HOW TO SAVE A MARRIAGE AND RUIN YOUR LIFE
US, 1968, 102 minutes, Colour.
Dean Martin, Stella Stevens, Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson, Betty Field, Jack Albertson.
Directed by Fielder Cook.
This is one of those typical romantic comedies of the late 1960s, smart dialogue, more suggestive situations than in the past, the portrait of the male wolf, the philandering husband, the mistress, and the big mistake at the centre of the plot when Dean Martin, man about town, wants to help his friend, Eli Wallach and his relationship with his mistress, Anne Jackson. And the trouble is that Dean Martin makes a mistake, thinking that the effective and efficient Stella Stevens is his target. No surprise that there is plenty of battle of the sexes, then falling in love…
In a way, this film is a continuation of the trend which began with Doris Day and Rock Hudson in Pillow Talk and continued with many Doris Day films throughout the 1960s. And there was always the development of the tongue-in-cheek suggestiveness with such films as Secret Life of an American Wife, also with Anne Jackson, and with Walter Matthau.
Easily amusing, and of its time.
1. The title? Romantic comedy? Expectations, tone? The 1960s? The late 1960s?
2. The cast, the popularity at the time, Dean Martin and Stella Stevens, spy dramas, romantic comedies?
3. Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson, husband and wife in real life, working together?
4. The American style, the city, apartments, bars, restaurants, business centres? The musical score?
5. The situation, men and women, marriage, love, sex, betrayal?
6. Dean Martin as David, his style, the nonchalant bachelor, the man about town, in relationships, smooth wolf, his friendship with Harry, Harry confiding him in in him, his deciding to intervene? Going to the apartment, his encounters, making a mistake, presuming that Carol was the mistress, the buildup to a battle of the sexes, yet the attraction, moving deeper, romance, the tangles, the truth?
7. Harry, his situation, his marriage, relationship with his wife, her demands, taking the mistress, Anne Jackson as Muriel, nice, not the “mistress� type? Her neighbour, mix-ups with the apartments, friendship, advice and help? The scenes with Harry, Harry confiding?
8. Carol, pleasant, the background, her work and achievement, the situations, her being misunderstood by David, his attentions to her, his behaviour towards her, her reactions, turning the tables? Friendship, gradually falling in love?
9. The film and women, wives, loving and not, mistresses, genuine falling in love?
10. The familiar plotlines? Tone of the dialogue, romantic, comic, battle of the sexes – and everything right at the end?
