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Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
After my recent viewing of The Girl Can't Help it, I knew my next stop on the Jayne Mansfield movie express had to be Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, a sparkling 1957 satire on the advertising agency that is still deliciously entertaining thanks to a razor sharp screenplay and wonderful performances from the stars.
The comedy stars the late Tony Randall, in his second feature film appearance, as Rockwell P Hunter, an advertising copywriter who has an idea to save the company he works for from losing their biggest client, Stay Put Lipstick. Rockwell decides that if they can get glamorous movie star Rita Marlowe (Mansfield) to endorse their product, all their problems will be solved. Ms. Marlowe is having problems of her own, though. It seems her boyfriend, Bobo (Mickey Hargitay) has been cheating on her. Rockwell does get to pitch Ms. Marlowe, who agrees to endorse the lipstick if Rockwell pretends to be her new boyfriend. Hunter agrees to the charade, even if it turns his life upside down and alienates him from his longtime girlfriend, Jenny (Betsy Drake).
This comedy is blessed with a surprisingly intelligent and contemporary screenplay by the director Frank Tashlin that not only is an accurate peak at the business of show business in the 1950's but is one of the earliest films that never lets the viewer forget that they're watching a movie, tampering with the 4th wall, even during the opening credits, which I won't spoil by elaborating. Once we're assured that we are watching a movie, we think we're going to get a straight movie until about 35 minutes before the end of the movie, where we get another surprise that this reviewer didn't see coming at all before gliding to its smooth conclusion. I was also impressed with Tashlin's window dressing of the movie, which included movie posters and billboards of other movies where the titles of other Jayne Mansifleld movies were used instead of fictional movie titles
Admittedly, I was a little disappointed with The Girl Can't Help It, but I thought Jayne Mansfield gave a much more entertaining performance in this film. She gets stronger assistance from her director and the script, playing a role more suited to her talent that still allowed Ms Mansfield to take advantage of her obvious physical assets, and Rita Marlowe is about more than that. As entertaining as Mansfield is here, Tony Randall is the movie's real star, giving such a crackerjack performance of complex physical comedy and flawed human emotion that we can't help but love the guy and want everything he wants for himself. Can't believe this was only his second film.
Drake is a little one-note as Jenny, but Henry Jones and John Williams were a lot of fun as Rock's bosses, as was Joan Blondell as Rita's assistant. Mickey Hargitay, who played Bobo, was married to Mansfield at the time and they had a daughter, Mariska, who now plays Capt Olivia Benson on Law and Order SVU. It's been reputed that Benson's character has a picture if Mariska's mother on her desk, but I've never seen it. And if you look closely, you will notice a pretty secretary named Miss Carstairs in a pair of scenes in this movie, played by a young Barbara Eden. This was sparkling and delightful entertainment from opening to closing credits, and a big improvement over The Girl Can't Help It.
After my recent viewing of The Girl Can't Help it, I knew my next stop on the Jayne Mansfield movie express had to be Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, a sparkling 1957 satire on the advertising agency that is still deliciously entertaining thanks to a razor sharp screenplay and wonderful performances from the stars.
The comedy stars the late Tony Randall, in his second feature film appearance, as Rockwell P Hunter, an advertising copywriter who has an idea to save the company he works for from losing their biggest client, Stay Put Lipstick. Rockwell decides that if they can get glamorous movie star Rita Marlowe (Mansfield) to endorse their product, all their problems will be solved. Ms. Marlowe is having problems of her own, though. It seems her boyfriend, Bobo (Mickey Hargitay) has been cheating on her. Rockwell does get to pitch Ms. Marlowe, who agrees to endorse the lipstick if Rockwell pretends to be her new boyfriend. Hunter agrees to the charade, even if it turns his life upside down and alienates him from his longtime girlfriend, Jenny (Betsy Drake).
This comedy is blessed with a surprisingly intelligent and contemporary screenplay by the director Frank Tashlin that not only is an accurate peak at the business of show business in the 1950's but is one of the earliest films that never lets the viewer forget that they're watching a movie, tampering with the 4th wall, even during the opening credits, which I won't spoil by elaborating. Once we're assured that we are watching a movie, we think we're going to get a straight movie until about 35 minutes before the end of the movie, where we get another surprise that this reviewer didn't see coming at all before gliding to its smooth conclusion. I was also impressed with Tashlin's window dressing of the movie, which included movie posters and billboards of other movies where the titles of other Jayne Mansifleld movies were used instead of fictional movie titles
Admittedly, I was a little disappointed with The Girl Can't Help It, but I thought Jayne Mansfield gave a much more entertaining performance in this film. She gets stronger assistance from her director and the script, playing a role more suited to her talent that still allowed Ms Mansfield to take advantage of her obvious physical assets, and Rita Marlowe is about more than that. As entertaining as Mansfield is here, Tony Randall is the movie's real star, giving such a crackerjack performance of complex physical comedy and flawed human emotion that we can't help but love the guy and want everything he wants for himself. Can't believe this was only his second film.
Drake is a little one-note as Jenny, but Henry Jones and John Williams were a lot of fun as Rock's bosses, as was Joan Blondell as Rita's assistant. Mickey Hargitay, who played Bobo, was married to Mansfield at the time and they had a daughter, Mariska, who now plays Capt Olivia Benson on Law and Order SVU. It's been reputed that Benson's character has a picture if Mariska's mother on her desk, but I've never seen it. And if you look closely, you will notice a pretty secretary named Miss Carstairs in a pair of scenes in this movie, played by a young Barbara Eden. This was sparkling and delightful entertainment from opening to closing credits, and a big improvement over The Girl Can't Help It.