Arrivederci, Baby!

As a boy, he got from an orphanage to an extraordinary adoptive mother and lived from there on an happy life. But then his peace is desturbed by an elderly captain, who wants to Marty and live from the rich widows money too. This competitor has to leave the scene fast, he knows and so he did.

The boy becomes a man and is rich now, but keeps its habits of 'loosing' his wifes. Of course, he used to check the wealth before marriage!

I think that Zsa Zsa Gabor looked old even when she was a teenager. Next year, in 2017, she will be 100 years old and nobody can call her a spinster, having to her credit only...nine marriages. About her talent as an actress, let us not pronounce, never. It's good that she went into the orbit with that rocket, at least in this film... The fact is that she landed in 77 productions, including this. Tony Curtis is more seductive and charming than ever. Rosanna Schiaffino, the beauty from "Simón Bolívar"(1969) and "The Long Ships"(1964), is beautiful here too. The subject? Well, I was thinking myself to marry a very old and filthy rich woman, ideally an Englishwoman, the kind which does not know anything except to say: "You're rude!" This film is absolutely delicious. The scene when Zsa Zsa Gabor(Gigi) is nagging Tony Curtis (Nick Johnson) under the sea is enchanting, and the same is the one in which Fenella Fielding(also Fenella in the film)is jumping with the horse into the abyss. Excellent!

I know nothing of the history of this movie, but I suspected it started out with this pitch: "Let's do 'How to Murder Your Wife' but with Tony Curtis.'" While there was no actual murder in the aforementioned movie (made a year earlier), there are several in this one. Curtis has a fine time playing his dark side in the first half of the movie and mostly getting away with it. The last half of the movie goes nowhere, though, and Nancy Kwan really has nothing to do in the movie, even if she is on the video box cover nowadays. However, Zsa Zsa Gabor has her one perfect, if brief, role of her otherwise inexplicable career in the first part of the movie.

Tony Curtis is Nick Johnson, a man who's made his living marrying rich women. His first two wives conveniently ended up getting killed and now he's looking for rich wife number three. However, this Italian beauty might be a problem...she's been doing the same! Now, you aren't sure who is going to survive...if either of them! And, if this isn't enough....Nick has a jealous girlfriend (Nancy Kwan) who shows up the day of his third wedding!

Much of the story is told through flashback scenes...some of which work very well and some of which make you cringe because they are so cheesy and kooky. It seems the filmmakers didn't quite strike the proper balance between story and silly interludes...something which worked out perfectly in one of Curtis' other films of the era, "The Great Race" (1965). Now I am not saying that "Arrivederci, Baby" is a bad film....just that it had some serious flaws which prevented it from being a lot better. In its final form, it's modestly interesting but also occasionally annoying...and still worth seeing if you can handle these moments.

Its really hard to get through this film because the main character, played by Tony Curtis, is despicable -- he is a serial killer! However, this is a comedy and there are scenes in the film that are truly funny. In one of the funniest bits is Zsa Zsa Gabor playing his first wife. She didn't act in much, but this role was perfect for her and is hilarious to watch. Even better is a scene with Tony's character reflecting upon his youth and his adoptive aunt, played by Anna Quayle (a hugely under-appreciated comic actress who appeared in a good handful of films in the late 1960s). The scenes with Quayle are worth watching just by themselves, the rest of the film isn't...