They All Laughed is a 1981 American romantic comedy film directed by Peter Bogdanovich and starring Ben Gazzara, Audrey Hepburn, John Ritter, Colleen Camp, Patti Hansen, and Dorothy Stratten.
The New York-based private investigation firm Odyssey Detective Agency employs three agents: the middle-aged, womanizing John Russo, the younger, hippie-ish Arthur Brodsky, and the nervy and anxious Charles Rutledge.
Their cantankerous boss, Leon Leondopolous, tries to keep his bumbling agents in line while carrying on a poorly-disguised affair with his secretary Amy.
Odyssey is investigating two separate married women: Angela Niotes, the aged but glamorous wife of a British tycoon, and Dolores Martin, a beautiful blonde.
While attempting to follow Angela from the Manhattan heliport, John meets a taxi driver named Deborah Wilson.
The two are instantly infatuated, and John makes plans to see Deborah (whom he calls "Sam") later that night.
Arthur (who juggles a series of passionate romances throughout the film) is worried for each of his co-workers, but assists each of them in growing closer to their objects of affection: he helps John get away from his on-again off-again partner, country singer Christy Miller, and devises a plan for Charles to have a conversation with Dolores at a roller rink.
When Charles follows Dolores back home, she eventually leaves her apartment and kisses him before running away.
Charles spends the night on a bench outside of Dolores' apartment, following her to a courthouse where Christy observes her and Jose enter a judge's chambers.
Later, Angela tells John that she is returning to Europe with her husband and son; she has arranged Deborah to take her place and nurse his broken heart.
"The genesis of They All Laughed was that Benny [Gazzara] and I talked a lot about romances and affairs and the battle of the sexes", said Bogdanovich later.
[2]Many hints are given at a relationship between the plot and real life in this picture, which has caused some commenters to question the discipline of the filmmakers, but may, in time, actually contribute to the film's interest.
More implicitly, Arthur, who acts primarily as a facilitator to the others' romances, is portrayed by one of the film's screenwriters, Blaine Novak.
The theme of hidden desires is echoed in the soundtrack, which juxtaposes country music by Roy Acuff, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Rodney Crowell—as well as by Camp—with visuals of the Manhattan skyline (the credits sequence follows a trek into Manhattan, notably focusing on the twin towers of the World Trade Center as Dorothy Stratten's credit appears) and songs recorded by Frank Sinatra, including the eponymous George and Ira Gerswhin song "They All Laughed".
No traditional villains are seen in the film, with the only unpleasant character momentarily depicted in extremely brief appearances as an understandably frustrated husband whose wife (Stratten) cuckolds him with their next door neighbor.
According to an interview conducted by Wes Anderson in the DVD features for the film, director Bogdanovich claims Hepburn and Gazzara fell in love and had an affair while shooting Bloodline (1979).
Dorothy Stratten was murdered by her estranged husband and manager Paul Snider before the film's release.
Stratten had begun an affair with Peter Bogdanovich during filming, and Snider hired a private detective to follow her.
Along with Heaven's Gate, Cruising, and One from the Heart, They All Laughed generally is regarded as the end of the New Hollywood period, and the director-driven studio films of the 1970s.