The Facts of Life

I watched this movie primarily because it was nominated for Best Screenplay, and in that regard, I was not disappointed. There are several funny scenes and some pretty witty dialogue, but overall this movie rates about 6/10. It's a little too long and some of the plot points are pretty contrived, but Bob and Lucy have good chemistry, which makes up for the few weak points in this film.

Lucy and Bob in a 1960 romantic, satiric comedy. What more could you want?

This is very aware for its time and has some wonderful period scenes. Hope and Ball seem to have very complementary comedy styles which play extremely well off each other.

This movie came out way back in 1960, yet Bob Hope mentions problems raising kids in the electronic age. How forward looking.

The black and white format takes nothing away from this movie, including the scenes of Acapulco when they're alone together.

All in all, an extremely enjoyable movie. I like Lucy much better in this style than her slapstick routine, although she's great in that too. Give this one a look sometime, it's worth it.

This surprising film was shown on TCM recently. Not having seen it, and not having other choice, we decided to take a look, and quite frankly, it was a surprise. The film, directed by Melvin Frank and co-written with his partner, Norman Panama, shows two stars that endeared themselves to the American public at their best.

The story is just a pretext and a vehicle for the stars. The plot kept reminding us of "A Guide for the Married Man", but that's all the comparison, because one has nothing to do with the other. In fact, this is a film made in 1960 when nothing too risky would be tackled for the screen, yet, it presents two straying adults who suddenly find an attraction where dislike existed before.

Bob Hope was the surprise in the movie. He doesn't have a chance for uttering his one liners, as the script doesn't allow it. It was one of the best films in which he appeared, in our humble opinion. Lucille Ball was an excellent comedienne, and she shows it on this film.

The interesting supporting cast makes the best with the material they were given to play. The excellent Ruth Hussey is seen as Bob Hope's wife. Don DeFore, plays Lucille's husband. Louis Nye is also seen in the film.

The film is light and will charm anyone wanting to spend some time in the company of some of America's best comic talent of the past.

It's an unmerry marital mix-up amongst the country club set when bored society wife Lucille Ball finds herself inexplicably drawn to Bob Hope, her neighbor and also already married. Melvin Frank comedy doesn't so much expose the funny desperation of the Marital Blahs as it does tweeze it relentlessly (Frank is not the gentle sort of writer-director--he goes for the gut, much like Neil Simon). Ball is thoroughly up to the challenge of a sharp, brittle suburban comedy, but Frank has given old pal Bob Hope the same type of groaning witticisms he supplied him with back in the 1940s (Lucy: "You're a painter??" Bob: "What do you want me to do? Cut off my ear?"). Playing to the camera, referencing Francis X. Bushman and riffing on his own stand-up routine, Hope is the wrong actor for a sophisticated comedy about infidelity. Too bad, because Lucy does very well, the black-and-white cinematography is expressive, and occasionally the writing rises above smarminess to actually reveal something substantial and amusing about marriages in a rut. ** from ****

Directed by Melvin Frank and written by Frank with Norman Panama, "The Facts of Life" is an adult love story that will surprise you. Frank & Panama are Bob Hope experts, multiple Oscar nominees and the creators of such classic comedies as "The Court Jester" and "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House".

Kitty Weaver and Larry Gilbert are two perfectly nice suburbanites. If Kitty's husband (Don DeFore) seems a little preoccupied with work and his gambling habit, and Larry's wife (Ruth Hussey) a little too caught up with the kids - well, that's life. They have no thought of straying. They certainly have no thought of straying toward each other. However, Fate (in that way of hers) forces these two perfectly nice people to spend time together. Kitty discovers that "the jerk who tells the lousy jokes at the country club" is a genuinely warm and funny fellow. Larry sees a softer side to that stuck up Kitty. Love blossoms with the added complications of vows and conscience.

How Larry and Kitty deal with their feelings, their need to be together and the realities of their lives is played out in a frank, touching and very funny manner. It is wonderful to see two actors who happen to be bona fide comic geniuses working together in such perfect sympathy. The humour of character and situation also involves some gut grabbing slapstick, and some quiet moments that will make you smile or sigh a sentimental sigh for two perfectly nice people.