''What a Way to Go!'' is a 1964 American
black comedy
Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...
film directed by
J. Lee Thompson and starring
Shirley MacLaine,
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and activist. He was the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Paul Newman, numerous awards ...
,
Robert Mitchum,
Dean Martin
Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor, and comedian. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Cool", he is regarded as one of the most popular entertainers of ...
,
Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American dancer, actor, singer, director and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style and sought to create a new form of American dance accessibl ...
,
Bob Cummings and
Dick Van Dyke
Richard Wayne Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925) is an American actor, entertainer and comedian. Dick Van Dyke on screen and stage, His work spans screen and stage, and List of awards and nominations received by Dick Van Dyke, his awards includ ...
.
In the film, a wealthy widow wants to donate most of her fortune to the
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...
. She narrates her life story to her
psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...
. Each of her past husbands found wealth and success, but met with tragic deaths. She thinks she is cursed, and she would instead prefer a "simple life" inspired by the writings of
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau; July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon sim ...
.
Plot
In a dream-like
pre-credit sequence, Louisa, a black-clad widow, descends a pink staircase inside a pink mansion. She is followed by
pallbearers carrying a pink coffin. The pallbearers slip and drop the coffin, which slides down the stairs, leading into the opening titles.
Louisa wants to give her $211 million to the U.S. government
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...
, who believes it is an
April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day or April Fool's Day (rarely called All Fools' Day) is an annual custom on the 1st of April consisting of practical jokes, hoaxes, and pranks. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fool " at the recipient. ...
joke. Sobbing to her unstable psychiatrist, Dr. Stephanson, Louisa tries to explain why she wants to give away her money, leading to a series of flashbacks, interspersed with fantasy sequences.
Louisa describes her childhood as a young, idealistic girl. Her money-grubbing mother pushed Louisa to marry rich local business owner Leonard Crawley. Louisa instead marries Edgar Hopper, a poor shop owner who, inspired by
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau; July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon sim ...
, prefers a simple life. They are happily poor until the jilted Leonard arrives and ridicules their rustic lifestyle, humiliating Edgar and motivating him to achieve success. Edgar transforms his small store into a tremendous empire, neglecting Louisa, ruining Crawley, and eventually overworking himself to an early death.
A grieving Louisa travels to Paris where she meets Larry Flint, an impoverished avant-garde artist. They fall in love, marry, and live a picturesque
bohemian lifestyle. Larry invents a crane-like machine that converts eclectic sounds into paint strokes on canvas. One day, Louisa plays classical music that produces a beautiful painting, resulting in Larry's first major art sale. Larry builds larger cranes and sells many more paintings, making him a successful artist. One night, two petulant cranes turn on their creator and beat him to death.
Louisa, richer and more depressed, prepares to return to the US. When she misses her flight, famed business tycoon Rod Anderson Jr. offers her a lift on his private jet. She initially finds him cold and calculating, but sees his softer side during the flight. They marry shortly after and live luxuriously. Fearful of losing him like her first two husbands, Louisa convinces Rod to retire to a small farm similar to his boyhood home. After sharing a jug with a few locals, an inebriated Rod mistakenly attempts to milk a bull, which kicks him through the barn wall, leaving Louisa widowed once again.
Now fantastically wealthy, Louisa wanders the country. In a small-town café, she meets Pinky Benson who, for over a decade, has performed nightly dressed as a clown. Management loves Pinky's corny musical act because it never distracts the customers from eating and drinking. The two fall in love and idyllically live aboard Pinky's run-down houseboat on the
Hudson River
The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...
. On Pinky's birthday, Louisa suggests he perform without his usual time-consuming clown make-up and costume so they will not be late for his party after the show.
Without his clown getup, the customers notice that Pinky sings and dances beautifully. Virtually overnight, Pinky is a famous Hollywood star. He neglects Louisa and becomes so arrogant and self-centered that he has the entire mansion painted pink so fans will know it is his. At his film premiere, despite being warned, Pinky insists on greeting his excited fans. They become frenzied and trample Pinky to death.
After hearing Louisa's story, Dr. Stephanson proposes marriage, claiming to be the simple man she wants. She declines, which she declares is progress in her recovery. Stephanson accidentally presses the switch that raises the movable psychiatric couch about ten feet. Sitting on the edge, he falls off and is knocked unconscious, leaving Louisa stranded on top. The janitor enters and helps Louisa down. She is shocked it is Leonard Crawley, who lost everything after Edgar Hopper ruined his business. Leonard claims he is happy and credits Louisa and Thoreau for making his life "successful" because it is simple.
Leonard and Louisa marry and enjoy a bucolic life on a farm with their four children. The story ends when Leonard, plowing a field, is distracted while reading Thoreau and apparently strikes oil after the tractor tire grinds into the ground. Louisa is distraught, believing her curse has struck again until oil company representatives arrive and say that Leonard punctured their pipeline. Leonard and Louisa rejoice, as they are still dirt-poor, but happy.
Cast
*
Shirley MacLaine as Louisa May Foster
*
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and activist. He was the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Paul Newman, numerous awards ...
as Larry Flint
*
Robert Mitchum as Rod Anderson Jr.
*
Dean Martin
Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor, and comedian. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Cool", he is regarded as one of the most popular entertainers of ...
as Leonard Crawley
*
Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American dancer, actor, singer, director and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style and sought to create a new form of American dance accessibl ...
as Pinky Benson
*
Bob Cummings as Dr. Victor Stephanson
*
Dick Van Dyke
Richard Wayne Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925) is an American actor, entertainer and comedian. Dick Van Dyke on screen and stage, His work spans screen and stage, and List of awards and nominations received by Dick Van Dyke, his awards includ ...
as Edgar Hopper
*
Reginald Gardiner as mad painter brushing everything in Pinky's palace pink, including rabbits and Louisa
*
Margaret Dumont as Mrs. Foster, Louisa's overbearing mother
*
Lou Nova as Trentino, owner of the café where Louisa discovered Pinky Benson
*
Fifi D'Orsay as Baroness who praises Larry Flint's paintings
*
Maurice Marsac as René, Larry Flint's fellow Parisian painter and friend
*
Wally Vernon as Hollywood agent visiting at Pinky's swimming pool
* Jane Wald as Polly, Larry Flint's fellow Parisian artist and friend who shoots paint from a shotgun
* Lenny Kent as Hollywood lawyer who explains Pinky Benson's will to Louisa
Uncredited (in order of appearance)
Dean Martin–Dick Van Dyke sequence/silent film spoof
*
Dick Wilson as Driscoll, Crawley's store manager
*
Marjorie Bennett as Mrs. Freeman, customer at Hopper's store
*
Christopher Connelly as Ned, Hopper's store clerk
*
Burt Mustin as lawyer reading Edgar Hopper's will to Louisa and her mother
Paul Newman sequence/foreign art film spoof
*
Barbara Walden as one of Larry's next door neighbors.
*
Marcel Hillaire as French lawyer reading Larry Flint's will to Louisa and René
Robert Mitchum sequence/Lush Budgett spoof
*
Barbara Bouchet as bikini-clad girl on Rod Anderson's plane whom he asks, "What are you doing after the orgy?"
*
Anthony Eustrel as Willard, Rod Anderson's valet on the flight to New York
*
Peter Duchin as Peter, the pianist at the lavish cocktail party
*
Tom Conway as Lord Kensington, who meets Louisa and Rod Anderson at a lavish cocktail party
*
Queenie Leonard as Lady Kensington who, alongside her husband, meets Louisa and Rod
*
Milton Frome as lawyer reading Rod Anderson's will to Louisa
Gene Kelly sequence/musical spoof
*
Fred Aldrich as Herbert, patron who enters the café where Louisa just met Pinky Benson
*
Arlene Harris as grey-haired café patron during Pinky's act, from whose table Pinky grabs salt
*
Teri Garr as dancer in the Louisa/Pinky shipboard musical number
*
Joel Grey as café patron enjoying Pinky's act
*
Phil Arnold as Hollywood press and publicity agent visiting at Pinky's swimming pool
*
Army Archerd
Armand Andre Archerd (January 13, 1922 – September 8, 2009) was an American columnist for '' Variety'' for over fifty years before retiring his "Just for Variety" column in September 2005. In November 2005, Archerd began blogging for ''Variety' ...
as TV announcer at premiere of Pinky's 5-hour film ''Flaming Lips''
Dean Martin sequence/end scene
*
Pamelyn Ferdin as Geraldine, 4-year-old daughter of Louisa and Leonard Crawley
Production
Development
Publicist Arthur Jacobs wanted to move into film production. One of his clients was
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe ( ; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 August 4, 1962) was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic "Blonde stereotype#Blonde bombshell, blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex ...
who said she would appear in a movie Jacobs produced if she liked the story. He found ''I Love Louisa'' based on a story by Gwen Davis about a woman with six husbands.
In June 1962,
Darryl F. Zanuck reportedly told Marilyn Monroe that she would make two films for 20th Century-Fox (which he was in the process of taking over again): a re-vived ''Something's Got to Give'' and ''What a Way to Go'' (the alternate title for ''I Love Louisa''). Monroe's fee would be a million dollars for both films. In July, Monroe reportedly approved J. Lee Thompson as director after watching ''Tiger Bay'' and ''Northwest Frontier'' and she was going to meet Gene Kelly to discuss his being her co-star.
Monroe died in August 1962.
In September 1962, Jacobs said that J. Lee Thompson, who was another client of his, would direct the film following ''The Mound Builders'' (which became ''Kings of the Sun''). Jacobs wanted one of the "top three" stars in the world to play the lead, and "important names" to play the six husbands. No distributor had been signed. Later that month Thompson said he would make ''I Love Louisa'' with
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was an English and American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 19 ...
.
In October the Los Angeles Times reported that the Mirisch Company, who had a long-term deal with Thompson, would finance. That month Betty Comden and Adolph Green signed to write the script.
In December Thompson said Comden and Green wanted to call the movie ''What a Way to Go'' and that he hoped
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...
and
Marcello Mastroianni to play husbands.
In January 1963, Thompson said he was confident about Frank Sinatra,
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cinema actors of the 20th century,''Movies in American History: An Encyclopedia'' and
David Niven playing husbands. In April 1963 Hedda Hopper reported that Steve McQueen would star in the film opposite Shirley MacLaine.
MacLaine was formally signed in July 1963. Also that month Jacobs announced he had signed a deal with 20th Century-Fox for the latter to finance and distribute. The production companies would be Jacob's Apjac and Thompson's Malibu Productions. The stars would be MacLaine, Dean Martin, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum, Dick Van Dyke and Gene Kelly. Filming would start 8 August. Jacobs called the project "a sad comedy – a farout picture that has both loudness and pathos."
According to Mitchum, Frank Sinatra had wanted $500,000 for two weeks worth of work, so they offered the role to Mitchum instead. He agreed to do it because he liked working with MacLaine and Thompson (who had directed him in ''Cape Fear'').
MacLaine said, "There is – I hope – pathos, anyway that's what I'm trying to do. It's funny for a girl to go through five husbands, getting wealthier with the death of each one – but it's sad, too, because she didn't want them to die and she hates money."
Gene Kelly originally had the rights to the story, intending to direct it, but relinquished it to Jacobs. Kelly agreed to appear in a single sequence. He choreographed the dance as well, calling it "a kind of gentle spoof of old movie musicals, though not as much of a parody, really, as ''
Sing Along with Mitch''."
Robert Mitchum's role was originally meant for
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...
, but Sinatra suddenly wanted several times more money than what the other male leads received, and the studio refused his demands.
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, 12th-greatest male ...
was sought, but he was unavailable. The previous year, MacLaine had co-starred with Mitchum in ''
Two for the Seesaw'', and she recommended him to director J. Lee Thompson who passed the endorsement on to the studio.
Cummings signed in September 1963.
The budget was a reported $5 million.
Shooting
Except for one scene at Los Angeles Airport, the entire film was shot on the Fox backlot on 73 sets. Because of the limited availability of the stars, the movie was shot over 45 days, which was considered short for a movie of this scale.
The swimming pool set in the Pinky Benson sequences is the same set (with some minor redressing) used for ''
Something's Got to Give''.
MacLaine was quoted as saying that she was happy to work with "
Edith Head
Edith Claire Head (née Posener, October 28, 1897 – October 24, 1981) was an American film costume designer who won a record eight Academy Awards for Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Best Costume Design between 1949 and 1973, making he ...
with a $500,000 budget, 72 hairstyles to match the gowns, and a $3.5-million gem collection loaned by
Harry Winston of New York. Pretty good perks, I'd say."
Reception
Box office performance
''What a Way to Go!'' premiered on May 12, 1964, and grossed $11,180,531 at the U.S. box office,
earning $6.10 million in the United States.
According to Fox records, the film needed to earn $8.5 million in film rentals to break even and made $9.09 million, meaning it made a profit.
Film critics
Contemporary reviews were mixed, ranging from raves to pans. James Powers of the
Hollywood Reporter called the film "hard to define, but easy to recommend...a dazzler". ''
Variety'' labelled it a "big, gaudy, gimmicky comedy which continually promises more than it delivers by way of wit and/or bellylaffs."
John Simon of ''
The New Leader'', who was noted for his frequently scathingly uncomplimentary reviews, wrote "The mildest thing that can be said about this film is that it is an abomination". ''
FilmInk'' said Cummings was "great fun".
Awards
''What a Way to Go!'' was nominated for two
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...
for
Best Art Direction (
Jack Martin Smith,
Ted Haworth,
Walter M. Scott,
Stuart A. Reiss) and
Best Costume Design by
Edith Head
Edith Claire Head (née Posener, October 28, 1897 – October 24, 1981) was an American film costume designer who won a record eight Academy Awards for Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Best Costume Design between 1949 and 1973, making he ...
and
Moss Mabry,
a
BAFTA
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...
Best Foreign Actress Award for
Shirley MacLaine, and an
American Cinema Editors
Founded in 1950, American Cinema Editors (ACE) is an honorary society of film editing, film editors who are voted in based on the qualities of professional achievements, their education of others, and their dedication to editing. Members use the ...
Eddie Award for Best Editor for
Marjorie Fowler. It won a
Locarno Film Festival Award for
Best Actor for Gene Kelly.
References
Works cited
*
External links
*
*
*
*
''What a Way to Go!''at ''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media
In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...
'' (heavily cut and revised version of 1987 write-up originally published in ''
The Motion Picture Guide'')
Complete dialogue
{{DEFAULTSORT:What A Way To Go!
1964 films
1964 black comedy films
1964 romantic comedy films
1960s satirical films
20th Century Fox films
CinemaScope films
American black comedy films
American romantic comedy films
American satirical films
1960s English-language films
Films about widowhood in the United States
Films directed by J. Lee Thompson
Films scored by Nelson Riddle
Films set in New York City
Films set in Paris
Films set in Washington, D.C.
Films shot in Los Angeles
Films with screenplays by Betty Comden and Adolph Green
1960s French-language films
1960s multilingual films
American multilingual films
1960s American films
English-language black comedy films
English-language romantic comedy films
French-language American films