User reviews

"Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" stars Tony Randall, Jayne Mansfield, Joan Blondell, Henry Jones, Betsy Drake, John Williams, and Mickey Hargitay in a dated but fun story that spoofs the advertising world and the movies' arch enemy, television. In fact, Tony Randall breaks the fourth wall for a "commercial" during one part of the film, extolling the virtues of that "big, 21-inch screen" as the little screen's picture has problems with its vertical.

The story concerns an ad exec trying to get a movie star to endorse a lipstick - in return, she wants him to pose as her new boyfriend.

The performances are uniformly wonderful - Randall is hilarious as a man trying to hold onto his job, and then onto his girlfriend. Joan Blondell is fabulous as Jayne Mansfield's assistant. She can't get over her milkman boyfriend, stating that loses it whenever she sees Half & Half.

But the movie belongs to Jayne Mansfield and her tongue in cheek sex bomb image - she's so blonde, so zaftig, so breathless, and so darn funny with her squeals of delight and outrageous wardrobe. When you look beyond all Jayne's muchness, you see a beautiful, smart woman who found a great niche for herself. It's a pity that the last part of her life was so sad. What a delightful, refreshing performer she was. This film and "The Girl Can't Help It" are for me her best, though she made several other films that showcased her comedic ability.

Very good movie, highly entertaining.

This piece of satire from 1957 was probably considered edgy and sharp back then, but it really didn't age too well, and there isn't much else about it to make it stand on its own legs as a classic. The witty send-ups of television, the advertising industry and celebrity culture seems tame and mellow now that real celebrity culture is so much more extreme than anybody in the 50's might have guessed, and reality had surpassed any possible satire. The film is still watchable, even entertaining - the script is solid and smart and has more double entendres than most writers back then and which probably should have never received the Hays code's approval. Joan Blondell is hilarious and steals the show whenever she's on screen, and obviously Jayne Mansfield is a screen presence to be reckoned with, and she nails her role here and is a real pleasure to watch. Tony Randall spoils it a little - he's just good enough to be passable as a dull straight man, but he's far more wooden and dull than the role calls for, and he did better before and after, most notably in TV's The Odd Couple. Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? is worth keeping if only because Jayne Mansfield films are so precious few, and it still has the slightly campy fun of a 50's comedy, but it isn't a classic worth lingering on.

Actually, this film is a lot of fun - 50's style. But the best performance in the movie is the one by Joan Blondell as Mansfield's assistant. She has a monologue about a milkman that will leave you in tears of laughter. Don't ever forget Blondell. Mansfield is quite funny, too! She takes her fan club very seriously and that makes it all the funnier. And that poodle!!

All the references to Fox movies of the day are there, plus all the digs at TV. They even add a commercial - making it very small and in black and white, fuzzy and full of snow - something the kids these days have never heard of.

Tony Randall is a scream and the perfect icon of the 50's. What a pity no one ever did an in- depth biography of him - - the stories he could surely tell!!

The movie is a lot of fun, especially if you remember the 50's. Hey! It really was like this, kids!

Occasionally biting, sometimes off the mark with cornball sight gags, but solid for the most part. You can see Tashlin's cartoon background with some of the visual gags and sound/sight cues, but there's just a distance here that doesn't really work. Randall has no chemistry with his best girl and it's hard to buy that angle, but for a spoof movie, you can overlook stuff like that. Overall it's pretty funny, dated in parts for sure, but still watchable.

This is a nice, snappy comedy that hits the G-Spot. This film is built on two mighty foundations; both of them belonging to Jayne Mansfield. Please forgive my tasteless allusions to the major building blocks of Jayne's talent, but she was also pretty funny in this film as well. One must always keep abreast of the latest techniques used by Madison Avenue. As Tony Randall finds out, opportunity is a very rare knocker. Some films are blockbusters, and some are boulders; your will have to decide which is which here. Jayne poses as the titular head of a partnership with Tony, in order to get her boyfriend jealous. A few scenes are in bars, but there were no Hooters at the time. My chest is heaving from overexertion of allusion material, so I will now hit the rack. Enjoy the show.

A lightweight comedy famous as Mansfield's next big film after 'The Girl Can't Help It'. This was again produced by Frank Tashlin and satirises Jayne's public persona: a busty star of little apparent talent who will do anything for publicity.

Here Jayne plays Rita Marlowe who teams with advertising exec Rock Hunter (Tony Randall) for mutual gain. The film seems wordy at times. It mixes send-ups of the Hollywood publicity machine, the climb up the corporate ladder, and the introduction of television though the anti-TV jokes seem dated.

But anyone watching will be watching for Jayne and she's great. All her too-brief scenes are funny and she plays well with Joan Blondell, who is excellent as Rita's wise companion-assistant. Other enjoyable performers in the cast are John Williams of Hitchcock's 'To Catch a Thief' and 'Dial 'M' For Murder', and Henry Jones, the supercilious coroner in 'Vertigo'.

A fantastic satire of the modern world of business. Tony Randall stars as Rockwell Hunter, a writer for television advertisements. He's not really making it at his job, and is about to go under. By a couple of coincidences, he finds out where Hollywood starlette, Rita Marlowe (Jayne Mansfield), is hiding out in New York and thinks he can convince her to endorse a certain kind of lipstick. When Hunter arrives at Marlowe's apartment, she uses him to make her boyfriend, the star of a television Tarzan show, jealous. The boyfriend reveals Marlowe's secret love affair to the tabloids, and, in an instant, Rock has been reborn as "Loverboy" (no, not the '70s rock group), and the girls go wild over him. He's famous, and thus begins his meteoric rise to his company's presidency. But the further up he goes, the more he realizes that this was never what he wanted, despite what he once thought. The moral of the story is a bit pedestrian, but it's one that ought to be reinforced at times. It's also delivered in quite an original way. The film is full of the kind of innovations that the undervalued Frank Tashlin was so good at. Particularly memorable is the mid-movie dig at television. Television is a constant target in the film - it was presumably making the lives of many in Hollywood a bit miserable. At the halfway point of Rock Hunter, Tony Randall pops out from behind a curtain to address those in the audience who are more the type to watch television than go to the movies. "I wanted to interrupt the film you are watching so the T.V. people can feel at home."

The acting in the film is universally superb. I would never have imagined that Tony Randall could carry a movie, especially playing an everyman (I always think of him as a prissy, refined gentleman), but he does a great job. I saw Frank Tashlin's The Girl Can't Help It just last week. It also stars Jayne Mansfield, and I thought she was pretty bad. They tried to make her too sweet in that film. Here, she's more wicked, and thus a hundred times sexier. Mansfield is hilarious at times, especially with that little high-pitched squeal she does. It should get old, but it's very cute and always funny. When I was exiting the theater, there were a handful of women trying to duplicate the sound, unsuccessfully. The supporting cast is also wonderful, especially Henry Jones as Hunter's immediate boss.

The film does have a couple of problems. The script seems to forget about characters every once in a while. Although she seems important in the beginning, Rock's niece, April, basically drops off for most of the film. Likewise his fiancée (the one before Rita Marlowe appears, that is), Jenny. She comes back near the end, but her role is minimized quite a bit in the middle. Even Mansfield drops out near the end. The subplot which strictly involves her is resolved rather poorly, with a cameo appearance that should have carried more weight and really should have been funnier. All in all, though, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? is a great success. 9/10.

Frothy, fun comedy with some smart jabs at advertising and fan worship. Tony Randall is a hoot as the suddenly fish out of water main character and Jayne Mansfield, repeating her stage triumph, is a knockout and proves an adapt comedienne. She's no Marilyn Monroe but had she had more roles like this her career at the top might not have been so short.

While Tony and Jayne do most of the heavy lifting script wise the main supporting cast adds a great deal to the picture. Joan Blondell scores strongly as Jayne's right hand woman. An actress of wonderful subtlety she makes what could have been a nothing role both humorous and touching at times. Henry Jones and John Williams both add sly portrayals of two different kinds of successful men, one who wants to climb higher and the other who never wanted to be there in the first place. The weakest link is Betsy Drake as Rock's true love, the part doesn't offer much but unlike Blondell she doesn't have the distinction to make more of it than what's on the page. She doesn't mar the film she's just sort of there and when she's off screen you forget about her.

The picture has that high gloss studio sheen and gorgeous saturated color that was a signature of the A pictures of that time. A winner and a great showcase for its stars.

Rockwell P. Hunter (Tony Randall) is a lowly advertising writer at the La Salle agency. His teenage niece April lives with him. He needs money to marry his secretary Jenny Wells. When the agency is in danger of losing its biggest account, Rockwell suggests pairing up the lipstick company with movie star Rita Marlowe (Jayne Mansfield). This leads to misunderstandings and lots of screwball comedy potential. Rockwell becomes Rita's lover doll.

It's almost funny. It takes almost thirty minutes before Randall and Mansfield meet up. Mansfield is basically a discount Monroe. She's trying hard to be dumber without being that funny. She's a better pinup than an actress. It's a satire taking a few jabs at the advertising world and the celebrity world. It's very 50's. I understand the comedy but I rarely laughed.

Director Frank Tashlin stretches his anything-for-a-laugh method of comic film-making to the breaking point with this very weak advertising send-up (with equally dull romantic-confusion underpinnings). Tony Randall seems the wrong actor for the part of struggling ad-rep Rockwell Hunter, who gets a buxom beauty queen to shill for a new lipstick--but at a price. It's supposed to be a riot, but Tashlin, who also adapted the script from George Axelrod's play, can't seem to bring the material (both farcical and cynical) to a cohesive whole. It's full of prankish jokes and questionable taste, but the episodic results are loud and forced instead of funny. There's a satirical, promising opening sequence (brightly prodding the TV commercials of the era), but the movie steadily loses steam from there. *1/2 from ****

Advertising man makes publicity deal with voluptuous Hollywood star.

Hilarious spoof of the mammary-worshipping 1950's. The innuendos fly fast and furious so keep an ear cocked. Sure, viewers see much racier material now on TV. Still, the dialog's clever, the visuals inventive, and the cast superb. Director Tashlin's satiric eye is penetrating and years ahead, as the 1960's-like ending suggests.

That spoof of TV advertising is especially funny and still timely. Keep in mind that the TV medium was still new and so was making fun of its life-blood commercials. I love it when the jalopy crumbles under the salesman's boastful pitch. Corporations were also growing, laying out a new yardstick for success. So, Hunter's ecstatic delight with a symbolic key-to-the-washroom is not far off. And, of course, there's Rita's (Mansfield) low-hanging sex appeal, doubly emblematic of the time.

But Mansfield's also an adept comedienne. Catch how well she spoofs her own role. And were there two more droll characters than Randall and the underrated Henry Jones. Their little tete-a-tete's fairly ooze with actors' delight. Good also to see that great brassy dame Joan Blondell pick up a payday. (Catch the rather humorous shot of her coming rump-first out of the sleeping berth, which seems Tashlin's style, even with minor details.) Looks like someone also threw her the big dramatic grieving scene, maybe out of respect for her veteran status.

Anyway, the movie's a delightful glimpse of that strait-jacketed decade's more vulnerable absurdities, and in Technicolor's brightest candy box colors. Arguably, it's Tashlin's best.

Fairly good romantic comedy but not overly funny. I don't know who I find more irritating: Marilyn Monroe with her asthmatic, wheezing, odious little breathy whisper or Jayne Mansfield's obnoxious, whistling, squealing exhalations. Can't imagine why either of these 2 painted, peroxided doxies ever made it in the pics either; not a gram of talent between them. Randall and Jones made this one and were in good form, I merely consider the film somewhat dated.

Ad man Tony Randall manages to get a big sex symbol Rita Marlowe (Jayne Mansfield) to push a lipstick...but things get out of hand. She pretends he's her boyfriend and a great lover and his life is tuned upside down.

A satire on the TV ad industry. It starts off well with an uproarious bunch of parodies of TV ads and continues strong for about half an hour. Then the jokes and story get repetitious (and boring). The same targets are attacked again and again. Also the satire itself is extremely dated constantly referencing then topical topics and characters. And Mansfield's squealing grates on ones nerves (and ears) after 20 times! The acting is good (even Mansfield!) and it's colorful and well-directed...but it's too dated and there isn't enough story or jokes for 90 minutes.

Laughed more in one minute with Groucho than I did in ninety of Tony Randall. In other words, a not very funny and too broad/obvious satire, with annoying devices like interrupting the film and breaking the fourth wall, as well as a general smugness in its attack on TV as inferior to movies. I mean, it's not like Hollywood at the time this was made, just coming off a HUAC high, was a paragon of enlightenment. The only reason I give it six rather than four stars is 'cause of Blondell and Mansfield both of whom bring a much needed dose of humanity, if not comedy, to the rather dopey proceedings.

This is brilliant film-making. Romantic and subversive at the same

time. Randall and Mansfield were never better and Henry Jones is

brilliant as always. Tashlin skewers 50s America but it still

works 40 years later. I give this movie my highest possible

recommendation. See in widescreen if possible.

A brilliant spoof of advertising and Hollywood. Quite possibly my favorite comedy film. It took me forever to find a copy of it (on VHS), but I finally have one. I don't know why it isn't more readily available. Jayne Mansfield is a wonderful parody of Marilyn Monroe and other sex symbols. Tony Randall's reactions as an average Joe suddenly turned famous lover are hilarious. A lot of rather innovative techniques, such as the opening credit sequence, with Tony Randall introducing the film, followed by dead-on spoofs of commercials, and the very subtle use of transitioning to a blue or yellow screen before moving on to the next scene. I highly respect this film and I highly recommend it.

This is, in my opinion, Tashlin's best film... also the best of Randall and Mansfield I've seen. Randall's television interlude is a classic, the opening credits, executive washroom scene and Bobo Branigansky interview are also fun. Wonderful sets and Technicolor cinematography rivaling Douglas Sirk in garishness.

I showed clips from the opening credits for a class presentation and someone was surprised they had such biting social satire back in the 50s. "Nick at Night" and "Pleasantville" the 50s weren't...

It's a super-dated fluff story about an ambitious advertising man named Rock Hunter (Tony Randall) who finds a way to climb the corporate ladder with the help of a bleach-blonde bimbo with big lips named Rita Marlowe (Jayne Mansfield). She coos and squeals, and poses in front of a camera, on her way up Hollywood's stardom ladder. I have seen silent-era films that had more depth, entertainment value, heart, and contemporary relevance than this atrocity.

Characters are as shallow as they are silly, as superficial as they are stereotyped. The only thematic message is contained in the film's title. And guess how the film defines "success"; materialistic values, here we come. Aside from this odious theme, there is no message. Viewers back in 1957 must have been easy to please and free from the burdens of critical thinking to enjoy such a nothing movie.

Each main actor gets his or her own long monologue, no doubt a selling point to lure in the principal performers. I didn't like the way Tony Randall breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to viewers, corn pone savoir-faire straight from Hollywood. Script dialogue lacks subtext. And the plot flows straight from point A to point Z with nary a zigzag to interfere with viewers' minimal comprehension skills.

Background music is standard 1950's nondescript. Casting is acceptable except for Tony Randall, a mouse who couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag, much less able to take on the rigors of cold, in-house corporate politics. The one really fine performance is from reliable Joan Blondell, as companion to dimwit Rita Marlowe. Joan Blondell and a few funny lines save this antique from being a total cinematic misdemeanor.

Apparently aimed at an audience of giggly 16-year-old females, this popcorn and candy flick is pure diversionary fluff, and embarrassingly dated, a time capsule of horrid mainstream American pop culture during the stodgy Eisenhower era. No wonder juveniles back then were driven into delinquency.

For a guy who scaled the twin peaks of animation and feature films - a rare accomplishment in the 1950s - director/gagman Frank Tashlin has, surprisingly, few real standouts on his resume. Too often ill-served by either his material, his stars, or both at once, Tashlin's reputation rests on his cartoons (of course) and flashes of brilliance in otherwise so-so live-action movies. After all, in most civilized nations, being the director of both CINDERFELLA and THE PRIVATE NAVY OF SGT O'FARRELL constitutes a demerit if not an outright crime against humanity. Even Tashlin's better pictures, like SON OF PALEFACE and THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT, tend to be mediocrities occasionally enlivened by his outlandish visual slapstick. WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER? is the glorious summit of what had to have been a frustrating career, the one time he was matched with a writer (Geo Axelrod) and cast (led by Tony Randall & Jayne Mansfield) perfectly in sync with his playfully outre satiric sensibility. The end result will make you wish lightning had struck more often like this for Tashlin; ROCK HUNTER may be the most beautifully 'opened-up' stage property in film history. It's visually clever and sumptuous, engagingly witty and breathlessly paced all at the same time. Best of all, its satiric barbs (aimed at both television and the gray-flanneled Organization Man) hit their targets consistently while never superceding the character-driven heart of the story: Randall is simply terrific here, and his wobbly tightwalk between schnook and lothario is hilarious. Add a few bonus points for the casting of the severely-underappreciated Henry Jones as Randall's fellow ad-exec, who oozes authentic 50s smuttiness and desperation from his pores in every scene he steals. Jayne's at her very best to boot, doing her trademark sex-kitten squeal with one arched, knowing eyebrow, and displaying plenty of resourceful smarts in her wised-up line readings throughout. As satisfying a comedy as emerged from the American 50s. Make sure you see the widescreen version, though: you won't want to miss a thing here. Tashlin's masterpiece, and his penance for Jerry Lewis and Phyllis Diller.

Hilarious.....hilarious....and can I say.....hilarious.......the perfect smut laden 50s farce if ever there was one....and there was one........and it's this one....!..greater than THE GIRL CANT HELP IT and equally demented. For sheer vulgarity I have NEVER heard such Farrelly-esquire risqué rudeness in a 50s or even 60s film: Joan Blondell says whilst making a cocktail: "I had a boyfriend once, he was a milkman, I used to get a lump at the back of my throat when I knew he was coming. But it didn't last, I guess he found a girl who liked his brand of cream more than me". There is half a dozen censorship busters like this too.......all thanks to Frank Tashlin. This is as fresh and funny as it was in the 50s and deserves a higher profile in the annals of REAL funny films. My videotape is in cinemascope too so try and see it that way if you can.