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Pretty Good

Powerful

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

What a lineup of top male stars to interact with Shirley MacLaine. There is Bob Cummings, as her psychiatrist, recommended after she tried to give the Feds a hundred million $ or so, that she could once again be poor and happy. She would periodically return to his couch, which could be elevated quite high(why?).....Dick Van Dyke plays her first husband. She married him because he had no ambition other than to remain the proprietor of a small store, and owns a simple little house. Shirley thought she would be happy in that life, with Dick home a lot with her. Her mother, played by Margaret Dumont, had wanted her to marry Lennie Crawley(Dean Martin) , but she didn't love him, and was afraid he would spend all his time trying to expand the local family business empire. For a while, life with Dick went as she hoped, until one day he suddenly got the ambition to greatly expand his business. Thereafter, he became rich, and bought out the Crawleys, but she saw little of him. Eventually, he died of a heart attack.....Next, she took up with a mad artist(Paul Newman), who invented a series of machines that did his primitive painting for him. Eventually, he became rich from these paintings, but then his machines rebelled and collectively beat him to death, leaving Shirley with another unwanted fortune. This was an especially interesting segment, Paul being very funny. Next, she marries a superrich guy(Robert Mitchum)(why?). Eventually, he decides he wants to live a simple farmer's life, and liquidates all his other properties. But, pretty soon, he meets with a fatal accident with his bull. .....Shirley surmises she must be a jinx, and swears she won't marry again. But, she runs into a struggling entertainer(Gene Kelly) and marries him. She gets to do some dancing and singing with Gene, showing off her long slim legs. Her association with Gene is one of the most interesting parts of the film. Gene's character is known as Pinky. Presumably, , this is the reason for the all pink images during the prologue and credits, including a slippery casket that careens around, chasing the pall bearers. Eventually, Gene attracts nationwide devotion. Unfortunately, at one event, the fans stampede and trample him to death......She returns to her hometown and meets up with Dean Martin(Lennie Crawley) again. He's been reduced to serving as a janitor. He's OK to do some farming and share a small farmhouse. But Shirley's now idealic life is almost destroyed by a sudden indication of wealth under their farm. But, it's a false alarm......Shirley wears a countless number of outfits and wigs throughout production......Margaret Dumont, who played Shirley's mother, was in her 80s, and would die the next year. Back in the '30s, she was often a foil for the Marx Brothers.

Badly reviewed, but a big 1964 hit, due to the cast and the radio ad, "What a cast! What a show! What a way to go!" Critics were put off, perhaps rightly, by this large comedy's cavalier attitude toward death, and the lumbering direction of J. Lee Thompson, who never had an easy hand with comedy. As a four-time widow with too much money, Shirley's pretty good, and the Comden-Green script, conceived for Marilyn Monroe, is snug and reasonably funny. Best is the gimmick of depicting each marriage in the form of a movie style: silent comedy (Van Dyke), European art film (Newman), Ross Hunter over-production (Mitchum, the funniest, with an incredible procession of Edith Head gowns), and Hollywood musical (Kelly, dumbing down his own choreography somewhat to suit MacLaine). The leading men basically do what's expected of them, though Newman, sporting a Brooklyn accent, revels in playing nastier than usual. Prominent in the supporting cast, and quite wonderful, is Margaret Dumont. It's very expensive-looking, with perhaps the best De Luxe color I've ever seen, and though it pulls its punches here and there and is frequently in questionable taste, it's an undeniable good time.

Thirty years after being insulted by the Marx Brothers, Margaret Dumont is back in her final role as one of the most obnoxious mothers in screen history. She's so obnoxious and such a fish-wife that her husband (who never speaks a word) simply slides into the couch until he disappears. They somehow managed to squire Shirley MacLaine, and this poor girl gets the instant attention of two men: wealthy Dean Martin and hard-working but poor Dick Van Dyke. MacLaine doesn't want to marry for money no matter what the former Mrs. Flagstaff insists. "Money is the Root of All Evil", she has engraved on a pillow, but as MacLaine explains, that meant "Money is All".The audience is first introduced to the overly dressed MacLaine as a widow escorting the coffin of her most recent dead husband down her mansion steps, and in flashback, we learn of her humble upbringings, her marriage to a poor man who became wealthy, a struggling artist who became successful, a wealthy businessman who retired to the farm to get away from her "curse", and finally a poor dancer who becomes a big movie musical star. "On Our Little Houseboat Built For Two" has MacLaine dancing for the only time with Gene Kelly, and even if you can't stand this movie, you can't help but adore the cleverness of this number which comes out of nowhere.The other men in her life are Paul Newman (as the artist) and Robert Mitchum (as the retired businessman). This black comedy is of course, about death, and each of the men die hysterically in ways that must be seen to be believed. Obviously, this is not a film for all tastes, and some may be offended by it. MacLaine gets to wear the most outrageous of outfits throughout with hairstyles to match, giving way to her characters in later artistic flops like "Woman Times Seven" and "The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom", but also comparable to the deliciously tacky costumes and wigs for Rosalind Russell in "Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet, and I'm Feeling So Sad".This is a film which needs to be seen either on the big screen or in the DVD wide screen release. It is not meant to be seen at all in pan and scan as that looses most of the cinematic color of it and makes it a total blur. It is obvious that MacLaine and her many co-stars (which includes Robert Cummings as an amorous psychiatrist) had a ball in this. If you put aside your fear of "tacky", you too will have a great time as well.

This is Edith Head's masterwork. The clothes in this movie are nothing short of wonderful. It is one of The fashion movies, as are films like Cleopatra, Breakfast at Tiffany's and Blade Runner. I am one of a few people who watch movies for the clothes and the sets. I have loved this one since seeing it in its first run. Edith was her most original in this movie and its nice to see her get a Fox Budget to do her some of her best work. She always managed to make women more glamorous than they were in real life. Even if she wasn't the best of all Hollywood designers (Orry Kelly, Travis Banton, Irene Sharaff, and Adrian come to mind) she is the most famous. Her clothes were always flattering and wearable. Hollywood could sure use her now.