How to Murder Your Wife
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Movie Reviews of How to Murder Your Wife
Movie Review: Bash Branigan Rules!
Summary: 5 Stars
When I was a kid, I wanted to grow up to be this character. What a life he had!Movie Review: Amusing Sixties Satire.
Summary: 4 Stars
"How To Murder Your Wife" is a very entertaining comedy, directed with his usual aplomb by Richard Quine, that provides another excellent vehicle for multi-talented Jack Lemmon. It certainly gives us a snapshot of the mid-sixties--cars, clothes, furniture and, of course, attitudes. Perhaps I should add that the "snapshot" also reflects the affluent lifestyle of someone who can afford a luxurious townhouse in New York City !
Mr. Lemmon plays Stanley Ford, a successful cartoonist and "confirmed bachelor". He wakes up one morning after a crazy bachelor party to find a blonde in his bed ( drop-dead gorgeous Virna Lisi ) , and a wedding ring on her finger--it seems that, while intoxicated, he managed to marry this young woman. To add to his befuddlement, she is Italian and speaks no English. His "very British" butler ( scene-stealing Terry-Thomas ) is "shocked and appalled" and threatens to leave this severely-compromised masculine environment. The rest of the film is dedicated to our hero's attempts to unload the new wife--by legal means or otherwise--and return to the playboy lifestyle that he champions. There is much more to the plot but, unlike at least one other reviewer, I subscribe to the theory that potential viewers do not wish to be told every scene, plot development and situation in advance.
The witty script is accompanied by an excellent cast. I have already mentioned the priceless Terry-Thomas, who also serves as the film's "narrator". Virna Lisi is extremely beautiful and seductive--the scene where she "pops out of the cake" at the bachelor party will still quicken the pulse of any red-blooded male ( and gives rise to the one central flaw in the film--why would any sane guy want to "dump" Ms. Lisi ! ? )! Eddie Mayehoff is hilarious as Mr. Lemmon's not-overly-clever lawyer, sympathetic to his client's plight, but also under the thumb of his domineering wife ( Claire Trevor, adding a fine comic performance to her distinguished film career ). Sidney Blackmer also shines in a small role as a judge who is anything but sober ! Finally--there is Mr. Jack Lemmon ( I still miss him )--having a ball as Stanley Ford, a paranoid, insecure, adolescent guy who only thinks he knows the key to true happiness.
I found the picture quality to be excellent--the sound pretty much what you would expect for a forty-plus year old film. There are no extras, except the trailer. Neal Hefti contributes a nice, jazzy score, reminiscent of his "Odd Couple" music--or perhaps vice versa !
Hopefully, people will not be discouraged by the "politically incorrect" title. This satirical comedy still has more than enough amusing scenes to entertain a modern audience, and the cast is perfect. Try it--you'll like it !
Movie Review: NOT An Instructional Video
Summary: 4 Stars
This wicked little comedy could never be filmed today, and not merely because the dilemma that Stanley Ford (Jack Lemmon) finds himself in has been all but eliminated by "no fault" divorce laws. As Stanley's butler, Charles Burbank (Terry-Thomas), gleefully announces at the beginning, this is a movie for men only. Women will not appreciate it at all unless they have a good sense of humor; stereotypical feminists would be well advised not to bother.
Stanley Ford, a successful syndicated newspaper cartoonist, is living the perfect Playboy lifestyle: luxurious townhouse, proper manservant, exclusive male only club membership, and, of course, plenty of no-strings-attached sex with beautiful women. The gimmick that makes his comic strip stand out is that Stanley never asks its hero, Bash Brannigan, to do anything he hasn't already done. In practice this means that he personally acts out his various capers with the assistance of hired actors while being photographed by his butler and uses said photographs as guides when drawing his strip.
However, at a funereal bachelor party for a friend that turns into a wild celebration after the bride calls the wedding off, an intoxicated Ford proposes to the lady hired to jump out of the cake, the always stunning Virna Lisi. He wakes up married to her. Divorce is out of the question because she is Italian (Roman Catholic) and hopelessly in love with him. Charles storms out, and Stanley's playboy lifestyle is swept away as Mrs. Ford plies him with delicious cooking and sex. Various misadventures follow to both Stanley and the now also married Bash Brannigan as Edna Lampson (Claire Trevor), battleaxe wife of Stanley's lawyer and friend, Harold Lampson (a hysterically henpecked Eddie Mayehoff), takes Mrs. Ford under her wing and teaches her how to be a full fledged harpy.
After an Edna-inspired Mrs. Ford costs Stanley his club membership he announces that Bash Brannigan at least isn't going to take it anymore. What follows is Stanley acting out the various parts of his alter ego's murder plans, but when Mrs. Ford reads the final comic strips and guesses that they reflect Stanley's true feelings, she takes off her wedding ring and disappears. Stanley gets arrested for his missing wife's murder, and a hapless Lampson gets nowhere in defending him. What follows is one of the funniest courtroom scenes in movie history as Stanley takes over his own defense and launches a last desperate ploy to stave off certain conviction. A few final twists round out this dated but delicious little comedy that turns out to be a lot less subversive than you might have thought.
Movie Review: A culturally historical document
Summary: 4 Stars
This very charming -- and quite funny! -- movie is not nearly as misogynistic as the title might suggest. It's basically a "love catches up with the confirmed bachelor" story, the kind that's been done a gazillion times by Hollywood.
What sets "How to Murder Your Wife" apart is how it perfectly captures the fantasy of the idealized bachelor lifestyle (Playboy magazine, James Bond, etc.) of the early 1960s. Jack Lemmon plays a syndicated newspaper cartoonist who lives in a swanky Manhattan townhouse, and is aided and abetted in his adventures by his "gentleman's gentlemen," the hilarious Terry-Thomas. The film is graced by a Mancini-esque, hepcat-cool music score composed by Neil Hefti; again, a perfect product of its time.
For anyone who was around at the time, seeing this movie will transport you back to that still-pretty-innocent age. For anyone who came after, this'll be like an especially amusing time capsule... but very cool.
Movie Review: Not what you'd expect
Summary: 4 Stars
This is one of those films that start out seeming to be about one thing, but turn out at the end to be about something else entirely. Jack Lemmon is a confirmed (?) bachelor, living in a town house with his valet, Terry-Thomas, when one morning, after a liquor-soaked bachelor party for a friend the night before, he wakes to find himself married (gulp) to the dazzlingly beautiful Virna Lisi. Trapped in a no-win situation, he cooks up a plot for her murder (only on paper, of course); but, when she disappears, he finds himself on trial for her actual murder. One of the great comedic courtroom scenes follows. When the [spoiler] at the end of the film, you realized that you've been duped -- the film, which seemed to be about the joys of woman-hating, turns out to be about one of the great themes of cinema - "love conquers all". Eddie Mayehoff and Claire Trevor are marvelous in supporing roles.