I was in the video store last night and came across a new DVD release of the Shirley MacLaine 1964 film WHAT A WAY TO GO! I rented it, as it was a movie from my early youth that I always remembered fondly but hadn't seen in years.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that I did enjoy watching it again after all these years. True, several of the jokes fall flat, but there is a nice "black comedy" edge in the film that had started creeping through in major theatrical films at the time. It also looked like the actors involved were enjoying their time working on the film and MacLaine was still sweetly cute at the time. It was definitely a star-vehicle, one that I can't imagine anyone getting away with today (or an actress currently that could get away with playing the roles, with the possible exception of Drew Barrymore).

I was curious as to what others thought of the movie - then and/or now - and perhaps some history behind the film. I see that there was some talk about this being a vehicle for Marilyn Monroe at one point, but I wonder how the other actors got involved, etc.

Any comments would be great.

If you enjoyed WHAT A WAY TO GO, you should definitely check out THE LOVED ONE.

I didn't see WHAT A WAY TO GO until it ran on AMC sometime in the early 1990s and it was quite a revelation. I wished I'd seen it when it came out (when I was about 10) because I think I would have gotten a lot out of it at that age, particularly in the lineup of stars and the way each segment mirrored a particular type of Hollywood film. I think the sequence that would have had the strongest impression on me at that age would have been the Gene Kelly musical segment. I had not seen a Gene Kelly movie at that point and I think I would have sought out his older classic musicals much sooner in my life. What surprised me when I finally saw this was the realization that this was Kelly's last full-on musical comedy song-and-dance film performance (MacLaine had one or two more left in her). And MacLaine was a wonderful partner for him.

Also: Dean Martin is great, as always, in a role that's a bit of a departure for him.

Finally: this was Margaret Dumont's last film. Thirty years after she served as the foil for the Marx Bros., she plays MacLaine's mother. And she's just great. Given some of the other character actors on hand (Reginald Gardiner, Tom Conway, Fifi D'orsay, Wally Vernon), it all adds up to a once-in-a-lifetime cast. And that's Teri Garr as one of the dancers.

I caught up with this recently. It's not all it could be, but it's fun, and an easier sit than MacLaine's other film with director J. Lee Thompson, JOHN GOLDFARB, PLEASE COME HOME (which probably has its fans, too). The actors have fun spoofing themselves and manage to share it with the audience, rather than keeping it to themselves, as often happens with these jamboree-type movies. Robert Cummings was a stiff in his Hitchcock pictures but his reactions of disbelief as the psychiatrist in this film are pricelessly expressed (he's superbly oily as a PR-type in the same year's CARPETBAGGERS).

Robert Mitchum was, or had been, involved with MacLaine at that time and filled in for Frank Sinatra when he dropped out. The Gene Kelly segment is striking in its egocentricity regarding its star, and I'm sure he delighted in the Comden-Green material. [Their script isn't top-drawer but the laughs are there.] Kelly, by the way, danced his way through THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT (67) and may have even warbled a bit, too, in XANADU (80), his bigscreen swan song--but I'm unwilling to revisit the film to confirm that.

The film has been mooted for a remake, but I think there's a full-fledged stage musical in there just waiting to bust out.

This is my favourite Maclaine-film along with Irma la douce. The little Films-within the film is wonderfully done, especially the Nouvelle Vague short in Paris. A piece of info (that might have fitted better on the European cult-bord, but anyway...) is that Barbara Bouchet is featured shortly as one of Robert Mitchums girls on the plane.

Just to throw in a couple of comments that the rest of you have reminded me of: I first saw this as a second feature at the drive-ins. I don't know how old I was at the time, but it must have been a re-release of the film, as I was born the same year the film was released originally. Interestingly enough, there were three things I remember from that showing: The death of Dick Van Dyke's character (which, for a kid raised on his television series and always seeing him as a "good guy," was a shock to see), the ending of the film, and my mother's grumbling that MacLaine was showing WAAAAY too much cleavage in the film, "the tramp." :lol:

Piotr, it's funny that you mentioned THE LOVED ONES, as I instantly started thinking about that film upon seeing the opening of this movie again when I watched the DVD. Another great film of the 1960s that would have a hard time getting through a major studio today, I believe. (As well as another "black comedy" film I saw before the age of ten. Boy, no wonder I'm as messed up as I am!)

Thanks for the comments so far, I'm really enjoying the thoughts here.

I read that Robert Mitchem appeared in this movie for FREE. Thats right. No paycheck for Bobby. It had something to do with taxes.