How to Murder Your Wife
Release date: 1965-01-26
Votes: 141
Genres: Comedy
Stanley Ford leads an idyllic bachelor life. He is a nationally syndicated cartoonist whose Bash Brannigan series provides him with a luxury townhouse and a full-time valet, Charles. When he wakes up the morning after the night before - he had attended a friend's stag party - he finds that he is married to the very beautiful woman who popped out of the cake - and who doesn't speak a word of English. Despite his initial protestations, he comes to like married life and even changes his cartoon character from a super spy to a somewhat harried husband.
Reviews
John Chard
Lemmon unable to save this from averageville. Cartoonist Stanley Ford loves bachelorhood, he enjoys his life, he has a butler to serve him, he can get girls, and he likes a drink or two. Then one night he's at a bachelor party and the beautiful Virna Lisi pops up out of the cake, his life is about to change. For when he wakes up in the morning, he finds he has married her, and to compound his problems, she doesn't speak any English. As a big Jack Lemmon fan I have to say I'm very disappointed in this picture, it's essentially a two joke movie that wastes Lemmon and Terry-Thomas' talent. The first half of the picture plays heavy on the fact that the new Mrs Ford only speaks Italian, this sets us up for a number of funny sequences, particularly when Claire Trevor enters the fray as Edna, but on it goes, and on it goes... We then get to watch as Stanley gains weight due to Mrs Ford's willingness to cook for her new husband, with Lemmon reduced to playing Stanley as an exasperated buffoon, henpecked within an inch of his manhood. The second half of the picture, as the title suggests, sees Stanley grow a spine and decide to deal with his problem by killing the wife. You would think that this sets the picture up for a number of riotous sequences as Stanley tries to do away with her, but sadly no, it's just the one joke that fails to light up the picture in any shape or form. The run in to the finale is marginally saved by the always reliable Eddie Mayehoff, but come the credits you wonder if the film ever meant to be a full blown comedy in the first place? 4/10 for Mayehoff and Terry-Thomas' opening scenes.
Movie Recommendation
Kiss Me, Stupid1964-12-22While traveling home from Vegas, an amorous lounge singer named Dino gets conned by a local mechanic/songwriter into staying in town for the night. The mechanic's songwriting partner, Orville, offers Dino his home for overnight lodging and enlists a local waitress/call girl to pose as his wife in order to placate Dino's urges.More...
I Was a Male War Bride1949-08-26After marrying an American lieutenant with whom he was assigned to work in post-war Germany, a French captain attempts to find a way to accompany her back to the States under the terms of the War Bride Act.More...
Doppelgänger1969-08-27A planet is discovered in the same orbit as Earth's but is located on the exact opposite side of the sun, making it not visible from Earth. The European Space Exploration Council decide to send American astronaut Glenn Ross and British scientist John Kane via spaceship to explore the other planet.More...
The Statement2003-12-12The film is set in France in the 1990s, the French were defeated by the Germans early in World War II, an armistice was signed in 1940 which effectively split France into a German occupied part in the North and a semi-independent part in the south which became known as Vichy France. In reality the Vichy government was a puppet regime controlled by the Germans. Part of the agreement was that the Vichy Government would assist with the 'cleansing' of Jews from France. The Vichy government formed a police force called the Milice, who worked with the Germans...More...
Carry On Cowboy1965-11-26Stodge City is in the grip of the Rumpo Kid and his gang. Mistaken identity again takes a hand as a 'sanitary engineer' named Marshal P. Knutt is mistaken for a law marshal. Being the conscientious sort, Marshal tries to help the town get rid of Rumpo, and a showdown is inevitable. Marshal has two aids—revenge-seeking Annie Oakley and his sanitary expertise.More...
Hot Potato1979-11-16A factory worker known for his tough attitude and for fighting for workers' rights starts losing credibility when friends and co-workers see him helping a young gay man.More...
Cortina Express2024-12-23During Christmas holidays in Cortina d'Ampezzo, confirmed bachelor Lucio tries to dissuade his nephew from marrying; fading rock sensation Dino seeks his daughter's affection; and record producer Patrizia struggles with bankruptcy and a lazy husband.More...
Dragon Ball DAIMA2024-11-10Mysteriously transformed into mini versions of themselves, Goku and his friends travel to the Demon Realm to uncover the truth and find a cure. The world English dub premiere of Dragon Ball DAIMA, the newest series in the Dragon Ball universe, featuring the first three episodes of the series. Before the film, there will be a special introduction from the Japanese voice of Goku, Masako Nozawa.More...
Storm Cell2008-04-26A brother and sister are torn apart when their parents die tragically in a tornado. While he moves to Seattle to be away from the memory, she devotes her life to studying storms and weather patterns. When she discovers the threat of a powerful series of tornadoes are heading for Seattle, she must convince her brother and the entire city that she is not crazy; and they are in grave dangerMore...
How to Beat the High Cost of Living1980-07-11In order to beat inflation and subsidize their alimony checks, three suburban housewives plot to steal $1 million from a large plastic ball which is displayed in a local shopping center.More...
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes1970-10-29When a bored Sherlock eagerly takes the case of Gabrielle Valladon following an attempt on her life, the search for her missing husband leads to Loch Ness and the legendary monster.More...
Revenge of the Pink Panther1978-01-08Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau is dead. At least that is what the world—and Charles Dreyfus—believe when a dead body is discovered in Clouseau's car after being shot off the road. Naturally, Clouseau knows differently and, taking advantage of not being alive, sets out to discover why an attempt was made on his life.More...
Missing1982-02-12Based on the real-life experiences of Ed Horman. A conservative American businessman travels to Chile to investigate the sudden disappearance of his son after a military takeover. Accompanied by his son's wife he uncovers a trail of cover-ups that implicate the US State department which supports the dictatorship.More...
A Pure Formality1994-05-15Onoff is a famous writer, now a recluse. The Inspector is suspicious when Onoff is brought into the station one night, disoriented and suffering a kind of amnesia. In an isolated, rural police station, the Inspector tries to establish the events surrounding a killing, to reach a startling resolution.More...
The Odd Couple1968-05-16In New York, Felix, a neurotic news writer who just broke up with his wife, is urged by his chaotic friend Oscar, a sports journalist, to move in with him, but their lifestyles are as different as night and day are, so Felix's ideas about housekeeping soon begin to irritate Oscar.More...
The Birth of a Nation2016-09-09Nat Turner, a former slave in America, leads a liberation movement in 1831 to free African-Americans in Virginia that results in a violent retaliation from whites.More...
In the Heat of the Night1967-08-02African-American Philadelphia police detective Virgil Tibbs is arrested on suspicion of murder by Bill Gillespie, the racist police chief of tiny Sparta, Mississippi. After Tibbs proves not only his own innocence but that of another man, he joins forces with Gillespie to track down the real killer. Their investigation takes them through every social level of the town, with Tibbs making enemies as well as unlikely friends as he hunts for the truth.More...
Elizabeth1998-09-13The story of the ascension to the throne and the early reign of Queen Elizabeth the First, the endless attempts by her council to marry her off, the Catholic hatred of her and her romance with Lord Robert Dudley.More...
The Shop Around the Corner1940-01-12Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand one another, without realising that they are falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.More...
Nebraska2013-09-21An aging, booze-addled father takes a trip from Montana to Nebraska with his estranged son in order to claim what he believes to be a million-dollar sweepstakes prize.More...