A Fine Madness (1966)

Director:

Irvin Kershner

Writers:

Elliott Baker (novel)
Elliott Baker (screenplay)

Release Date:

23 September 1966 (Finland)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

We should all be so crazy.

Plot:

Samson Shillitoe, a frustrated poet and a magnet for women, is behind in his alimony payments, and lives with Rhoda...

Plot Keywords:

Psychiatry | Based On Novel

Cast

Sean Connery	...	Samson Shillitoe
Joanne Woodward	...	Rhoda Shillitoe
Jean Seberg	...	Lydia West
Patrick O'Neal	...	Dr. Oliver West
Colleen Dewhurst	...	Dr. Vera Kropotkin
Clive Revill	...	Dr. Menken
Werner Peters	...	Dr. Vorbeck
John Fiedler	...	Daniel K. Papp
Kay Medford	...	Mrs. Fish
Jackie Coogan	...	Mr. Fitzgerald
Zohra Lampert	...	Evelyn Tupperman
Sorrell Booke	...	Leonard Tupperman
Sue Ane Langdon	...	Miss Walnicki (as Sue Anne Langdon)
Bibi Osterwald	...	Mrs. Fitzgerald
Mabel Albertson	...	Chairwoman
Gerald S. O'Loughlin	...	Policeman
James Millhollin	...	Rollie Butter
Jon Lormer	...	Dr. Huddleson
Bernie Meyer
Richard S. Castellano	...	Arnold
Harry Bellaver	...	Knocker
Renée Taylor	...	'Streetwalker'
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ayllene Gibbons	...	Clubwoman (uncredited)

Directed by
Irvin Kershner

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Elliott Baker		novel
Elliott Baker		screenplay

Produced by
Jerome Hellman	....	producer

Original Music by
John Addison

Cinematography by
Ted D. McCord

Film Editing by
William H. Ziegler

Art Direction by
Jack Poplin

Set Decoration by
Claude E. Carpenter

Costume Design by
Ann Roth

Makeup Department
Gordon Bau	....	makeup supervisor
Jean Burt Reilly	....	hair styles supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Russell Llewellyn	....	assistant director

Art Department
Ward Preston	....	set designer (uncredited)

Sound Department
Everett A. Hughes	....	sound

Stunts
Ron Burke	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bill Hickman	....	stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Hicks	....	stunts (uncredited)
Fred Lerner	....	stunts (uncredited)
Harvey Parry	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jerry Vance	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Frank J. Calabria	....	additional photographer (uncredited)

Music Department
Dan Wallin	....	score mixer
Billy May	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Dan Wallin	....	scoring engineer (uncredited)

Other crew
Doris DeHerdt	....	script supervisor (uncredited)
Wayne Fitzgerald	....	title designer (uncredited)
Jean Shepherd	....	technical advisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Pan Arts
• Warner Bros. Pictures

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1966) (USA) (theatrical)
• CBS Television (1972) (USA) (TV) (original airing)

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Netherlands:MG6 | West Germany:18 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Long Island, New York, USA

Company:

Pan Arts

Goofs:

Factual errors: A sign in the restaurant where Rhoda works advertises "banannas"; this could be a set design error or a real sign from a location shoot.

Quotes:

Dr. Vorbeck: An American making love is like a Hungarian playing baseball.

A Fine Waste of Celluloid

Okay, to borrow a few things from the previous commenter's observations, sure, this is an adaptation from a novel, and apparently the main character is an obnoxious lout who happens to be a genius.

Here's where this film fails in just about every department.

Not for a second do we buy that Sean Connery's Samson is a "genius" in any sense of the word. He's a thick-headed brute who hollers anti-establishment rants that really aren't enlightened nor are they particularly radical. The fact is, though, that he hollers a lot. There is no modulation to Connery's performance. No sense of a human being in there. His character is drawn to just be the hunky societal interloper whose mere physicality and scowls suggest a counterpoint to everyday norm. Genius, he is not.

Topping poor Connery in the shouting department is the screeching yowl of Joanne Woodward, whose hapless wife character of Samson, Rhoda, is given all the depth of a punching bag (literally). Connery takes swipes at her head, connecting with her skull in the end, along with throwing every dish in the apartment in her direction. He even shoves her down the staircase resulting in a broken leg, and perhaps, 1960's sentiments saw this as an uproarious moment of hilarity. You know, madcap abuse of the wife is always so mercilessly humorous. Anyway, you get the picture (reference the above reference to "thick-headed brute").

Jean Seberg is absolutely wasted in this performance. She plays the stifled wife of a renowned psychiatrist, Patrick O'Neal, who for some reason, and quite illogically I can only add, winds up having sex with Connery in a whirlpool bath and then dumping him the next time she sees him. There is no logic in having her character even in this film other than to flesh out the above-the-line star wattage on the marquee.

Only Clive Revill, playing a hare-brained psycho-therapist in every sense of the word, cuts loose with the material and lends a Peter-Sellers-like diversion for a total of 3 minutes screen time.

I cannot conceive of any audience, whether in the '60s or today, eliciting anything more than ho-hum chuckle and a wan smile over this pale comedy with absolutely no focus and one of cinema's most ill-conceived one-note main characters.

My rating: 1 out of 5 stars.