What a Way to Go!

"What A Way To Go" is a very funny black comedy about a woman who keeps marrying rich men who meet with untimely deaths. So she keeps getting richer but not happier. The husbands are all played (in small parts) by some of Hollywood's biggest names at the time. Paul Newman, Gene Kelly, Robert Mitchum just to name a few. And Shirley MacLaine is at her absolute sexiest in this film. (Check out the movie sequence with Robert Mitchum). A very enjoyable but overlooked film.

I love when I sit down to an older film and the first question I find myself asking is "Where has this movie been all my life?" What A Way to Go is the kind of silly romp I would have expected my Dad to introduce to me early in life. We've always shared a similar sense of humor, and the goofy farce that this black comedy utilizes is exactly the style he would love. In fact, I wasn't even 20 minutes in before I decided this was a DVD I'm going to loan to him before returning it to the library. I laughed, and I laughed a lot at the silly buffoonery of What a Way to Go! It has moments where it plays like a ZAZ comedy in the vein of Airplane or The Naked Gun, but years before those movies ever came around. The entire premise is hilarious in itself because it focuses entirely on a woman who DOESN'T want wealth, which flies directly in opposition to what most people would consider common sense and is diametrically opposed to your traditional Hollywood script.

What makes it even more surprising that I'd never heard of What a Way to Go, is the unbelievable cast. Shirley MacLaine acts opposite a cavalcade of legendary actors that I never would have guessed had all appeared in the same film. Each one of them lends their own unique flavor to their scenes, and I could not get enough of it. They even have several homages to different styles of cinema throughout, and I was delighted by each one. Of course, as a lover of musicals I was particularly enamored with the Gene Kelly section because he choreographed a big bombastic song-and-dance that felt straight out of a Rodgers & Hammerstein film. The story can get a little repetitive at times, which makes it so you are several steps ahead of the action waiting for the movie to catch up, but I was still laughing and enjoying myself through most of that, so it wasn't a big deal. I won't say What a Way to Go is my favorite comedy of its era, but it's a highly effective one that I will seek out again.

The premise is amusing - a woman who seeks the simple life, yet inadvertently ends up four times widowed and fabulously wealthy. There is also the charming conceit of each marriage being represented by a stylized mini film within a film. (Alas, these bits are often cut in network airings.) In the end, though, the whole thing devolves into little more than a lavish fashion parade of Edith Head's reported $500,000 worth of creations. And many a time everyone seems to be trying just a bit too hard to be amusing (except for the ever cool Robert Mitchum).

But if there is no real "there , there" cinematically, it doesn't much matter. Not every movie needs to be another "Citizen Kane". Just relax and have fun.

"WHAT A WAY TO GO" is the epitome of the lush mid 60's style comedies. Great cast. Shirley MacLaine as Louisa, is a simple girl who longs for the simple life. Although her mother, played by the great Marx Brothers straight woman Margaret Dumont, pushes her to get with the money, Louisa marries for love. Once a little prosperity has touched hubby # 1, he works himself to an early grave. Poor Louisa goes through 3 more husbands who also are devoured by their various forms of greed leading to their demise(s). Finally with husband # 5 , Dean Martin as Leonard Crawley, she has found the simple life...or has she ? As Louella Parsons would have put it : Shirley was never lovelier than in this picture ! Edith Head clothes, and hair by Guilaroff, MacLaine looks wonderful wallowing in her chicest mourning weeds...Best Segment : Hubby #3 Bob Mitchum ........

This is a great film. Some have said it epitomizes the 1960s glamour comedies but what it cleverly does is parody them, and other film genres, through its movie dream sequences and the ridiculous and gorgeous costumes Shirley wears. It has a great cast and everyone is in top tongue in cheek form. Dick Van Dyke plays his usual neo-Marx brothers physical comedy schtick (with Margaret DuMont, no less!) at the height of his powers. Paul Newman is great playing against type as a tortured artist, a perfect sendup of Kirk Douglas' portrayal of Van Gough in *Lust for Life* (he even wears the same beard). Mitchum is suave and cool as a kind of Cash McCall gone wrong, but far more slick then Jim Garner ever was. To top it off, Gene Kelley does an incredible spot on parody of himself in the Holywood story, with iconic images taken straight from his greatest triumph *Singing in the Rain,* turned on their head and twisted into a grotesque commentary on the evils of Hollywood as opposed to its dreams and glamour. The scene where he is trampled to death by his fans holds up a hilarious mirror to the similar scene in *Singing in the Rain* where he has his clothes torn off by them. This film elevated parody to a high art form before anybody had even heard the term "post modernism!" And those gowns she wears! The best one is the one which is just a string of pearls down Shirley's sexy back (she faces away from the camera for the shole scene because she is obviously topless). They must have cost a fortune! this is obviously a film with a very Lush Bugett!