The War Between Men and Women

Jack Lemmon is a misanthropic cartoonist who hates women, dogs, children and is going blind. He's just published a book called THE WAR BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN, and is enduring the inevitable cocktail party where people tell him that they don't understand his jokes and he can't draw. There he meets Barbara Harris, a divorced woman with several children, and they fall awkwardly into love.

I first encountered James Thurber in the late 1960s and was largely enchanted. I think his misanthropy was one of dissatisfaction with people's inability to be forthright and strong and competent, and the fact that he couldn't draw a woman crouching on a staircase.... or the bookcase it became. A key figure in the New Yorker magazine, his talent was that of the second rank. A couple of stories survive, a couple of cartoons, but his misanthropy, masquerading as misogyny, does not play well anymore.

So this is a bewildered romance, between the Thurber Man and the Thurber Woman, and it's a mildly depressing comedy, with the high point Jack Lemmon wandering through a gallery of giant drawings, while he narrates his book to Lisa Gerritsen. I think it captures Thurber's works well, given the quality of the adult cast, which includes Jason Robards and Herb Edelman.

Unless you are trying to see all of Jack Lemmon's films you should probably skip this film. Lemmon plays an almost blind cartoonist who is getting progressively worse. He has a weird relationship with Barbara Harris's character. She was formerly married to Jason Robards. The movie is not funny though it is supposed to be a comedy. It didn't really have any point or redeeming feature. 3 out of 10.

This movie is based on Thurber's book and his life, it's funny but very touching, like James Thurber himself. Of course Thurber's absurdest humor is not everyone's cup of tea, and much of this movie was over the audiences head. As usual the almost forgotten Barbra Harris is perfect, funny pretty and just a bit mad. When this movie came out there was a TV show on at the same time based on the same work. It was called "My World & Welcome to It" Lisa Gerritsen played the daughter in both . What seems to annoy many people who see this movie is the use of Thurbers cartoons. And I admit it took me a while to finally get the humor in his cartoon strips. so, although this may only be a film for Thurber fans , it is an excellent one.

I remember the time period when this movie came out. I never got to see the film at that time, which is too bad, because I liked the 1969 William Windom series, "My World, and Welcome To It." Both had roots in James Thurber, and both used live action and animation.

OK, so maybe this isn't Jack Lemmon's greatest movie. And I suppose it would not resonate with audiences in 21st century America. But you had to be there to really understand.

As it is, both Jack Lemmon and Lisa Gerritsen give great performances, and Jason Robards' appearance is always welcome. This is not a movie for everyone, but it is well worth a watch!!!

A few weeks ago, I accidentally stumbled into the beginning-after the credits-of this movie while flipping channels. Since it was late, I didn't bother to watch the rest of it so when I found it in the listings again a few days later, I immediately time recorded it on the DVR. I'm very glad I did as I was enthralled by Jack Lemmnon's performance as a cartoonist who's going blind and, despite his cynical attitude concerning women and children, meets a lady (Barbara Harris) with three kids that he falls for as her temper matches his to a T! There's also her ex-husband (Jason Robards) to deal with whenever he comes to visit. Of the offspring, the most charismatic is the middle one played by Lisa Gerritsen-perhaps best known as Phyllis' daughter on both "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and the spin off "Phyllis"-who has a speech impediment. As Lemmon's character is based on real life cartoonist James Thurber, we see drawings and animation by Playhouse Pictures that is directly inspired by his work including a perfect rendering of his picture tale called "The Last Flower". To me, The War Between Men and Women is both hilarious and very dramatically touching so on that note, this movie is highly recommended.