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Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957)

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Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?


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Groucho Another movie with only a very short appearance of Groucho, this American romantic comedy film stars Jayne Mansfield and Tony Randall.
It was produced and directed by Frank Tashlin, who also wrote the largely original screenplay, utilizing little more than the title and the character of Rita Marlowe from the successful Broadway play "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" by George Axelrod. The Broadway play ran from 1955-1956 and also starred Jayne Mansfield as Rita.
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? received a nomination for a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actor - Musical/Comedy (Tony Randall) and a nomination for the Writers Guild of America, East WGA Award (Screen) for Best Written American Comedy (Frank Tashlin). The character, Rita Marlowe, is loosely based on Marilyn Monroe.

A writer for television advertising, Rockwell P. Hunter (Randall), is low on the ladder at the company he works for. He then finds the perfect model and spokesperson for his new line of lipstick, the famous actress with the "oh-so-kissable lips", Rita Marlowe (Mansfield).
In order for Rita to endorse the lipstick, however, Rock has to pretend to be her boyfriend to make her real boyfriend, Bobo Branigansky (Hargitay), the star of a TV Tarzan show, jealous. Bobo leaks the news of Rita's new romance to the tabloids and Rock Hunter is suddenly famous. Women are crazy about him and he moves steadily up the ladder at work, becoming company president, only to find it is not what he really wanted.
At the behest of his agency, Rock is forced to propose to Rita on a coast-to-coast TV show, which breaks the heart of his fiancée, Jenny Wells (Drake), who is not too pleased, but she takes him back in the end. Both Rock and Rita are saved from a marriage neither one wants by the last-minute arrival of Rita's hometown boyfriend, George Schmidlap (Marx).

This page uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License


Cast:

Tony Randall   Rockwell Hunter
Jayne Mansfield   Rita Marlowe
Betsy Drake   Jenny
Joan Blondell   Violet
John Williams   LaSalle Junior
Henry Jones   Rufus
Lili Gentle   April
Mickey Hargitay   Bobo Branigansky
Groucho Marx   George Schmidlap
Georgia Carr   Calypso singer
Dick Whittinghill   TV Interviewer
Ann McCrea   Gladys
Lida Piazza   Junior's secretary
Bob Adler   Mailman
Phil Chambers   Mailman
Larry Kerr   Mr. Ezarus
Sherill Terry   Annie
Mack Williams   Hotel doorman
Patrick Powell   Receptionist
Carmen Nisbit   Breakfast food demonstrator
Richard Deems   Razor demonstrator
Benny Rubin   Theatre manager
Minta Durfee   Scrubwoman
Edith Russell   Scrubwoman
Don Corey   Voice of Ed Sullivan
Alberto Morin   Frenchman
Louis Mercier   Frenchman
Stella Stevens   Secretary

Director  Frank Tashlin
Written by  Frank Tashlin
  George Axelrod (play)
Cinematography  Joseph MacDonald
Art director  Lyle R. Wheeler
  Leland Fuller
Editor  Hugh S. Fowler
Music  Cyril J. Mockridge
Musical director  Lionel Newman
Vocal supervisor  Ken Darby
Song "You got it made"  Bobby Troup
Orchestration  Edward B. Powell
Sound  E. Clayton Ward
  Frank Moran
Set decorators  Walter M. Scott
  Bertram C. Granger
Executive wardrobe designer  Charles Le Maire
Make-up  Ben Nye
Hair stylist  Helen Turpin
Special camera effects  L.B. Abbott
Color consultant  Leonard Doss
Assistant director  Joseph E. Richards
Producer  Frank Tashlin
Production company / Distribution  20th Century Fox
Color by DeLuxe, CinemaScope  
Runtime  94 min.
Release date  29 Jul 1957


This site uses material originally created by Frank Bland for his website Why A Duck?. Frank did kindly give me permission to use this material.

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