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"WHAT A WAY TO GO" is the epitome of the lush mid 60's style comedies. Great cast. Shirley MacLaine as Louisa, is a simple girl who longs for the simple life. Although her mother, played by the great Marx Brothers straight woman Margaret Dumont, pushes her to get with the money, Louisa marries for love. Once a little prosperity has touched hubby # 1, he works himself to an early grave. Poor Louisa goes through 3 more husbands who also are devoured by their various forms of greed leading to their demise(s). Finally with husband # 5 , Dean Martin as Leonard Crawley, she has found the simple life...or has she ? As Louella Parsons would have put it : Shirley was never lovelier than in this picture ! Edith Head clothes, and hair by Guilaroff, MacLaine looks wonderful wallowing in her chicest mourning weeds...Best Segment : Hubby #3 Bob Mitchum ........

A 1960's slightly dark comedy with a whole host of massive names but there is only one star, that is Shirley MacLaine, who is one of the most under-rated actresses of any generation. The main idea of the film is Shirley MacLaine's character is only interested in finding love and hates wealth, and this being a comedy, you can imagine the rest. Well acted with good humour, this is a good comedy film, though not one of MacLaine's best.

In the 1960's, you could not argue with the star power of Shirley MacLaine. She was probably in at least twenty movies in that decade. This is a worthy showcase to her talent and hold ups well for the most part. The movie is very funny in parts and when its not out-and-out funny, you are still smiling. Its nice to see Paul Newman and Robert Mitchum in a light comedy, and Dean Martin and Dick Van Dyke were good also.

Margaret Dumont as Shirley's mother was very funny and I was sorry she was not in more scenes. All those years of sharing a screen with the Marx Brothers certainly rubbed off.

I would love to know which men were offered parts but did not appear in the movie - like, where is Jack Lemmon and Frank Sinatra and Peter Lawford?

Edith Head must have billed 20th Century Fox for a million hours of OT. She creates about six hundred costumes for Shirley and the guys. I think she got a nomination for this, but then again, in her case that's not saying anything special.

The premise is amusing - a woman who seeks the simple life, yet inadvertently ends up four times widowed and fabulously wealthy. There is also the charming conceit of each marriage being represented by a stylized mini film within a film. (Alas, these bits are often cut in network airings.) In the end, though, the whole thing devolves into little more than a lavish fashion parade of Edith Head's reported $500,000 worth of creations. And many a time everyone seems to be trying just a bit too hard to be amusing (except for the ever cool Robert Mitchum).

But if there is no real "there , there" cinematically, it doesn't much matter. Not every movie needs to be another "Citizen Kane". Just relax and have fun.

This is a great film. Some have said it epitomizes the 1960s glamour comedies but what it cleverly does is parody them, and other film genres, through its movie dream sequences and the ridiculous and gorgeous costumes Shirley wears. It has a great cast and everyone is in top tongue in cheek form. Dick Van Dyke plays his usual neo-Marx brothers physical comedy schtick (with Margaret DuMont, no less!) at the height of his powers. Paul Newman is great playing against type as a tortured artist, a perfect sendup of Kirk Douglas' portrayal of Van Gough in *Lust for Life* (he even wears the same beard). Mitchum is suave and cool as a kind of Cash McCall gone wrong, but far more slick then Jim Garner ever was. To top it off, Gene Kelley does an incredible spot on parody of himself in the Holywood story, with iconic images taken straight from his greatest triumph *Singing in the Rain,* turned on their head and twisted into a grotesque commentary on the evils of Hollywood as opposed to its dreams and glamour. The scene where he is trampled to death by his fans holds up a hilarious mirror to the similar scene in *Singing in the Rain* where he has his clothes torn off by them. This film elevated parody to a high art form before anybody had even heard the term "post modernism!" And those gowns she wears! The best one is the one which is just a string of pearls down Shirley's sexy back (she faces away from the camera for the shole scene because she is obviously topless). They must have cost a fortune! this is obviously a film with a very Lush Bugett!