Good Neighbor Sam

"Good Neighbor Sam" is a 1964 film starring Jack Lemmon, Dorothy Provine, Romy Schneider, Edward G. Robinson, and Mike Connors.

Lemmon plays ad man Sam Bissell, married to the lovely Min (Provine). Min's best friend Janet (Schneider) comes to live in the area after her divorce, but she soon finds out she has a problem.

Her grandfather has left her his estate, but on meeting with the lawyer, she finds out that she's supposed to be in a good marriage to Howard (Connors), her ex-husband.

When her cousins, who want the $15 million she inherited, come to visit, Sam happens to be in her house, which is next door. Janet introduces him as her husband.

At work, Sam gets a big promotion when the product's president wants a wholesome individual with good values to head up his account. Between that and a detective in a truck spying on both houses, Sam and Janet have to continue to pretend they're married, to Min's aggravation. Then Howard appears.

Cute comedy that is overly long and a little frantic. The premise is simple but on the flimsy side and doesn't quite come off as intended - a Rock Hudson/Doris Day type comedy. It lacks the gloss and snap of the Hudson/Day films.

Nevertheless, the performances are good. Provine, with her good figure and quirky voice, is lovely as the sometimes frustrated Min, and Romy Schneider, a huge star in Europe, is beautiful and vivacious as Janet.

Sam is the type of role Lemmon could play with one hand tied behind his back. I don't imagine it was much of a challenge.

The good supporting cast includes Edward Andrews, Louis Nye, Robert Q. Lewis, Anne Seymour, and Charles Lane (who died in 2007 at the age of 102 and worked to the end).

Given the presence of "Mad Men," "Good Neighbor Sam" begs comparison between the way the advertising world is presented in both vehicles. Guess what - it's about the same! The Robinson character quotes the Bible and considers most of the people he deals with as cheating husbands with no moral values.

It was fun for me to see Provine, whom I interviewed, Nye, and Robert Q. Lewis (whom I saw on stage in The Odd Couple), none of whom I'd seen in a film for a while. Nice memories and a mildly entertaining film.

If you're looking for laughs served up by experts, "Good Neighbor Sam" is just the ticket. Misadventure ensues when the business world and mixed-up home life of a hapless chap collide.

Jack Lemmon was the best at this type of thing and plays it for all it's worth. There's an hysterical bit by Louis Nye and the fabulous Hi Lo's appear in a recurring gag. DeVol's music adds to the fun.

Mike Connors is wonderful. He more than holds his own in the comedy department with the fabulous Jack. Good looking and funny - could have been another Cary Grant if the right parts had come along. Two lovely gals, Dorothy Provine and Romy Scheider, provide charming support. Enjoy.

The film begins well with its depiction of 1960s suburbia, the introduction of the Bissell family (including the ducks), the amusing jibes at the advertising industry (including the inaccurate but hilarious depiction of the filming of a Hertz car rental commercial), provides some great performances from all the principals, and from a great supporting cast, such as Edward Andrews, R.Q. Jones, and Neil Hamilton. It has a smart, yet affectionate quality to it. But as the film chugs along, it seems to run out of steam, as the gags keep repeating themselves, and it begins to seem more like a less successful imitation of the popular Doris Day/Rock Hudson romantic comedies of the time, and one can begin to understand why Lemmon didn't put this one in the top drawer of his memories.

When Good Neighbor Sam was released in 1964 Jack Lemmon was being taken seriously as a dramatic actor as well as a light comic actor as witnessed by the rave reviews he got for The Apartment and Days of Wine and Roses. While Good Neighbor Sam doesn't stack up against those two films in Lemmon's career, it's still an amusing and pleasing romp.

Have you ever noticed how many films like Good Neighbor Sam start out with a mistaken impression? Through a lie told by Romy Schneider who is the good neighbor that Sam has, people in her life and in his get the impression that they are married. He's married to Dorothy Provine and she's married to Michael Connors. And both for their own reasons have to keep the deception up. All the situations the principal players get into stem from the original white lie.

It would be so much easier if everyone told the truth from the gitgo, but then we wouldn't have a movie.

Lots of familiar names pop up here in support. Edward Andrews as the unctuous boss of the advertising agency Lemmon works for, Louis Nye as the creative private detective who gets it wrong, and last but not definitely not least Edward G. Robinson as the puritanical dairy king.

Minor league Lemmon, but still fun. And as another reviewer says, that theme is unforgettable. You'll have it in your brain for days.

GOOD NEIGHBOR SAM was one of three films from the middle 1960s that Jack Lemmon detested. After making THE DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES and THE APARTMENT Lemmon felt he was finally being recognized as a fine dramatic actor, and suddenly he was in this film, UNDER THE YUM YUM TREE, and HOW TO MURDER YOUR WIFE. He felt that these were minor films, and always disliked making them.

In the case of UNDER THE YUM YUM TREE, one can sympathize with Lemmon's feelings. He never played a more detestable character in any of his films than in YUM YUM TREE where he was a total letch. But he was in top comic form, supported by good casts and good scripts in SAM and WIFE. They were not great movies, but both were entertaining.

The plot of GOOD NEIGHBOR SAM is an old one: a family friend is in a tight spot and needs to borrow the spouse of his/her closest friend to get out of it. Another example of this is GUEST WIFE, where Don Ameche borrows Dick Foran's wife (Claudette Colbert). There the complication is that Ameche's boss (Charles Dingle) believes Ameche's wife is an amazing, supporting woman in her "husband's" remarkable career as a correspondent in Asia. Here Romy Schneider borrows Dorothy Provine's husband (Lemmon) to pretend that she is happily together with her husband to claim a $15,000,000.00 estate. But her husband (Mike Connors) shows up, and to save the situation pretends he is Provine's husband. This leads to complications of mutual jealousies between Connors and Lemmon, as well as problems concerning a multi-million dollar ad campaign Lemmon is handling on behalf of dairy farm millionaire (and total prude) Edward G. Robinson.

The film has many nice spots in it, especially for Robert Q. Lewis, as a friend and fellow employee of Lemmon who is nearly driven nuts by watching the odd goings on between Lemmon - Provine - Schneider - Connors. Also the ultimate private detective, Louis Nye, who has some great (and for 1964 really advanced) devices for his business. My favorite bits are now a trifle dated - the running gag about the old Hertz Rent-A-Car ads ("Let Hertz Put You In The Driver Seat"). A wonderful chase, involving painting and billboards, raps the film up very nicely. Lemmon was wrong - not in the same category as SAVE THE TIGER, GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS, or THE APARTMENT, but a worthy, entertaining film.