How to Murder Your Wife

Director: Richard Quine Richard Quine

Overview

In this film, Jack Lemmon stars as a successful cartoonist who shares a lavish apartment with his misogynistic manservant. While attending a friend's bachelor party, Lemmon falls head over heels in love with a gorgeous bikini-clad girl. He impulsively marries her, but thinks better of it the next day.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/17/2015
UPC:	0887090091305
Original Release:	1965
Rating:	NR
Source:	Olive
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital]
Language:	English
Time:	1:58:00
Sales rank:	16,250

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jack Lemmon	Stanley Ford
Virna Lisi	Mrs. Ford
Terry-Thomas	Charles
Claire Trevor	Edna
Eddie Mayehoff	Harold Lampson
Sidney Blackmer	Judge Blackstone
Max Showalter	Tobey Rawlins
Jack Albertson	Dr. Bentley
Alan Hewitt	District Attorney
Mary Wickes	Harold's Secretary
Barry Kelley	Actor
William Bryant	Actor
Charles Bateman	Actor
Edward Faulkner	Actor
Lauren Gilbert	Actor
Howard Wendell	Actor
Khigh Dhiegh	Actor

Technical Credits

George Axelrod

Richard Quine	Director
George Axelrod	Screenwriter,Producer
Gordon Carroll	Producer
Geza Gaspar	Special Effects
Lucky Kargo	Stunts
Lyle Figland	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

If a viewer can look at How to Murder Your Wife as something from a time capsule, a piece that captures a certain societal attitude circa 1965, he or she will likely have an easier time enjoying it. The basic premise will still likely offend some, but if they can get past that and enjoy the skill that has gone into making Murder, they may start laughing in spite of themselves. In a way, it's too bad the filmmakers didn't go further, making a film that was really darkly comic and edgy in an over-the-top manner. But by making this a "tired businessman" comedy, they dilute the impact while elevating the potential to pointlessly offend. Still, George Axelrod's script has some pithy moments, and Richard Quine directs with precision, although both lose track of things toward the end, when Murder just gets to be a little too much. Fortunately, Jack Lemmon is on hand and is in top farceur mode, making zircon-level humor shine and glisten like diamonds, and providing enough personal charm to keep the entire enterprise aloft all by his lonesome. That he doesn't have to do so, thanks to an excellent supporting cast, is a bonus. Virna Lisi is a sexy delight, Terry-Thomas makes disapproval into a comic art form, and Eddie Mayehoff and Claire Trevor are a perfect duo. Add in Richard Sylbert's period bachelor accoutrements, Harry Stradling's glossy photography, and Neal Hefti's groovy score, and the result is a movie that manages to be enjoyable in spite of itself.