I have a Bachelor’s degree in English. To be honest, I mainly majored in English because I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life; I liked to read, and it had few math requirements.

I can’t say I’ve put that degree fully to use in my life as an adult, but I did enjoy my college years. I read a lot of good books. I learned to appreciate the classics. That includes the works of one William Shakespeare. He was a pretty good writer.

I’ve read all of his major works, and more than a few of his minor ones. I’ve seen quite a few of his plays, and a good number of movies based on his works. But I don’t pretend to be an expert. I’d struggle to tell you the names of his major characters and could only give you the vaguest recollection of the plots of just about any play. So when I say that All Night Long is a modern (and very loose) adaptation of Othello, you just have to take my word for it. I won’t be able to explain the details.

Set in swinging 1960s London, the film takes place over one long night in one location. Rod Hamilton (Richard Attenborough), a rich jazz aficionado, throws an anniversary party for Aurelius Rex (Paul Harris), a bandleader and pianist, and his wife, Delia Lane (Marti Stevens), a former singer who retired when she got married.

Johnny Cousin (Patrick McGoohan) is the drummer in Rex’s band, but he’s got bigger ambitions. He’s been secretly practicing with Delia in hopes of getting her to sing in a band he’s trying to form. He’s talked Rod into funding it and is in talks with a big-name promoter.

But all of that is reliant on Delia singing for him, and Delia is starting to have second thoughts. Rex really doesn’t want her in show business. He just wants a wife. Johnny spends most of the movie devising ways in which to break them apart. He’s a real bastard.

McGoohan is great. The cinematography is great. The film is filled with jazz musicians playing themselves, including Charles Mingus and Dave Brubeck. They spend a lot of time playing songs. I’m not a huge jazz nerd so I don’t know all the guys in this film, and I can’t comment on the quality of the jazz they are playing. But I dug it.

I dug the film. I haven’t read or seen Othello in a very long time, so I wasn’t trying to make connections with it. But I dig films where awful men try to do awful things and fail.