''For Pete's Sake'' is a 1974 American

screwball comedy Screwball comedy is a film subgenre of the romantic comedy genre that became popular during the Great Depression, beginning in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1950s, that satirizes the traditional love story. It has secondary charact ...

film starring

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand ( ; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, being the ...

and directed by

Peter Yates Peter James Yates (24 July 1929 – 9 January 2011) was an English film director and producer. He was known for making films in a wide variety of genres, including the Steve McQueen police thriller film '' Bullitt'' in 1968. He received nomin ...

. The screenplay by

Stanley Shapiro Stanley Shapiro (July 16, 1925 – July 21, 1990) was an American screenwriter and producer responsible for three of Doris Day's most successful films. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Shapiro earned his first screen credit for ''South Sea Woman'' ...

and Maurice Richlin chronicles the misadventures of a

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

housewife. In 1977, it was used as the basis for the Hindi film '' Aap Ki Khatir''.

Plot

Henrietta and Pete Robbins are a young couple in

struggling to get by on the income he earns as a cab driver. His pompous sister-in-law Helen delights in reminding them that an early marriage robbed him of a college education and how much better off she and her husband Fred are. When Pete gets an inside tip on

pork belly Pork belly or belly pork is a boneless, fatty Primal cut, cut of pork from the Abdomen, belly of a pig. Pork belly is particularly popular in American cuisine, American, British cuisine, British, Swedish cuisine, Swedish, Danish cuisine, Danish, ...

futures Futures may mean: Finance *Futures contract, a tradable financial derivatives contract *Futures exchange, a financial market where futures contracts are traded *''Modern Trader'', formerly Futures, an American finance magazine Music * ''Futures' ...

, Henrietta borrows $3,000 from a

Mafia "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...

loan shark A loan shark is a person who offers loans at Usury, extremely high or illegal interest rates, has strict terms of debt collection, collection, and generally operates criminal, outside the law, often using the threat of violence or other illegal, ...

to purchase the commodity. Unfortunately, its value doesn't increase as rapidly as she anticipated. When she's unable to pay her debt, her contract is sold to Mrs. Cherry, a grandmotherly-type who operates a prostitution ring. When Henrietta's initial attempts at entertaining clients prove to be less than successful, her contract is sold yet again...and again, as Henrietta fails to fulfill the requirements of each new individual to whom she becomes indebted — each time for more money — and tries to keep her new enterprises secret from her unsuspecting husband.

Principal cast

as Henrietta Robbins * Michael Sarrazin as Pete Robbins *

Estelle Parsons Estelle Parsons (born November 20, 1927) is an American actress. After studying law, Parsons became a singer before deciding to pursue a career in acting. She worked for the television program '' Today'' and made her stage debut in 1961. Durin ...

as Helen Robbins * William Redfield as Fred Robbins * Molly Picon as Mrs. Cherry * Louis Zorich as Nick Kasabian * Heywood Hale Broun as Judge Hiller * Ed Bakey as Angelo *

Peter Mamakos Peter Mamakos (December 14, 1918 – April 27, 2008) was an American film and television actor. Early life Mamakos was of Greek descent. Born in Somerville, Massachusetts, he attended Somerville High School where he was a member of the Natio ...

as Dominic *

Joseph Maher Joseph Sylvester Maher (29 December 1933 – 17 July 1998) was an Irish actor, playwright, and occasional theatre director. He was best known for his roles in the comedies of Joe Orton. He received three Tony Award nominations for his roles in ...

as Mr. Coates *

Anne Ramsey Anne Ramsey-Mobley (March 27, 1929 – August 11, 1988) was an American actress. She was best known for her film roles as Mama Fratelli in ''The Goonies'' (1985) and as Mrs. Lift in ''Throw Momma from the Train'' (1987), the latter of which earn ...

as Telephone Lady *

Vincent Schiavelli Vincent Andrew Schiavelli (; November 11, 1948 – December 26, 2005) was an American character actor noted for his work on stage, screen, and television. Described as an "instantly recognizable sad-faced actor", he was diagnosed with Marfan sy ...

as Check Out Man * Sidney Miller as Drunk Driver * Norman Marshall as First Worker *

Martin Erlichman Martin Lee "Marty" Erlichman (born 13 September 1929 in Brooklyn, New York, United States) is a manager in the entertainment industry who is best known for discovering Barbra Streisand and managing her career for over 60 years. Erlichman has pro ...

as Man In Theatre * Joe Pantoliano as Undercover Arresting Officer (Uncredited)

Production

The title tune "For Pete's Sake (Don't Let Him Down)," was written by Artie Butler and

Mark Lindsay Mark Lindsay (born March 9, 1942) is an American musician, best known as the lead singer of the rock band Paul Revere & the Raiders. Early life Lindsay was born in Eugene, Oregon, and was the second of eight children of George and Esther Ell ...

, and sung by Barbra Streisand. The movie was filmed on location in Brooklyn, New York, and Los Angeles. The suburban scene at Helen and Fred Robbins' house was filmed in Paramus, New Jersey.

Critical reception

In his review in ''The New York Times'',

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. ...

called the film "an often boisterously funny old-time

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical comedy, physical humor; the use of delibe ...

" and added "The movie may not hold together as any kind of larger comic statement, but the laughs are self-sustaining throughout...Miss Streisand's comedy range is narrow, like a cartoon character's, but ''For Pete's Sake'' operates almost entirely within that range. She's at her best in this kind of farce."''New York Times'' review
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References

External links

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{{Peter Yates 1974 films 1970s screwball comedy films American screwball comedy films Columbia Pictures films Films set in New York City Films directed by Peter Yates 1974 comedy films 1970s English-language films 1970s American films