How to Murder Your Wife
| How to Murder Your Wife | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Directed by | Richard Quine |
| Produced by |
George Axelrod Gordon Carroll (exec.) |
| Written by | George Axelrod |
| Starring |
Jack Lemmon Virna Lisi Terry-Thomas Claire Trevor |
| Music by | Neal Hefti |
| Cinematography | Harry Stradling |
| Edited by | David Wages |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
|
Release date
|
September 20, 1965 |
|
Running time
|
118 minutes |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English, Italian |
| Box office | $12,000,000 |
How to Murder Your Wife is a 1965 American battle-of-the-sexes satirical comedy film from United Artists, produced by George Axelrod, directed by Richard Quine, that stars Jack Lemmon, Virna Lisi, and Terry-Thomas. Director Quine also directed Lemmon in My Sister Eileen, It Happened to Jane, Operation Mad Ball, and Bell, Book and Candle.
The comic strip art featured in the film was credited to Mel Keefer, who drew newspapaer comic strips such as Perry Mason, Mac Divot, and Rick O'Shay. Comics artist Alex Toth did a teaser comic strip in Keefer's style that ran in the Hollywood Reporter and in several newspapers promoting the film for ten days prior to its theatrical opening.
Stanley Ford (Jack Lemmon) is a successful newspaper cartoonist enjoying the comforts of a well-to-do and happy bachelorhood in his urban New York City townhouse, including his loyal and attentive valet, Charles Firbank (Terry-Thomas). Stanley's comic strip, Bash Brannigan, is a secret-agent thriller characterized by a high level of realism: No matter how outrageous the plot, Stanley will not allow Brannigan to do anything physically impossible or use gadgets that don't exist. He hires actors and sets up elaborate enactments of storylines, playing Brannigan himself, while Charles takes photographs Stanley will use as visual references.
While attending a bachelor party for his friend Tobey Rawlins (Max Showalter), Stanley becomes very drunk and later marries a beautiful Italian woman (Verna Lisi), who earlier had stepped out of a large cake wearing a whipped cream bikini. An equally drunken judge (Sidney Blackmer) performed the impromptu wedding. The following morning, Stanley wakes up next to his naked wife. He asks his lawyer Harold Lampson (Eddie Mayehoff) to arrange a divorce, but Lampson says this is impossible without legal justification.
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Wikipedia