La nuit des maris

Don Murray is good as a married man coaxed (by his wife!) into attending a bachelor party for a fellow bookkeeper. The wife (well played by Patricia Smith) seems to know the party will test Murray's nose-to-the-grindstone dedication to their marriage. It does -- and reveals a great deal about the other participants as well, especially the prospective bridegroom, who seems to get more emotional satisfaction from friend Murray than his bride-to-be. The ending is sentimental, but moving, too, if you give it a chance, and there's a truly brilliant small performance from Carolyn Jones, probably seven or eight of the most mesmerizing minutes ever filmed.

Delbert Mann directed another Paddy Chayefsky script(he wrote "Marty", which Mann directed) about five office workers and friends who celebrate the forthcoming marriage of one of them(played by Philip Abbott) Charlie Samson(played by Don Murray) is the thoughtful one of the group, whose wife(played by Patricia Smith) is expecting a baby, putting more stress on him. He will come to appreciate his family more after an eventful night, with angst-ridden Walter(played by E.G. Marshal) stable Kenneth(played by Larry Blyden) and the loud but lonely bachelor(played by Jack Warden). Carolyn Jones costars as a beautiful but lonely existentialist. Well-written and acted film about family life and self-determination has somehow been overlooked by time, since it has yet to be released on DVD for some reason; until then, VHS will have to do!

Paddy Chayefsky's screenplay is perceptive and even a bit daring for its time. This is an unusually sophisticated Hollywood picture from the 50s that contains some terrific acting. E.G. Marshall is very strong as the eldest of the men, but Oscar nominee Carolyn Jones is brilliant in a small, electrifying performance. She can't be in the film for more than 7 or 8 minutes but is completely memorable. She deserved to win the Oscar.

This is basically a story of five buddies who miss the freedom of their youth. We might have less legal and moral restrictions 65 years later but the story is still basically the same.

Good script, good performances and Carolyn Jones will leave you wanting much more. I don't get the complaints about the ending. I don't want to give any spoilers so I won't go into detail.

Please don't think I'm exaggerating when I call this movie a "must see." Other reviews have called this film depressing. I agree, but for entirely different reasons. The depressing part comes in realizing that there seems to be no room for the sort of superb writing and spot-on flawless performances in a mature drama such as we have offered to us by THE BACHELOR PARTY.

The reason for the scarcity of wonderful films like this owes to the movie's origin as a TV-play, at a time when the young medium was still showing outstanding pieces written by writers like the author of this screenplay, Paddy Chayefsky.

I once read an interview with King Vidor, discussing his amazing 1928 classic, THE CROWD. He said that there were people that he didn't care for in his life, but that he didn't have any actual "villains." His goal was to make a movie that, like life, was free from external fiends and instead was peopled with characters that had some internal obstacles over which they must prevail. That's the sort of thing that Chayefsky so brilliantly captured in THE BACHELOR PARTY. Each character had some missing or broken part with which they struggled. Some seem to triumph over their problems. Some might eventually. Some, well, let's simply say they have a long road ahead.

It was great to see E.G. Marshall and Jack Warden together again after seeing them in another movie from the same year (1957) - 12 ANGRY MEN. It was wonderful to see Philip Abbot as the nervous groom. Folks of a certain age will mostly recall him from dozens of guest-star appearances on popular TV shows. I didn't realize that Larry Blyden, who I mostly remember from classic game shows like "Match Game," "What's My Line?" "Password" and "To Tell the Truth" was also such an accomplished actor. The lead, Don Murray, isn't as highly regarded today and what a pity that is. I can't recall a Don Murray performance that I didn't like. Check out BUS STOP (1956), A HAT FULL OF RAIN (1957), HOODLUM PRIEST (1961), BABY THE RAIN MUST FALL (1964) and THE BORGIA STICK (1967) to get an idea of what this remarkable performer is capable of doing. And finally, in small roles, it was fun to see a pre-"Addams Family" Carolyn Jones in a part that bagged her a Best Supporting Actress nomination and Nancy Marchand as a friend or the main character's wife. Many of you know her as the mother from hell to Tony Soprano.