What a Way to Go!

Oh yes, absolutely. Just go to the movies to see a flick done with all the nerve in the world and for what? "To make a buck" I have an idiot sitting next to me, he is the pseudo intellectual who killed movies like this. I envy my parent's generation, as far as movie going habits are concerned. Doris Day comedies and Belle de Jour. Tell me who could be so unself conscious today to make "What a Way To Go" for what it is. The world has changed so much, women, us, that it would be impossible not to make it feel satirical,"Down with loveish" "What a Way to go" maybe satirical in its own way but it's not self conscious. If we cold only disconnect the micro chip implanted in our brains during the 70's we could have a wider spectrum of our lives without passing judgment, learning or re learning to enjoy. Shirley Mac Laine is priceless. Adorable. Superb. Paul Newman, lovely and very funny. Robert Mitchum plays it hysterically straight. The Gene Kelly episode has a life all of its own. Robert Cummings plays Robert Cummings beautifully as usual. Dean Martin plays himself and a softer version of himself, Dick Van Dike plays a sort of Rob Petrie who wants to simplify. Directed by J Lee Thompson, a Brit, with "Guns of Navarone" to his credit. He had signed a few odd gems like "Woman in a Dressing Gown", "Tiger Bay" and "Return from the Ashes". I thought I mention that. Listen to me, disconnect the micro chip, lay back and enjoy!

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.

"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 ........

This was a film which, like many in the old days, used to come on 'regular' commercial television as a weekend matinée. Now, of course, it is nowhere to be found on television and is just itching to be released on home video. In retrospect, it impresses even more as a dark comedy; how much darker can you get when the central character is a four-time widow? And what a cast: Dick Van Dyke at the height of his TV popularity; Paul Newman (one of the biggest movie stars of the 1960's); and veterans Robert Mitchum, Dean Martin, and Gene Kelly. And the fantasy vignettes!! Some viewers have commented that they don't like them, but I think they add to the insane atmosphere of the film: MacLaine's union with Newman viewed as a black-and-white, slightly X-rated, Italian film or her life with Kelly imagined as a Hollywood musical (a clever way, incidentally, to show off her own talent as a dancer- not to mention those long, magnificent legs). My favorite one (isn't it everyone's?) is the fantasy sequence with husband Robert Mitchum- which shows off a spectacular Edith Head fashion show. I don't know who is sitting on the rights to this film, but it would be a wonderful gift for the movie-loving public to see this released to the masses ASAP.

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.