Any Wednesday

This is a very perky comedy that is highly enjoyable on many levels. The quartet of stars is excellent with great chemistry all around. Those looking for a tribute festival for the recently deceased Jason Robards Jr. should definitely include this dry, brittle, and insightful performance. Rosemary Murphy quietly steals every scene that she's in, and Jane Fonda was a great ingenue "bimbo" with all the trimmings in her halcyon days. Dean Jones should be outclassed by these three, but he definitely isn't, exhibiting talent hinted at in a few other roles when he wasn't lining his wallet with Disney pablum. This movie almost has it all: terrific dialogue -- especially for fans of double and triple entendres, marvelous acting & chemistry, swift pacing, social insight, and a true historical time capsule. My only mild criticism is that the cinematography is rather pedestrian even though the director makes the most of his attempts to open it up from being a filmed stage play, the camera work even in these scenes is unimaginitive. The positive side of this is that this is a perfect video movie since it does not need to be seen on the big screen. I give it 9 out of 10.

Any Wednesday's a truly funny out-stage comedy, with an enjoyable '60s taste. Jane Fonda is sexy and adorable, the other characters are well drawn. I'm a bit surprised imdb users have such a low opinion of this film (a bit more than 5/10 as I'm writing), in my opinion it deserves a full 7/10 just for the balloon scene.

What used to be referred to as a sex comedy which in the more innocent time it was made meant that if included no actual sex only the suggestion of it. The film is dated in its attitudes that's true but because of the lightness with which the material is played by the four leads it remains a breezy comedy.

Jane is at her fluttery bubbly early career best and because of her hairstyle it's striking how much she resembles her present day self. All four principals are very winning, Rosemary Murphy in particular is a chic delight as well as wonderfully droll. The film also offers a reminder that there was a time when Dean Jones was quite an expert comic actor. The story is a bit incredible but being a romantic comedy that sort of goes with the territory.

In the days of dinner theater, many actors made a good living traveling the circuit with shows like "Any Wednesday," a Broadway play made into a film in 1966. These frothy sex comedies were all the rage on stage and in film -- Boeing Boeing, Mary, Mary, The Marriage-Go-Round, and of course, Any Wednesday.

Jane Fonda plays Ellen, a young woman who is wooed and ultimately falls for an older married executive, John Cleves (Jason Robards) who makes her apartment an executive one, which is tax-deductible and enables her to live there after her roommates move out. One day, Cleves' unknowing secretary sends over a good-looking young businessman, Cass Henderson (Dean Jones) needing a place to stay for the night. It goes down a predictable path from there.

The good cast makes this watchable, as it's a rather dated story. Rosemary Murphy is a delight as Cleves' wife, whom John is away from every Wednesday night on out of town business. Fonda is beautiful and sexy as the confused mistress, and Dean Jones is attractive as the frustrated Cass, who hated Cleves for business reasons but now finds that his reasons are personal as well.

It's cute, and the story involves a New York blackout, though not the biggie from the early '60s.

Made in the mid-60's (when things were supposedly starting to "swing"), and set in New York, this comedy of errors stars Jane Fonda as a young woman who makes the same mistake too many have (before and after), getting involved with a married man, and believing they have a future, just as soon as he gets that divorce. When will that be? Well, right now it's not possible, because......

The married man in question is her former boss, John Cleaves (Jason Robards), who sets her up in an apartment, where he visits her every Wednesday, telling his wife, Dorothy (Rosemary Murphy) he'll be away on "business". No, she's not stupid, just turning a blind eye.

When an out-of-town client, Cass Anderson (Dean Jones) needs a place to stay, John's new secretary unwittingly directs him to the "executive suite", where Cass mistakes Ellen for a "working girl", hired to entertain him! The mix-ups are just beginning, as Dorothy pays an unexpected visit, thinks Ellen and Cass are a couple and invites them out with her and John. What a night that is!

Soon, Cass discovers that he's in love with Ellen and (to his dismay) that she really loves John and is not after his money and status. And Dorothy, now with clear vision, is not going to settle for wronged wife. Both John and Ellen have choices to make. But do they make the right ones?

Who ends up with whom, who has a HEA, and who go their separate ways? Watch and find out and have fun!