Come salvare un matrimonio e rovinare la propria vita

Despite being a 30 year old dyed-in-the-wool film buff when this was released I don't remember hearing about it.That despite being a huge fan of Dean Martin and his "playboy" sensibility at the time. (Still am.) This was approximately the period when the country's sense of humor slowly began to change to that of irony and sarcasm.In less than 10 years it would be David Letterman, the Smothers Brothers, and Saturday Night Live.The humor extant in this film would be relegated to dreary TV sitcoms. Dean holds his own with Eli Wallach (no easy feat) and he really seems to be working a little harder than usual to get the laughs.While I'm not familiar with Stella Stevens' body of work (no pun intended)if this is representative then she bears closer examination(again no pun intended). The best way to put it? This is 1968's version of those great screwball comedies that dominated the 30's and early 40's and it doesn't do too badly by comparison.

I found it incredible that fewer than 5 people have voted on this film, as of Oct. 2000. It did reasonably well at the box office and is an enjoyable comedy. This film will appeal to fans of the Rock Hudson and Doris Day comedies of the same era and the plot contains just a pinch more sex dialogue.

The cast is excellent and Dean Martin is as gifted in comedy (please disregard the Jerry Lewis films) as he is a singer. The title song is catchy and worth an extra voting point. The plot concerns bachelor Dean Martin trying to save Eli Wallach's marriage and, of course, creating more problems and confusion. So ditch Rock and watch Dean instead.

Frothy comedy of multiple misunderstandings. An artifact of a different time but performed with zest by a capable cast. Stella Stevens is delightful radiating enough charm to fuel several movies, how she didn't become a bigger star is a mystery. It seems the kind of films in which she excelled were fading from popularity just as she was reaching the point in her career where she would have been the choice to lead them, a pity and a waste of an excellent talent. Even though the subject of the film is marital infidelity it is viewed with an innocent outlook which makes it similar to several of the other big hits of the sixties such as Move Over, Darling and That Touch of Mink. Aside from Stella the rest of the cast from Dino down give light enjoyable performances never taking the proceedings too seriously. If the viewer doesn't either they will find this a pleasant diversion.

Dean Martin shows his comedic talents in these fast laugh a minute comedy written by the author of Pillow Talk and That Touch Of Mink. It deserves to be re-released. Stella Stevens looks terrific. It just goes to show you that you don't need a large cast to produce a good comedy and this one is better than just good. I'm looking forward to seeing it again.

May I give a bit of advice to millenials and anyone under 50? Please stop watching films that were made before you were a twinkle in your father's eye. No, really. I am serious. It's good advice.

This film was made 50 years ago. That's half a century ago. In that amount of time things have changed so much you'd think two centuries have passed, not half. Trust me. I went through that change.

Unless you were born ten years before this film was made you could not possibly understand the mentality of the time, much less enjoy the humor.

Unless you are really open-minded andand can therefore make allowances for how things were half a century ago, just stick to films that were made no earlier than the year 2000.

So next time you watch an old film, try to take it in stride, instead of insisting on telling everybody how dated/sexist/un-PC it is.

Of course it is, Dr. Obvious. It was made half a century ago.