Une femme sur les bras

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...

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!

Tony Curtis is Nick Johnson, a man who uses his irresistible charm to use women to his personal, financial gain. He goes through a string of women whose untimely deaths give Johnson more wealth than he could earn on his own (at least with the same, minimal effort). He meets his match in wealthy, young, beautiful, fabulously gorgeous widow Francesca di Rienzi (Rosanna Schiaffino). The problem is he actually finds himself falling in love with her.

My 5/10 rating should indicate that I found Arrivederci, Baby! mildly amusing. I wasn't rolling in the floor laughing, but most of the movie is at least passable entertainment at its worst. The final act where Curtis and Schiaffino go toe-to-toe is the film's highlight. They're on equal footing. With most of the other women, Curtis has the upper-hand before they realize they're being had. It's not fair. I think my favorite bits might have been either the croquet match or dance floor fight scenes - really good stuff. Other than the creepy bits where Curtis tries to play a "boy", he's good. I didn't care for the instances where he breaks the fourth wall, but that's not his fault. Schiaffino is in fine form. What a woman! After I watched her in The Witch, I wrote, "I don't know where these Italian producers found these incredible women. It's not a stretch of the imagination to believe Schiaffino could force any man to fall for her." I could say exactly the same after watching this film.

I've already mentioned my problem with Curtis as a "boy", but I had other issues with his NIck Johnson. I get the feeling that Arrivederci, Baby! was meant to be a light-hearted romp. But there's a really dark undercurrent that I found troubling. Johnson isn't just a typical, loveable con-artist stealing money from rich women. He's also a murderer and a rapist. Not the characteristics you find in most rom-coms.

A couple of final points: 1. The European locations are to die for in this movie. And here, they're presented in all their 60s glory. What visions! 2. The supporting cast is especially strong. Lionel Jeffries, Zsa Zsa Gabor (yes, even Zsa Zsa), Nancy Kwan, and especially Anna Quayle add a lot of flavor and variety to the film.

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.

My goodness, this movie is silly! I sat through it because I was hoping to see Nancy Kwan given a decent role, and I thought the premise had a neat twist to it. But the script didn't really live up to the "what if" in the screenwriters' boardroom, and the ninety minutes it took to unfold the thin plot made me roll my eyes more than laugh. Still, if you're a Tony Curtis fan and want to see him in something lighthearted before he goes against type in The Boston Strangler, you can check it out.

Tony plays a womanizing con artist, go figure. I guess he never got past the typecast of Some Like It Hot, poor guy. In this movie, he and his faithful sidekick, Lionel Jeffries, scheme up ways to marry rich women and then kill them to inherit their fortunes. So while Tony has a steady girl, Nancy Kwan, he leaves her side on a moment's notice to pursue a rich widow, Rosanna Schiaffino, in Italy. Some of the gags are funny, like when Lionel creates a croquet explosive ball for Rosanna to hit, and he and Tony cower in fear when Rosanna starts tossing the ball around. But most of it is pretty silly and drags on a little too long. The beginning has some ridiculous flashback sequences that are very tongue-in-cheek, as an adult Tony pretends to be a child in an orphanage. These also go on too long, so watch with these warnings in mind.