Good Neighbor Sam (1964)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

David Swift

Writers:

Jack Finney (novel)
James Fritzell (writer)

Release Date:

22 July 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Slam! Bam! Here comes Sam!...Caught in the Middle of a Two-Woman Jam!

Plot:

Sam Bissel is a wholesome family man with a loving wife, Min, and two loving daughters. They lead a happy suburban life...

Plot Keywords:

Private Investigator | Inheritance | Milk | Billboard | Advertising

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Jack Lemmon	...	Sam Bissel
Romy Schneider	...	Janet Lagerlof
Dorothy Provine	...	Minerva Bissel
Mike Connors	...	Howard Ebbets (as Michael Connors)
Edward Andrews	...	Mr. Burke
Louis Nye	...	Reinhold Shiffner, detective
Robert Q. Lewis	...	Earl, neighnor
Joyce Jameson	...	Elsie Hooker
Anne Seymour	...	Irene Krump
Charles Lane	...	Jack Bailey
Linda Watkins	...	Edna
Peter Hobbs	...	Phil Reisner
Tristram Coffin	...	Sonny Blatchford (as Tris Coffin)
Neil Hamilton	...	Larry Boling
Riza Royce	...	Miss Halverson

Runtime:

130 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:PG | Finland:K-8 | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Bradbury Building - 304 S. Broadway, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The name of the advertising firm for which Sam Bissel works, Burke & Hare, is clearly a reference to William Burke and William Hare, two Irish laborers living in 18th century Edinburgh, Scotland who became notorious as history's most famous "body snatchers" who, until they were discovered by the British authorities, killed at least 15 travelers and then sold their corpses to medical schools for dissection.

Quotes:

Hertz Commercial Man: [after finally being lowered into convertible] Man, that's *real* coffee!
[in tears]
Hertz Commercial Man: Oh, noooo!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Cut Ups (1966)

A Funny Movie It's Star Never Liked

GOOD NEIGHBOR SAM was one of three films from the middle 1960s that Jack Lemmon detested. After making THE DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES and THE APARTMENT Lemmon felt he was finally being recognized as a fine dramatic actor, and suddenly he was in this film, UNDER THE YUM YUM TREE, and HOW TO MURDER YOUR WIFE. He felt that these were minor films, and always disliked making them.

In the case of UNDER THE YUM YUM TREE, one can sympathize with Lemmon's feelings. He never played a more detestable character in any of his films than in YUM YUM TREE where he was a total letch. But he was in top comic form, supported by good casts and good scripts in SAM and WIFE. They were not great movies, but both were entertaining.

The plot of GOOD NEIGHBOR SAM is an old one: a family friend is in a tight spot and needs to borrow the spouse of his/her closest friend to get out of it. Another example of this is GUEST WIFE, where Don Ameche borrows Dick Foran's wife (Claudette Colbert). There the complication is that Ameche's boss (Charles Dingle) believes Ameche's wife is an amazing, supporting woman in her "husband's" remarkable career as a correspondent in Asia. Here Romy Schneider borrows Dorothy Provine's husband (Lemmon) to pretend that she is happily together with her husband to claim a $15,000,000.00 estate. But her husband (Mike Connors) shows up, and to save the situation pretends he is Provine's husband. This leads to complications of mutual jealousies between Connors and Lemmon, as well as problems concerning a multi-million dollar ad campaign Lemmon is handling on behalf of dairy farm millionaire (and total prude) Edward G. Robinson.

The film has many nice spots in it, especially for Robert Q. Lewis, as a friend and fellow employee of Lemmon who is nearly driven nuts by watching the odd goings on between Lemmon - Provine - Schneider - Connors. Also the ultimate private detective, Louis Nye, who has some great (and for 1964 really advanced) devices for his business. My favorite bits are now a trifle dated - the running gag about the old Hertz Rent-A-Car ads ("Let Hertz Put You In The Driver Seat"). A wonderful chase, involving painting and billboards, raps the film up very nicely. Lemmon was wrong - not in the same category as SAVE THE TIGER, GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS, or THE APARTMENT, but a worthy, entertaining film.