BY LEE PFEIFFER
For decades Bob Hope was one of Hollywood's most bankable stars. In the 1940s and 1950s, his films were regarded as sure-fire moneymakers. Studios loved Hope productions. They were generally filmed on modest budgets and returned major profits. By the late 1960s, Hope was still very much in-demand on American television. His TV specials for NBC always topped the ratings and Hope was a ubiquitous presence on TV chat shows. He even had a semi-permanent gig as the most beloved of all hosts for the annual Oscars broadcast. However, his status in the motion picture industry had diminished substantially. Hope's style of old-fashioned family films was becoming outdated in an era that saw new freedoms in on-screen sex and violence. When biker movies were depicting gang bangs and Bob and Carol were under the same sheets with Ted and Alice, Hope's sitcom-like comedies seemed as though they were from distant past. One of his more promising feature films was the 1969 production, "How to Commit Marriage", one of many sex-oriented comedies that were all the rage in the mid-to-late 1960s. (i.e. "The Secret Life of an American Wife", Divorce American Style", "A Guide for the Married Man", "The Tiger Makes Out", "How to Save a Marriage (and Ruin Your Life)", "Marriage on the Rocks".) In an attempt to remain relevant to modern audiences, this was the most adult-themed of Hope's big screen comedies.
Hope plays Frank Benson, a wealthy L.A. real estate agent who seems to have an idyllic life with his wife of many years, Elaine (Jane Wyman). However, their relationship is fracturing and the two spend most of their time together griping about the other and trading cruel insults. They agree to get a divorce and file the necessary paperwork. However, before they can be officially divorced, they receive a surprise visit from their teenage daughter Nancy (JoAnna Cameron), who returns from college with her new boyfriend David (Tim Matheson). He's a clean-cut type who is studying classical music and Nancy announces they intend to marry, largely because she has been so inspired by her parent's loving relationship. Frank and Elaine don't want Nancy to become disillusioned and decide to withhold the news about their pending divorce until after Nancy and David marry. However, there is a complication: David is the estranged son of Oliver Poe (Jackie Gleason), a rich promoter of rock 'n roll bands who resents Frank for selling him a Malibu mansion that was in a mudslide zone, thus resulting in Oliver losing his entire investment. He's an obnoxious boor and braggart with a sexy mistress (Tina Louise) and when he discovers the Bensons are secretly planning to divorce, he cruelly informs Nancy and David. Heartbroken and disillusioned, the young couple decides to eschew marriage and simply live together (still a shocking concept for a "nice" girl in 1969). Making matter worse, Oliver convinces the couple to quit college and join his latest band, The Comfortable Armchair, which is becoming all the rage. Distraught by the developments, Frank and Elaine begin to live in separate houses. Frank takes up with Lois Gray (Maureen Arthur), a voluptuous widow while Elaine begins dating Phil Fletcher (Leslie Nielsen), a suave rival of Frank's in the real estate trade. When both couples accidentally end up sitting beside each other at a Comfortable Armchair nightclub concert, they notice that Nancy is very obviously pregnant. They also discover that she and David have become disciples of a con-man posing as a guru named The Baba Ziba (Professor Irwin Corey). Oliver has bribed Baba Ziba to convince Nancy and David that it is in their spiritual interests to put their baby up for adoption. In reality, Oliver is motivated by his desire that the couple stay with the successful rock band and not become traditional parents.
Up until this point, "How to Commit Marriage" is one of Hope's better
late career feature films. The script by Michael Kanin and Ben Starr is
at its best when the Hope and Gleason trade insults with genuinely
funny results. (Jane Wyman also proves to have a deft comedic delivery,
as well.) I found myself chuckling quite often during the first half of
the film and things were looking promising. However, the script delves
into theatre of the absurd when Frank and Elaine reunite to adopt Nancy
and David's newborn baby and care for the child until they come to their
senses and quit the rock band. This is accomplished by having Frank
make one phone call and assure the adoption agency that he is a Scottish
tycoon (thus allowing Hope to practice a thick brogue). Presto! They
are told to simply come to the agency, collect the baby and everything
will be swell. With the child now safely in the Benson's household,
Frank and Elaine decide to attend the next Comfortable Chair concert and
try to bribe the Baba Ziba to reverse his initial advice and tell them
to take possession of their child and quit the music business. All of
this results in the main characters confronting each other at the event
with Frank adopting a disguise to impersonate the Baba Ziba when his
initial plans go awry. There's a lot of running around and the pace is
frantic under the direction of Norman Panama, but as the absurdities
mount, the laughs diminish. It's the kind of crazy scenario the Marx
Brothers could have pulled off in their sleep but Hope and Gleason are
simply wasted in these ridiculous situations. The film also suffers from
a sanitized presentation of what rock concerts of the era were like.
Sure, the kids wear crazy clothes and long hair but they are about as
threatening as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (i.e all very polite and all
very white.) Keep in mind this film was released the same year
that the Woodstock festival took place. There is also a laborious and
completely superfluous scenario in which Frank and Oliver square off in a
game of golf, though Oliver is inexplicably accompanied by an ingenious
chimpanzee who makes a monkey out of Frank. Go figure.
The DVD from Brentwood is acceptable but nothing to rave about. It
simply looks like the company did a basic transfer of whatever print was
on hand without much attention to sprucing it up a bit. Consequently,
there are plenty of artifacts visible, though only purists will
complain. The only bonus extra is an essay about Bob Hope's career. "How
to Commit Marriage" does have some funny elements but they are confined
to the first half of the film. After that, you might want to follow the
advice of Sixties icon Dr. Timothy Leary and "Turn on, tune in and drop
out."
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