Marriage on the Rocks (1965)

Director:

Jack Donohue

Writers:

Cy Howard (screenplay)
Cy Howard (story)

Release Date:

24 September 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Ad-agency president Dan Edwards who, when he goes to Mexico to celebrate his nineteenth wedding anniversary...

Cast

Frank Sinatra	...	Dan Edwards
Deborah Kerr	...	Valerie Edwards
Dean Martin	...	Ernie Brewer
Cesar Romero	...	Miguel Santos
Hermione Baddeley	...	Jeannie MacPherson
Tony Bill	...	Jim Blake
John McGiver	...	Shad Nathan
Nancy Sinatra	...	Tracy Edwards
Davey Davison	...	Lisa Sterling
Michel Petit	...	David Edwards (as Michael Petit)
Trini López	...	Himself
Joi Lansing	...	Lola
Darlene Lucht	...	Bunny (as Tara Ashton)
Kathleen Freeman	...	Miss Blight
Flip Mark	...	Rollo

Also Known As:

Community Property (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (re-rating) (2006) | Australia:G | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:Btl

Company:

A-C Productions

Trivia:

Nancy Sinatra was nervous acting opposite father Frank for the very first time. But worse than that, she was in the midst of a devastating divorce from first husband 'Tommy Sands' while shooting the picture, later saying that it was a good time for all the fellas on the set but she herself was extremely troubled.

Quotes:

Shad Nathan: You're emotionally upset, have a glass of water.
Valerie Edwards: I don't want a glass of water, I want a divorce!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Sweet Bird of Youth: Chasing Time (2006) (V)

Soundtrack:

There Was a Sinner Man

"Why don't you turn on the music and let the little one lead?"

This light comedy was to be Sinatra and Martin's last big screen appearance together for nearly twenty years, and it's a shame that it turns out to be such a disappointment after a promising start. The duo play unlikely business partners at an advertising agency in this one. Sinatra's character is married to Deborah Kerr, while Martin plays to type as a womanising playboy. Through a series of contrived incidents that take forever to set up, playboy Dino ends up accidentally married to Kerr, freeing Sinatra to enjoy bachelor life with a friend of his daughter's (played by his real-life daughter, Nancy).

There are a couple of funny moments in this movie, largely at the expense of Martin and Sinatra, which leads you to believe that you're in for a treat, but when the scene shifts to Mexico things just get progressively sillier until the rushed and largely inconclusive ending, in which the fate of only two of the characters is spelled out.

Kerr is an interesting casting decision as the hapless wife, although she acquits herself well. She and Sinatra never really convince as a couple, though. In fact, Sinatra doesn't convince at all – he's simply going through the motions here, which he did a lot in his films from the mid-sixties onwards. Martin, however, steals the film in his tailor-made role, and looks like he's having a lot of fun in that fantasy bachelor pad as he works his way through a succession of 'secretaries' including the quite frankly spectacular Lola (Joi Lansing). All the laughs are in the first half-hour in this one, so if you feel like switching off after that you won't be missing much.