How to Murder Your Wife | | Cast : | Jack Lemmon, Virna Lisi, Terry-Thomas | | Director : | Richard Quine | | Studio : | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | January 26, 1965 | | DVD Released Date : | January 11, 2005 | | Language : | Spanish (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | NR (Not Rated) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 13, 2005 | | Summary | Cute Movie, but Not Lemmon's Best. | Content
 | Yes, I like How to Murder Your Wife, but found the beginning to be as dull as a twice burnt candle. Only when cartooonist/playboy Stanley Ford (Jack Lemmon) meets the beautiful Italian girl (Virna Lisi) who pops out of the cake at a friend's bachelor party do things begin to pick up. You will have to wait a half-hour while his lawyer friend tells him how immature he is to be writing a comic strip at 37 years old just because he's been listening to his wife too much. After seeing his lawyer's wife for a mere 3 minutes, you can understand why Stanley is a bachelor and his butler (Terry Thomas) approves. I'm a woman and I approve!
Somehow Stanley has not only woken up with the girl in the cake, but he also discovers that they have gotten married! Worst of all? She only speaks Italian which Stanley's lawyer's obnoxious wife knows almost fluently, and begins to teach her how to be a harpie as well. Just like Stanley, I liked her better before wifey-poo got a hold of her and started her sleeping with rollers in her hair and bossing him around. If anything, this movie helps you to understand why men like being single and, yes, for a change I'm on their side!
Stanley doesn't want to be married, and he makes his caricature Bash Brannigan suffer his unfortunate homelife situations. Ironically, his male dominated comic strip becomes a successful family affair and readership picks up. He's not happy, however, and unleashes the ultimate plan he cannot carry out in real life: Bash will murder his freedom stifling wife and dump her body into the "gloppita-gloppita" machine. Funny thing though; Mrs. Ford really does disappear, and Stanley is brought up on trial for murder though they can't find her body! The results of the case are sympathetically histerical, but I won't give the ending away.
I need to point out that, unlike the lawyer's hack wife, Virna Lisi's character as Mrs. Ford is sweet, endearing, and gorgeous, yet she's funny without even trying. You just root for her because she means well in spite of the "evil" lawyer wife influence. Why do I hate that woman so much? She tells Stanley's new bride to play head games and this, more than anything, angers me: She informs her that neither party can hear the other in seperate rooms, yet plays a game with him in which she says she heard him say something derogatory. "See that?" she says triumphantly to Stanley's new wife. "They're always feeling guilty about something!" This old biddie gives women a bad rap way back to the cave days! Fortunately, Stanley is a very lucky man that his foreign wife can think for herself once the smoke clears. I also adore her little yorkshire terrier puppy who looks like one I used to have!
Yes, this movie is entertaining and cute after the first half-hour, and it has its charms but, while I would watch it again, I wouldn't buy it. Of all Lemmon's films, I much prefer The Apartment or The Days of Wine and Roses. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 07, 2005 | | Summary | Amusing Sixties Satire. | Content
| "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 ! |
| Rating | | | Date | May 31, 2004 | | Summary | A guy thing...and loads of fun... | Content
| In our PC society, I can still look back and grin affecionately, considering that this film was made at a time when "battle-of-the-sexes" humor was at a peak (Doris Day, anyone?) Lemmon's a natural, and Terry-Thomas actually steals the film for that reason. Fairly formulaic, the men are made to look more idiotic than the women, though if anyone wants to take issue, check out Claire Trevor's manipulative harpee witch. Virna Lisi is, indeed, stunningly gorgeous, and very endearing. This is a "nice" movie; not a great one, nor one that lives on in history. It has Lemmon, Terry-Thomas, Lisi, Trevor, Eddie Mayehoff (a riot), and should be taken for exactly what it is: a fun, mindless romp that entertains. Lighten up. I still think this should've been nominated for Sound Effects...I never forgot the "Gloppita-gloppita" machine. Don't judge; enjoy! |
| Rating | | | Date | March 05, 2004 | | Summary | The Good-natured Sanity of Satire | Content
| There is absolutely nothing like good-natured satire for escape from the pressures of the workaday world, which insists on everyone being reasonable and restrained in their ire toward others. In the genre of high satire, "How to Murder Your Wife" takes one poke after another at the guys AND their ladies, both of whose unrealistic expectations toward one another periodically drive each other to the brink of ... could it be MURDER? This is STRICTLY for laughs -- and of course, paradoxically the best laughs come when a good moral results from the logical playing out of the perfectly orchestrated tomfoolery in this classic film. We need satire -- much more than we think -- to remain good-natured, even sane. It alone gives us the perspective to let down our self-righteous hair and laugh at ourselves. One is only certain that he has a friend when his friend isn't afraid to insult him once in awhile! Remember the profound psychological function of the Medieval court jester, alone of the King's subjects who could ridicule the King mercilessly ... and so keep him human in aspect. The Marx Brothers knew themselves to be Society's collective court jesters with a holy mission to insult the upper classes, who were taking themselves so perilously seriously in the '20s and '30s. So, may our insecurities of male and female social prerogatives vanish in a cloud of wholesome laughter in this ingenious stroke of good will -- and may we benefit from more and more good satire in future productions. For it is the perfect irony of this film that its theme is actually the passionate pursuit of harmony between the sexes, and not their mutual demise. Ah, give us a second helping of wit, Sir Terry Thomas! |
| Rating | | | Date | January 23, 2004 | | Summary | It's a men's joke! | Content
| Stanley Ford (Jack Lemmon) is a popular cartoonist. 463 newspapers buy "The adventures of Bash Brannigan" because they know their author draws on real-life experience. His lawyer Harold (Eddie Mayehoff) gives free vent to his moral indignation: "pornography! violence! sadism!" but Stanley remains complacent: " I never asked Bash to do anything I haven't done myself". He is immune to Harold's sermon who can't wait to see him henpecked. But Stanley has perfected the skill of lying in a woman's arms without falling in her hands. He owns a luxurious townhouse in New York and Charles (Terry-Thomas), his distinguished and stuck-up butler (He calls himself "Mr. Ford's man") runs the household, awakes him, escorts him to the shower, weighs him out (160 pounds) and prepares healthy meals. In short: Stanley leads the life that readers of the "Playboy magazine" dream of. One day he goes to a friend's wedding (The bride forgot her shoes in Stanley's bedroom), but the wedding he celebrates instead is his own: He wakes up with a hangover and discovers that he married the girl who jumped out of the wedding cake (Virna Lisi). Since the new Mrs. Ford has assets (she took part in a beauty contest) he tries to break the news gently to her: he wants a divorce...Mrs. Ford is amused to see his pantomime: She does not understand one word because she comes from Italy...Harold is delighted and lists Stanley's obligations:"You got to make a new will...health check...insurance". Harold's wife Edna (Claire Trevor) informs Mrs. Ford that she is entitled to a mink-coat, a pet-dog and her husband's credit card. Charles has dark forebodings. The foundations of his cosmic system are shaken when his new lady takes possession of her house. Duel in the kitchen: Charles is calories-conscÃous, Mrs. Ford prepares lasagne-souffle with a pound of butter. Both wait for their lord and master to pass his judgment. Stanley settles on the souffle - and forfeits his butler. Stanley's comic-strip hero follows his creator's example: "Yes (Gulp)" says the bridegroom. "He He" says the bride. Mrs. Ford's qualities do not miss their fire. Still. Stanley's home becomes a boudoir. He develops a paunch - his appetite is good. She makes a do-it-yourselfer out of him and a sissy and she controls his liquor-ration. Goaded by Edna she inspects her husband in his no-ladies-allowed-club and startles some half-naked men in the sauna. Her contrition comes too late: Stanley decides to free not himself but his comic-strip hero from the manacles of matrimony. He smuggles the prototype of an ecstasy-pill in his wife's drink. Brrrp! and she is dancing on the table. Blaaap! and he drags her off on his shoulder. Yes, and then he commits his "murder": He throws a dummy in the gloppeta-machine and buries it in cement. His wife sees his new Bash Brannigan cartoon and gathers that he is longing for her death... A deeply moving moment all the more effective because it comes unexpected. This film is the best sex-comedy in a series that started 1959 with PILLOW TALK and ended 1965 with THE GREAT RACE. These films were demonised and nagged to death by calamity-howlers who could not endure the sight of a happy audience. I was never offended by the alleged "sexism" - why shouldn't women be capable to take a men's joke with humor? The plot is a yarn, the courtroom scene a classic, the score Neil Hefti's best and the acting fantastic. This is the one film where Jack Lemmon has the opportunity to play the playboy - and he does so with boundless relish. Irrepressible, undaunted and with his unmistakable sense of humor. And he did all the stunts himself! Virna Lisi is irresistible as his fond appendage who coddles her husband until he becomes a softie. The only objectionable point is the mistreatment of sympathetic Claire Trevor (STAGECOACH, KEY LARGO). But, as Orson Welles once said: "Husbands should revolt from time to time. Even the best circus-number becomes boring if the beast is too tame". |
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