“What a Way to Go!” is a black comedy starring Shirley MacLaine as a woman going through several marriages all with the same disturbing pattern: The hubby becomes successful then suddenly dies. MacLaine skillfully pulls this thing off under the expert direction of J. Lee Thompson (“Cape Fear” 1962). There are loads of laughs from the screenplay by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and the story by Gwen Davis.
What an outstanding supporting cast behind Shirley! The husbands were played by Dick Van Dyke, Robert Mitchum, Gene Kelly, Paul Newman, and Dean Martin. Bob Cummings plays her psychiatrist, and Margaret Dumont is in her final movie role playing MacLaine’s mother. Her first motion picture appearance was an uncredited bit part in “Enemies of Women,” a 1923 picture starring Lionel Barrymore. Another film veteran, Reginald Gardner, was also in the cast, his third to last movie. He started in pictures in 1927.
There were numerous uncredited parts filled by well-known actors and familiar faces in the dream sequences: Dick Wilson, Burt Mustin, Christopher Connelly, Marcel Hillaire, Barbara Bouchet, Peter Duchin, Tim Conway, Queenie Leonard, Teri Garr, Joel Grey, Army Archerd, and Pamelyn Ferdin.
Nelson Riddle handled the musical score for the watchable film “What a Way to Go!” popular at the box office for Apjac-Orchard Productions and 20th Century Fox. It was nominated for two Oscars: Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design (Edith Head and Moss Mabry).
What a Way to Go! (1964)
cinema
My Review
“What a Way to Go!” is a black comedy starring Shirley MacLaine as a woman going through several marriages all with the same disturbing pattern: The hubby becomes successful then suddenly dies. MacLaine skillfully pulls this thing off under the expert direction of J. Lee Thompson (“Cape Fear” 1962). There are loads of laughs from the screenplay by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and the story by Gwen Davis.
What an outstanding supporting cast behind Shirley! The husbands were played by Dick Van Dyke, Robert Mitchum, Gene Kelly, Paul Newman, and Dean Martin. Bob Cummings plays her psychiatrist, and Margaret Dumont is in her final movie role playing MacLaine’s mother. Her first motion picture appearance was an uncredited bit part in “Enemies of Women,” a 1923 picture starring Lionel Barrymore. Another film veteran, Reginald Gardner, was also in the cast, his third to last movie. He started in pictures in 1927.
There were numerous uncredited parts filled by well-known actors and familiar faces in the dream sequences: Dick Wilson, Burt Mustin, Christopher Connelly, Marcel Hillaire, Barbara Bouchet, Peter Duchin, Tim Conway, Queenie Leonard, Teri Garr, Joel Grey, Army Archerd, and Pamelyn Ferdin.
Nelson Riddle handled the musical score for the watchable film “What a Way to Go!” popular at the box office for Apjac-Orchard Productions and 20th Century Fox. It was nominated for two Oscars: Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design (Edith Head and Moss Mabry).