ViewGuide

Created Nov 03, 2010 03:47PM PST • Edited Oct 08, 2022 07:53AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Great 4.0

   Effectively two movies: the first, a boozy romp a la Mad Men; the second, a melodramatic horror of alcoholic insanity, complete with straight-jackets and padded rooms. The first is more fun. Isn’t it always, before ugly drunkenness spoils the party.

   The bubbly opening reels are a San Francisco treat, showcasing The City in its early sixties sophistication, complete with shots down Market Street to the Ferry Building, of the Golden Gate Bridge and mid-century modern apartments overlooking the Bay.

   Jack Lemmon & Lee Remick’s Joe & Kirsten Clay could serve as the models for Mad Men’s Don & Betty Draper. Joe Clay, a PR man, operates in a similar milieu as Don Draper, though one that is even more vapid given the breezy intangibility of PR. Remick – a stunning blonde from the boondocks – trades on her looks and charm to marry an up-and-comer from the office. Then it all falls apart.

   In short, Mad Men from the Mad Men period.

   Fans of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce should consider it a must see. It’s also recommended for fans of the great Jack Lemmon and for those interested in San Francisco and the Bay Area. To that last, Kirsten Clay comes from the countryside of San Mateo, then rural, now edge city.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   Jack Lemmon played striving organization men as well as it’s ever been done, with Joe Clay – smooth talking PR man – one of his signature roles, his face by turns moviestar handsome, comically brilliant, and abjectly pitiable. He also demonstrates the essential skill of all great movie stars: the ability to act a scene using only his eyes. Nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for this role, he lost to Gregory Peck for To Kill a Mockingbird. Talk about competition.

   Lee Remick matches him in charisma, attractiveness and down & dirty acting. Going from ingenue to drunken shrew, she travels an even farther road to the bottom than he does. She too was nominated for an Oscar, losing to Anne Bancroft for The Miracle Worker.

   It’s also interesting to see a young and tidy Jack Klugman roughly a decade before he played disheveled Oscar Madison in the TV version of The Odd Couple.

5. Male Stars Really Great 4.5

6. Female Stars Really Great 4.5

7. Female Costars Good 3.0

8. Male Costars Great 4.0

10. Film

    Great 4.0

    Directed by the prolific Blake Edwards, one year after he directed Breakfast at Tiffany’s and one year prior to The Pink Panther.

11. Direction Great 4.0

12. Play Great 4.0

13. Music OK 2.5

    Henry Mancini & Johnny Mercer’s title song won an Oscar and was covered by Andy Williams, Perry Como and others. Doesn’t work for me however.

14. Visuals Perfect 5.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 2.0

    Barely risqué by today’s standards, yet the harrowing displays of alcoholic mania still have the power to shock.

17. Sex Titillating 1.7

18. Violence Fierce 1.8

19. Rudeness Salty 2.5

21. Reality

    Glib 1.2

    Oh, how times have changed. Not just our understanding of alcoholism and other addictions, but our abhorrence for casually throwing an empty bottle into the Bay or out a car window, as people routinely did half a century ago.

    For AA members, this must be one of the most important movies ever.

22. Circumstantial Glib 1.4

23. Biological Glib 1.3

24. Physical Natural 1.0