Writer/Director Richard Brooks made some well respected films like In Cold Blood and The Blackboard Jungle, as well as this unintended camp fest. Like Brooks' Sweet Bird of Youth and Looking for Mr. Goodbar, The Happy Ending is an elaborately misconceived mess but, a lot more fun.
It's a sincere attempt to portray middle-age unhappiness: infidelity,emptiness, aging, pills, and booze, but the dialog has to be heard to be believed. Talented Jean Simmons (Great Expectations, Spartacus, Elmer Gantry) stars as an alcoholic Denver housewife along with a host of second string actors like Bobby Darin, Tina Louise, Nanette Fabray, Dick Shawn, and Shirley Jones who recite the laughable dialog as if it was profound. My favorite piece of imparted wisdom is delivered by Nanette Fabray: "If sex were the only thing that really mattered, the WHOLE WORLD would be run by rabbits!"
The Happy Ending may be best remembered for its Oscar-nominated theme song "What Are You Doing for the Rest of Your Life?" that's heard several times throughout the film. The film has an effective ending, fine cinematography from Conrad Hall, and as he did in Looking for Mr.Goodbar and In Cold Blood, Brooks uses extensive flashbacks and flashy editing. Jean Simmons, nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Hamlet in 1948, received her second Oscar nomination(Best Actress) for this film. She and director Brooks were married at the time. Released the same year as Easy Rider, The Wild Bunch, and Midnight Cowboy, The Happy Ending pretty much disappeared without a trace. Because it takes its subject seriously, the film becomes seriously funny. It does for desperate Denver housewives, what Valley of the Dolls did for ladies in showbiz. Hard to find but, worth catching.
It's a sincere attempt to portray middle-age unhappiness: infidelity,emptiness, aging, pills, and booze, but the dialog has to be heard to be believed. Talented Jean Simmons (Great Expectations, Spartacus, Elmer Gantry) stars as an alcoholic Denver housewife along with a host of second string actors like Bobby Darin, Tina Louise, Nanette Fabray, Dick Shawn, and Shirley Jones who recite the laughable dialog as if it was profound. My favorite piece of imparted wisdom is delivered by Nanette Fabray: "If sex were the only thing that really mattered, the WHOLE WORLD would be run by rabbits!"
The Happy Ending may be best remembered for its Oscar-nominated theme song "What Are You Doing for the Rest of Your Life?" that's heard several times throughout the film. The film has an effective ending, fine cinematography from Conrad Hall, and as he did in Looking for Mr.Goodbar and In Cold Blood, Brooks uses extensive flashbacks and flashy editing. Jean Simmons, nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Hamlet in 1948, received her second Oscar nomination(Best Actress) for this film. She and director Brooks were married at the time. Released the same year as Easy Rider, The Wild Bunch, and Midnight Cowboy, The Happy Ending pretty much disappeared without a trace. Because it takes its subject seriously, the film becomes seriously funny. It does for desperate Denver housewives, what Valley of the Dolls did for ladies in showbiz. Hard to find but, worth catching.