What it’s about
Gene Kelly’s comedy has the married Paul Manning (Matthau), getting a crash course on the finer points of adultery from also married, veteran adulterer Ed Stander (Morse). The lessons Ed imparts are acted out in sequences featuring a long line of guest stars, including Jack Benny, Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, Art Carney, Phil Silvers, Wally Cox, Lucille Ball, and Jayne Mansfield.
Why we love it
This priceless comedy is admittedly dated and politically incorrect in the extreme, but this only makes it funnier today. Director Gene Kelly (yes, that Gene Kelly!) deserves kudos for taking the most delicate of subject matters and toeing the line of good taste like an expert tightrope walker. Both Matthau and Morse are a riot together, but some of those cameos take the cake: in particular, look for the Reiner, Ball and Carney sequences. Also, dig that catchy title tune by The Turtleslike therest of the movie, its quintessential sixties.
Walter Matthau, Robert Morse, Inger Stevens, Ed Stander, Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, Joey Bishop, Sid Caesar, Art Carney, Carl Reiner, Jayne Mansfield Gene Kelly
