Amazon.com: "Being married is the normal way to live... isn't it?" The note of doubt at the end of that statement is fully exploited in How to Murder Your Wife (1965), a barbed piece of war-between-the-sexes comedy. Cartoonist Jack Lemmon, an exponent of the Playboy philosophy, lives in the ultimate swinging bachelor townhouse ("Everything masculine and perfect," manservant Terry-Thomas says approvingly) until a drunken evening leads to marriage with an Italian bombshell (Virna Lisi). What to do? The whole movie seems to exist in order to arrive at Lemmon's clever courtroom oration in the final half-hour, which is tartly funny if datedly misogynistic: he unleashes a male fantasy of trashing the gray-flannel suit and late-model station wagon for Hefneresque freedom. The wheel-spinning of the early reels is curious coming from screenwriter George Axelrod, usually a reliable satirist. He had better hours than this, notably in Breakfast at Tiffany's and Lord Love a Duck. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Not a chickflick, a hysterical adventure and farewell to bachelorhood
The truth is beauty, and Virna Lisi is a goddess. Of all the women Jack Lemmon's character should hook up to, she would have to be miss galaxy. It's the farewell to bachelorhood and evil-wife shenanigans of acquaintences influencing his new wife that make his new marriage so rough. Loads of laughs, lots of fun. Worth checking out. I would give a big neigh to anyone accusing this movie of mysoginistic tendencies...or maybe I'd just laugh at them and call them an idiot. In either event, hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Rating: - Best Wilder Film Billy Never Made
Pay little heed to the title. This film is as macabre as "So I Married an Axe Murderer". Though some may dismiss the film as a tad misogynistic ultimately the film comes down firmly on the side of monogamy and commitment in relationships. Having been married a little less than two years after 43 years of unwedded bliss I can relate to the trials that Jack Lemmon's everyman cartoonist experiences during the initial stages of matrimony. The shocks are still a little raw. I can still remember my wife's insistence that I take my shoes off in the house or her horror over the shaving cream residue ... Read More
Rating: - Smart, funny, yet makes you think again
A perfect Sunday morning movie, and one that is on my "best movies" list. The characters have been perfectly selected. When one looks around, one sees similar faces, with similar desires, problems and lives. Jack Lemmon portrays a character that many men relate to, admire, and perhaps long to be. His lifestyle is the perfect bachelor's lifestyle. Virna Lisi fits her role perfectly, her being pretty, sexy, innocent and on the road to the "promised land". Lemmon's manservant, Terry-Thomas, is right on the spot, and delightfully displays the bond between the knight and his right-hand man. But ... Read More
Rating: - Bash Branigan Rules!
When I was a kid, I wanted to grow up to be this character. What a life he had!
Rating: - How to Murder Your Wife
A chuckle all the way through. Jack Lemmon at his comedic best during his younger years. Virna Lisi was gorgeous and is still beautiful as she has gone on to more dramatic parts in her native Italy and won acting awards.
The plot becomes ridiculous during the court sequence, but if you can ignore that, the movie is enjoyable.
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