Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970)

Director:

Frank Perry

Writers:

Sue Kaufman (novel)
Eleanor Perry (writer)

Release Date:

10 August 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

I, Tina Balser, Housewife, Did Not Do My Chores Today. I Did...Something Else!

Plot:

A housewife with an abusive husband has an affair with a writer.

Plot Keywords:

Writer | Group Therapy | Abusive Husband | Housewife | Lawyer

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 6 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Richard Benjamin	...	Jonathan Balser
Frank Langella	...	George Prager
Carrie Snodgress	...	Tina Balser
Lorraine Cullen	...	Sylvie Balser
Frannie Michel	...	Liz Balser
Lee Addoms	...	Mrs. Prinz
Peter Dohanos	...	Samuel Keefer
Katherine Meskill	...	Charlotte Rady
Leonard Elliott	...	M. Henri
Valma	...	Margo
Hilda Haynes	...	Lottie
Donald Symington	...	Pediatrician (as Don Symington)
Alley Mills	...	Women's lib girl (as Allison Mills)
Alice Cooper	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Michael Bruce	...	Himself... guitarist for the Alice Cooper band
Glen Buxton	...	Himself... guitarist for the Alice Cooper band
Jeanette Du Bois	...	Vera
Dennis Dunaway	...	Himself... bassist for the Alice Cooper band
Kurt Garfield	...	Carpenter
Jason Holt
William Kiehl	...	Elliot Asher
I.W. Klein	...	Stuttering man in group therapy
George Loros	...	Malcolm
Lester Rawlins	...	Dr. Linstrom
Renee Semes	...	College Girl in group therapy session
Neal Smith	...	Himself... drummer for the Alice Cooper band

Runtime:

95 min | 104 min (original version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:11 | USA:R

Company:

Frank Perry Films Inc.

Quotes:

Jonathan Balser: How about a little roll in the hay?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Starter Wife: The Diary of a Mad Ex-Housewife (#1.2)" (2008)

A delicious, biting bestseller makes for an adequate urban comedy-drama

Carrie Snodgress is wistful, sad, struggling and funny playing harried NYC housewife on the verge of collapse, Richard Benjamin is her anal-attentive husband, Frank Langella her uncommitted lover. From Sue Kaufmann's book--which ranks as one of the funniest satiric novels ever--comes this sometimes-surreal jumble by Frank Perry, who is so concerned with making a monster out of Benjamin's Jonathan that he in turn makes Snodgress' Tina look a little pathetic. She had much more spite and anger in the book, which does come across a few times here: throwing her ruined Thanksgiving platter against the wall, berating Jonathan for making fun of her in front of the kids, spinning away from Langella and a party buddy with a tart "charming pair..." Snodgress is really the only reason to see the film: she overcomes the knockabout structure and obvious swipes at indifferent urbanites and makes something touching out of the material. I first saw this on television and admired a couple of scenes with Snodgress and her headstrong daughters (a beauty involved smacking her kid when she deserved it, and then going to apologize). I later rented the video and found a number of those scenes missing in action. Turns out they had been added to the network version to pad the picture's length from other cuts--mostly sexual ones involving Langella. This is a first: I liked the discards much better than what ended up in the actual movie. **1/2 from ****