Don’t give in, you can’t win! Don’t give up, you can’t lose!
Readers will know that we have a soft spot for Dean Martin- he’s much more well represented here than more well known and perhaps better actors. So with no further ado, let’s look briefly at 1968’s How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life, Dean’s would be romp with Marilyn Monroe which, after being shelved a bit after Monroe’s passing, reemerged with Stella Stevens as his co-star.
Martin was blessed – or cursed depending on your perspective- by being mostly cast as the lead with a weak supporting cast or as a supporting player in a great cast. In How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life Dean stars, but against great players Eli Wallach and (somewhat surprisingly) Stella Stevens.
Dean is David Sloane, typical late 60s playboy and good friend with Eli Wallach (Harry Hunter). Harry’s having an affair while his marriage is falling apart, and beseeches David to woo his mistress away in order to save Harry’s marriage.
Of course, David hits on the wrong woman in error, and ends up dating the very different Carol Corman (Stella Stevens). There’s typical (for the era) comings and goings and numerous bits of silliness. The end result is most akin to a slightly updated Rock Hudson and Doris Day film.
Sadly in spite of good performances, How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life has aged quite badly both in overall tone, plot, and gender situations. This films depicts adultery as a known and normal event, with women kept in a subservient position. All the mistresses are kept women in their own apartments, never given any desires outside cooking, cleaning and otherwise being on perpetual standby for their man until age and its effects push them to the wayside, only to be replaced by a newer, younger and less wrinkled version of themselves.
In spite of this, the film is witty and actually funny if only you can put the social changes of the last half century aside – which you need to do to fully enjoy this one.
Dean Martin, bias aside, gives a performance better than usual in this one. His timing is outstanding and he banters well with both of his costars easily and amiably. Likely Dino knew he had good material and a good cast and gave it a bit more effort than some of his other efforts, like Cannonball Run and all of those Matt Helm pictures.
Eli Wallach, usually playing rather dour and somber roles, plays an interesting role as the philandering friend. It’s a quite good performance which is full of subtle power, strangely playing against type and in the process aiding Martin’s performance as well.
Lastly perhaps is Stella Stevens, an actress who we’ve rarely mentioned- except in perhaps in one of those Matt Helms pictures. Here she’s bubbly (attractive of course) and vivacious, giving an earnest and funny performance- even conniving at the end with her fellow mistresses to get benefits, pensions and more out of their deadbeat boyfriends. One can’t help but wonder how her career might have progressed if the late 60s social norms had been perpetuated into the 1970s, as she’s clearly making a run at taking Doris Day’s crown for this type of picture.
How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life is funny and witty- insanely well written by the authors of Pillow Talk– and sports clever lines, more misunderstandings than you can literally shake a stick at and more. The only challenge for the viewer is to put the film in the proper social context. If you can’t do that, don’t bother to watch How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcUzhJ8v9mY[/embedyt]