Fran Walker (Elizabeth Taylor) is an aging Vegas showgirl who has been abandoned by her married lover (Charles Braswell).  A trip to a piano bar leads to her meeting pianist and gambling addict Joe Grady (Warren Beatty).  Frank brings Joe home with her.  Joe is trying to win $5,000 so he can leave Las Vegas and go to New York.  Fran needs someone to keep her from going to back to her go-nowhere relationship.  The two talk and talk.  And talk.

Based on a play that closed after 16 performances, The Only Game In Town is memorable for being one of the most expensive theatrical adaptations ever produced.  That’s because Taylor insisted on filming in Paris instead of Las Vegas.  A set representing Fran’s tiny apartment (which is supposed to look cheap) was built on a Paris soundstage and the budget ballooned to a then unheard of $11,000,000.  (By today’s standards, that would be a $90,461,391 budget for a film with two stars and only a handful of locations.)   The Only Game In Town is also memorable for being the only film to feature both Elizabeth Taylor and Warren Beatty.  Taylor and Beatty were actually close in age but Fran still seems to be several decades older than Joe.  It was not the script’s intention but, due to the age difference, Joe comes across as being a gigolo.  (Originally, Frank Sinatra was cast as Joe but he left while the sets were being made in France.)  Finally, this was the final film to be directed by George Stevens, one of the great Golden Age directors who found himself struggling to keep up in a changing Hollywood.  With its stagey set-up and it’s dialogue-heavy script, this film does not features Stevens’s best work.

The Only Game In Town was a huge flop when released, damaging Taylor’s already floundering career and making Beatty even more determined to eventually direct his own films.  Seen today, Warren Beatty is actually pretty good in his role, even if he does come across as being too young.  Elizabeth Taylor is not served well by any element of the film, from her matronly (but expensive) costumes or a script the encourages her to be shrill.  The Only Game In Town was not one that anyone won.