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Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) [Masters of Cinema]

Posted By: Efgrapha
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) [Masters of Cinema]

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) [Masters of Cinema]
DVD9 | ISO | NTSC, 16:9 (720x480) VBR | 01:32:56 | 5.73 Gb
Audio: English AC3 2.0 @ 256 Kbps | Subs: English SDH
Genre: Comedy, Media Satire

Jayne Mansfield recreated her starmaking stage role in this film adaptation of George Axelrod's Broadway comedy. Mansfield plays a Monroe-like movie queen whom adman Tony Randall hopes to sign for a product endorsement. Through a fluke, the press believes that Randall is having an affair with Mansfield; she eagerly pounces on the attendant publicity, much to the dismay of her body-builder beau (Mickey Hargitay, then married to Mansfield). At the behest of his ad agency, Randall is forced to propose to Mansfield on a coast-to-coast TV show, which breaks the heart of his true love (Betsy Drake). Both Randall and Mansfield are saved from a marriage neither one wants by the last-minute arrival of Mansfield's hometown boy friend (Groucho Marx). Director Frank Tashlin uses Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter as an excuse to take satirical potshots at everything from TV commercials to the unwieldiness of CinemaScope.

Synopsis by Hal Erickson, Allmovie.com

Jayne Mansfield appeared in George Axelrod's Broadway play which Frank Tashlin ("The Girl Can't Help It") adapts for film by writing the screenplay and directing. Tashlin made it into a sharp satire about sex, money and fame. He connects TV and advertising as being one and the same. It's a lush Technicolor (showing what movies can do, but TV can't) cynical look at America during the 1950s. It makes its point that talent doesn't matter as much for success as appearance, luck, nerve and having the right connections. Going a step further, it says the success ethic and climbing the company ladder is bogus. When the big boss of the ad agency tells the average man who made it to the top, "Success will fit you like a shroud," the poison dart message is delivered as if it were a lethal blow. In the end, the 'average joe' learns that "success is the art of being happy."

The plot is basic. It has Jayne Mansfield as squeaky-voiced, flamboyant dressing and bosomy Hollywood starlet Rita Marlowe, a Marilyn Monroe type, seeking seclusion in New York from her fans and her Jungle Boy TV actor boyfriend Bobo, played by Mansfield's real-life muscleman husband Mickey Hargitay. Failing television commercial writer Rock Hunter (Tony Randall) recruits Rita to endorse Stay-Put Lipstick, whose motto is "For those oh-so-kissable lips!", in order to save the account for his advertising company and his own job. Rock gets Rita's hotel address through his teenager niece April, who is president of Rita's New York fan club. Since Rita's boyfriend Bobo was seen with a blonde, prompting the vain actress to go in a snit, she uses Rock by letting on he's her new boyfriend and is a great lover. The stunt makes Bobo jealous and lands Rock her endorsement of his product (using the familiar business mantra, I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine), but upsets Rock's nice girl secretary fiancée Jenny Wells (Betsy Drake) when it's learned the star and the hot executive plan to announce their engagement on TV as a publicity stunt. Joan Blondell as Violet is the secretary, confidante and traveling companion of Rita, who has a fine ear for comedy as she plays straightwoman for Jayne. Groucho Marx has a cameo near the concluding scene.

Besides being hilarious, Tashlin cuts deepest into the wrongs of the society, taking potshots at everyone he could that's a phony (which includes Hollywood, television, the business world, the gullible consumerist public and those who bought into the Eisenhower era's age of indifference). The film bombed at the box office, but has come to be regarded by some critics and Jean-Luc Godard as a great film.

Review by Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"

IMDB 7,1/10 from 2 079 users

Wiki

Director: Frank Tashlin

Writers: Frank Tashlin (screen story and screenplay), George Axelrod (play)

Cast: Jayne Mansfield, Tony Randall, Betsy Drake, Joan Blondell, John Williams, Henry Jones, Lili Gentle, Mickey Hargitay, Groucho Marx

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) [Masters of Cinema]

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) [Masters of Cinema]

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) [Masters of Cinema]

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) [Masters of Cinema]

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) [Masters of Cinema]

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) [Masters of Cinema]

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) [Masters of Cinema]

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) [Masters of Cinema]

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) [Masters of Cinema]

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) [Masters of Cinema]

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) [Masters of Cinema]

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) [Masters of Cinema]

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) [Masters of Cinema]

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) [Masters of Cinema]

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) [Masters of Cinema]

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) [Masters of Cinema]


Special Features:

Joe Dante on the Film
Original Theatrical Trailer
Movietone Piece
Alternate Music and Effects Track

All thanks to original releaser

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