once, but that’s all.” Currell says that Anne has kids to take care of and probably won’t even show. Depressed, Anne strikes up a conversation with a fellow at the bar who is a detective. He arrests her for solicitation! (For saying “I’m a little lonely tonight”?!?!?)

Throughout the film, Dan Deveraux does want Anne to come back and you would think at this point, she would fold but she heads to her sister’s in St. Louis, which apparently is not quite as humiliating. She get a job at a paint store and gets engaged to the man she thinks is the owner. He turns out to be mentally ill and a serial bigamist. He is at least a member of the family that owns the store and she gets a settlement check out of it. Anne decides to head out to Hollywood to help Robbie fulfill his acting dreams. George refuses to go with them.

There is some more craziness before they reach the City of Angels but I don’t want to spoil the whole thing so you’ll have to watch the film to see if everything really does happen for the best.

According to 2040.cars, two 1953 Cadillacs were used during the film. They were selling one.

Roger Ebert gave this film 3-1/2 stars and deemed it an appealing comedy, although he said he had no idea how much it stuck to the facts of George Hamilton’s teenage years. It’s not that hard to find out. George’s mother was nicknamed “Teeny.” Her oldest son, from her first marriage, was really named Bill Potter. George had a younger brother named David who was also on their trip, but is not shown in the film. The Sun Sentinel has her 2004 obituary.