A Guide for the Married Man

Walter Matthau has great fun in his role of a husband experiencing the "seven-year itch" who tries to learn the ropes of philandering by a co-worker buddy and expert adulterer (Robert Morse). Aided and abetted by a host of guest stars in flashback who offer the "do's" and "don't's" of extramarital affairs, our novice soon learns that cheating is a serious and very technical business. One misstep or a brief lapse of judgment...and it can be curtains for Casanova.

Matthau manages to keep the potentially smarmy material light and engaging while Morse is wickedly humorous as the no-nonsense "big brother." Of the numerous cautionary "lessons" offered by the guest stars, Joey Bishop, Ann Morgan Guilbert, Terry-Thomas and Jayne Mansfield manage to grab the biggest yuks in their brief scenes.

The irony of it all is that the late Inger Stevens, who plays Matthau's wife, is a spectacularly beautiful dish who, in my mind, has it all over the bump-and-grind shennanigans of Sue Ane Langdon and/or tawdry allure of Elaine Devry. Why Matthau's character would even consider cheating on the best looking femme in the picture is beyond me.

Nevertheless, relax and enjoy these comedy pros at work, guided by the assured hand of dancer-turned-director Gene Kelly.

There are a lot of slams in the comments about how this film is not politically correct, or downright misogynistic. True enough, I suppose, but it isn't fair to apply today's standards to a film that is over forty years old. I was a child at that time, but a man's home really was his castle then, and yes that was definitely to the detriment of the women. But that is the way it was. So get over it. The film is a lot of fun if you don't wear the ideological blinders when you watch it. Walter Matthau is always fun to watch, and Inger Stevens was, of course, serious eye candy. There are a lot of other pretty girls in the film, and Robert Morse's character was a hoot, seeing him rationalize his lust into caring so much for his wife that he must protect HER from knowledge of his adultery. The cameo vignettes were mostly amusing as well. It is light comedy, so don't expect to roll on the floor, but I say, check it out.

This entertaining bit of froth stands up well, as Robert Morse, the neighborhood Lothario, attempts to instruct Walter Matthau in the How-To's of philandery (why he should be interested in philandery when he is married to the incredibly built Inger Stevens is an unexplained mystery). Of course the many delicious cameos by such as Phil Silvers, Sid Caesar, Jack Benny, Joey Bishop, et. al. keep the film bouncing merrily along. Well worth a see.

If you think four teenage guys trying to "score" before prom night is funny, wait'll you see the hilarious lengths married men go to philander successfully! A GUIDE FOR THE MARRIED MAN was the original raunchy sex comedy (without ever resorting to the vomit-inducing scatological humor of recent years), and even after 33 years it holds up fairly well. Walter Matthau plays a neurotic businessman who struggles to remain faithful to his wife while being tempted by his friend's seemingly foolproof program of sexual infidelity. Lots of one-liners and cartoonish humor, and Matthau gives us a character whom we can laugh at and identify with at the same time. One of the best sex comedies of all time, if only because the scene where Matthau is driven out onto the fire escape by a roomful of perky secretaries is ten times funnier than Jason Biggs jamming his nether regions into a baked good.

How to cheat your wife without the danger that she ever notices it? That's the big issue for the friends that are surrounding Walter Matthau who thought that loving his wife is the sole thing on earth that counts even if there are other parts of the body that says it differently. Well it's called a sexcomedy but mind you this is as friendly as cinema from the sixties can get but it works brilliant and not in the least because of Walter's great performance.