How to Murder Your Wife

"Bring The Little Woman...Maybe She'll Die Laughing!"

1965 1h 58m EN

😐

6.4

MID

★6.4TMDB · 156

Comedy

Synopsis

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Stanley Ford is a successful cartoonist and happily single. That is, until he gets drunk at a friend's bachelor party and impulsively proposes to the beautiful woman who pops out of the cake. Once sober, he regrets the decision, but she won't agree to a divorce. Stanley jokingly vents his frustrations in his comic strip by having the main character kill his wife. But when his actual wife goes missing and Stanley is arrested for her murder, he has a change of heart.

“Bring The Little Woman...Maybe She'll Die Laughing!”

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Cast

Jack Lemmon
Stanley Ford
Virna Lisi
Mrs. Ford
Terry-Thomas
Charles
Eddie Mayehoff
Harold Lampson
Claire Trevor
Edna
Sidney Blackmer
Judge Blackstone
Max Showalter
Tobey Rawlins
Jack Albertson
Dr. Bentley

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Richard Quine
Writers: George Axelrod
Languages: Italian, English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

61 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Italian, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Richard Quine, shot by Harry Stradling Sr.. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Neal Hefti. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor David Wages shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Jack Lemmon and Virna Lisi and Terry-Thomas carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Bring The Little Woman...Maybe She'll Die Laughing!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0058212 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Richard Quine directs. Harry Stradling Sr. behind the camera. Neal Hefti scores. David Wages cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in Italian, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

161 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Italian, English.
3Directed by Richard Quine, shot by Harry Stradling Sr.. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Neal Hefti. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor David Wages shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Jack Lemmon and Virna Lisi and Terry-Thomas carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Bring The Little Woman...Maybe She'll Die Laughing!".
8IMDB entry: tt0058212 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 18 themes, including "bachelor", "pretended murder", "dark comedy", "stripper".

The technical file

Cinematography: Harry Stradling Sr.
Original score: Neal Hefti
Editing: David Wages
Production design: Richard Sylbert
Costume design: Moss Mabry
Makeup / hair: Fred Williams
Runtime: 118 min · 1h 58m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Box office: $12,000,000
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: How to Murder Your Wife (1965)

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Richard Quine

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2015-10-05
★ 4/10
Lemmon unable to save this from averageville. Cartoonist Stanley Ford loves bachelorhood, he enjoys his life, he has a butler to serve him, he can get girls, and he likes a drink or two. Then one night he's at a bachelor party and the beautiful Virna Lisi pops up out of the cake, his life is about to change. For when he wakes up in the morning, he finds he has married her, and to compound his problems, she doesn't speak any English. As a big Jack Lemmon fan I have to say I'm very disappointed in this picture, it's essentially a two joke movie that wastes Lemmon and Terry-Thomas' talent. The first half of the picture plays heavy on the fact that the new Mrs Ford only speaks Italian, this sets us up for a number of funny sequences, particularly when Claire Trevor enters the fray as Edna, but on it goes, and on it goes... We then get to watch as Stanley gains weight due to Mrs Ford's willingness to cook for her new husband, with Lemmon reduced to playing Stanley as an exasperated buffoon, henpecked within an inch of his manhood. The second half of the picture, as the title suggests, sees Stanley grow a spine and decide to deal with his problem by killing the wife. You would think that this sets the picture up for a number of riotous sequences as Stanley tries to do away with her, but sadly no, it's just the one joke that fails to light up the picture in any shape or form. The run in to the finale is marginally saved by the always reliable Eddie Mayehoff, but come the credits you wonder if the film ever meant to be a full blown comedy in the first place? 4/10 for Mayehoff and Terry-Thomas' opening scenes.

Production companies