He Died How?

I’d forgotten how much I love the 1960’s comedies. We just watched What a Way to Go! (1964), one of those zany (yes, I actually used the word ‘zany’) movies with a whole batch of great star-power back in the day. Shirley MacLaine plays Louisa May Foster (got to love that name), small-town girl who tells the story in a series of flashbacks to psychiatrist Dr. Victor Stephanson (Bob Cummings – anyone remember him?), who’s doing the whole 1960’s-Freud-thing, complete with couch. No goatee or fake German accent, though.

Anyway, she’s talking to the Doc because everyone thinks she’s completely gone south as she wants to give away this humongous amount of money, I think it was 215 million. Now, that’s a lot of green stuff nowadays, but especially back then. So, she relates the stories of she came to this amount of money through the premature and extremely ironic, yet hysterical, demise of each of her four husbands.

The not-so-subtle message was that, if you follow a simple, Thoreau-like existence, you will live long and prosper (although not necessarily financially). If, however, you go the monetarily-successful route, you’d best be making out a will. As I hope Dick Van Dyke (Edgar – husband #1), Paul Newman (Larry -- #2), Gene Kelley (Pinky. Yes, Pinky. Not kidding. #3), and Robert Mitchum (Rod – #4) did, prior to their big chills.

So, what were they saying to us, the audience? This was 1964, the end of the Beat Era, but the next counterculture wave was just firing up. On the one hand, three of the husbands did what they wanted, purely, not worrying about money, career. In that sense, they seemed to poke fun lightheartedly at the Youth Rebellion, as it was once termed. But, then again, once they sold out and became uber-successful, driven, mega-millionaires, well, that didn’t work out well for them, either. Louisa did alright, though.

Directed by J. Lee Thompson, he directed films over a span of 39 years, ranging from comedies such as this one and 1965’s John Goldfarb, Please Come Home! (another farcical comedy) to The Guns of Navarone (1961) – a great WWII movie and The Evil That Men Do (1984), a Charles Bronson thriller.

It was fun to see that collection of old-schoolers together and young again, and just having a great time in a rambunctious 60’s fun-fest. Not necessarily one to own, but certainly deserving a watch or two. Check it out.

'til next time... Adios.