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Customer Reviews of A Guide for the Married Man

Both An Instructional Video AND A Disapproving Satire
This classic Sixties sex farce has a decidedly schizophrenic attitude towards its subject matter: marital infidelity. On the one hand it gives the would be adulterer some excellent if joked up advice; on the other hand it clearly portrays said adulterers and would be adulterers in the cast as fools. Perhaps that is the secret of its success -- the tension between these conflicting viewpoints. When screenwriter Frank Tarloff first pitched his story idea to 20th Century-Fox, the focus of ridicule was on the cuckolded wives rather than the philandering husbands. Both the studio and proposed director Gene Kelly were concerned enough about this to push back and get Tarloff to acquiesce in changing the emphasis: "While the cameo sequences still detailed a long list of ways to avoid getting caught having an affair, the connecting storyline now amounted to something of a morality tale." Note: "Although the film credits indicate Tarloff's screenplay is based on his own book by the same name, the book was actually an afterthought of the studio publicity department; it was published in 1967, shortly before the film's release." <
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>After a brief animated opening sequence illustrating a number of pro-adultery quotations, the movie opens with stunningly gorgeous Ruth Manning (Inger Stevens) doing calisthenics to maintain her fantastic body while being completely ignored by her book-reading schnook of a husband Paul Manning (Walter Matthau) who turns down her offer to have sex in order to finish his chapter. Thus in the first few minutes even the men in the audience are thinking what a fool he is. Nothing that happens later in the movie challenges this first impression; Ruth Manning appears to be the perfect wife. Similarly Ed Stander (a devilish Robert Morse) is also married to a nearly perfect wife, Harriet Stander (Claire Kelly); in fact one cannot help but notice that ALL of the adulterers and would be adulterers in Paul's and Ed's circle of friends are less than gorgeous men married to absolutely gorgeous wives. <
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>The Turtles' rousing theme song accompanies the title sequence's comical display of Paul's almost crippling but so far not slaked lust for other women, a lust so obvious that his friend Ed, an experienced adulterer, offers to take him under his wing in order to prevent him from getting caught, the sort of "consideration" that would prove how much he loves his wife. What makes the movie the classic it is, is how Ed emphasizes his lessons with anecdotes acted out by several of the finest comic actors and actresses of the time: Joey Bishop, Carl Reiner, Sid Caesar, Art Carney, Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, Terry-Thomas, Phil Silvers, Wally Cox, etc. These are universally hysterical and downright instructional; they are also the parts of the movie that viewers tend to remember most fondly. Under Ed's coaching Paul finally gets ready to take the plunge, but before any viewer wishes to put these quite practical lessons into practice, he should watch the swicheroo of an ending. They don't make them like this anymore, and they probably shouldn't try. <
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>Note: this bare bones DVD contains no extras beyond the trailer. Both widescreen and fullscreen versions are available on opposite sides of the double-sided disk; the widescreen version, which is the preferred version because some of the jokes are messed up by the snipping, is on the LABEL side. <
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Sex in the 60's
Directed by the dancemaster himself, Gene Kelly takes a hilarious look at the art of deception: Infidelity! <
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>Without being vulgar or mean-spirited, the story revolves around a restless husband (played splendidly by Matthau) being taught the finer points on how to cheat by a zen master of infidelity: a leering Robert Morse, whose approach to the subject combines the brilliance and cunning of a 5-star general with the stealth of a ninja. Morse freely dispenses words of wisdom to the eager Matthau, who gapes incredulously at his mentor's sage advice. The irony here is that while Matthau is ogling gorgeous women throughout the movie, he is married to a drop-dead beautiful wife of his own, the lovely Inger Stevens. <
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>One of the highlights of the movie is that when Morse makes a point we get to see it acted out by an all-star cast of legendary performers. In fact the list of actors is a who's-who of comedic legends. My favorite scene is the one with Joey Bishop (what woman?). <
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>Given the politically correct nature of our times and the overtly sexist nature of the movie, with it's closepups of jiggling breasts, swishing derrieres, and curvaceous legs, I doubt this film could be made in the new millennium, especially with it's women-as-subservient-to-men connotations. <
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>All that aside, one of the funniest comedies of it's era and one of my favorites. <
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3 stars for funny plus 1 for nostalgia
Not the laugh riot I remembered but still some classic bits, especially the Joey Bishop "deny, deny, deny" scene. Stylistically, it captures the 'swingin' sixties' look and feel which helps the sexist (let's face it) humor hold up today.