Paddy Chayefsky's screenplay is perceptive and even a bit daring for its time. This is an unusually sophisticated Hollywood picture from the 50s that contains some terrific acting. E.G. Marshall is very strong as the eldest of the men, but Oscar nominee Carolyn Jones is brilliant in a small, electrifying performance. She can't be in the film for more than 7 or 8 minutes but is completely memorable. She deserved to win the Oscar.
32 Reviews
The party ends and we grow up
mls418222 May 2021
This is basically a story of five buddies who miss the freedom of their youth. We might have less legal and moral restrictions 65 years later but the story is still basically the same.
Good script, good performances and Carolyn Jones will leave you wanting much more. I don't get the complaints about the ending. I don't want to give any spoilers so I won't go into detail.
Good script, good performances and Carolyn Jones will leave you wanting much more. I don't get the complaints about the ending. I don't want to give any spoilers so I won't go into detail.
Five Friends.
AaronCapenBanner29 October 2013
Delbert Mann directed another Paddy Chayefsky script(he wrote "Marty", which Mann directed) about five office workers and friends who celebrate the forthcoming marriage of one of them(played by Philip Abbott) Charlie Samson(played by Don Murray) is the thoughtful one of the group, whose wife(played by Patricia Smith) is expecting a baby, putting more stress on him. He will come to appreciate his family more after an eventful night, with angst-ridden Walter(played by E.G. Marshal) stable Kenneth(played by Larry Blyden) and the loud but lonely bachelor(played by Jack Warden). Carolyn Jones costars as a beautiful but lonely existentialist. Well-written and acted film about family life and self-determination has somehow been overlooked by time, since it has yet to be released on DVD for some reason; until then, VHS will have to do!
Wow! A Must See!
gort-812 February 2007
Please don't think I'm exaggerating when I call this movie a "must see." Other reviews have called this film depressing. I agree, but for entirely different reasons. The depressing part comes in realizing that there seems to be no room for the sort of superb writing and spot-on flawless performances in a mature drama such as we have offered to us by THE BACHELOR PARTY.
The reason for the scarcity of wonderful films like this owes to the movie's origin as a TV-play, at a time when the young medium was still showing outstanding pieces written by writers like the author of this screenplay, Paddy Chayefsky.
I once read an interview with King Vidor, discussing his amazing 1928 classic, THE CROWD. He said that there were people that he didn't care for in his life, but that he didn't have any actual "villains." His goal was to make a movie that, like life, was free from external fiends and instead was peopled with characters that had some internal obstacles over which they must prevail. That's the sort of thing that Chayefsky so brilliantly captured in THE BACHELOR PARTY. Each character had some missing or broken part with which they struggled. Some seem to triumph over their problems. Some might eventually. Some, well, let's simply say they have a long road ahead.
It was great to see E.G. Marshall and Jack Warden together again after seeing them in another movie from the same year (1957) - 12 ANGRY MEN. It was wonderful to see Philip Abbot as the nervous groom. Folks of a certain age will mostly recall him from dozens of guest-star appearances on popular TV shows. I didn't realize that Larry Blyden, who I mostly remember from classic game shows like "Match Game," "What's My Line?" "Password" and "To Tell the Truth" was also such an accomplished actor. The lead, Don Murray, isn't as highly regarded today and what a pity that is. I can't recall a Don Murray performance that I didn't like. Check out BUS STOP (1956), A HAT FULL OF RAIN (1957), HOODLUM PRIEST (1961), BABY THE RAIN MUST FALL (1964) and THE BORGIA STICK (1967) to get an idea of what this remarkable performer is capable of doing. And finally, in small roles, it was fun to see a pre-"Addams Family" Carolyn Jones in a part that bagged her a Best Supporting Actress nomination and Nancy Marchand as a friend or the main character's wife. Many of you know her as the mother from hell to Tony Soprano.
The reason for the scarcity of wonderful films like this owes to the movie's origin as a TV-play, at a time when the young medium was still showing outstanding pieces written by writers like the author of this screenplay, Paddy Chayefsky.
I once read an interview with King Vidor, discussing his amazing 1928 classic, THE CROWD. He said that there were people that he didn't care for in his life, but that he didn't have any actual "villains." His goal was to make a movie that, like life, was free from external fiends and instead was peopled with characters that had some internal obstacles over which they must prevail. That's the sort of thing that Chayefsky so brilliantly captured in THE BACHELOR PARTY. Each character had some missing or broken part with which they struggled. Some seem to triumph over their problems. Some might eventually. Some, well, let's simply say they have a long road ahead.
It was great to see E.G. Marshall and Jack Warden together again after seeing them in another movie from the same year (1957) - 12 ANGRY MEN. It was wonderful to see Philip Abbot as the nervous groom. Folks of a certain age will mostly recall him from dozens of guest-star appearances on popular TV shows. I didn't realize that Larry Blyden, who I mostly remember from classic game shows like "Match Game," "What's My Line?" "Password" and "To Tell the Truth" was also such an accomplished actor. The lead, Don Murray, isn't as highly regarded today and what a pity that is. I can't recall a Don Murray performance that I didn't like. Check out BUS STOP (1956), A HAT FULL OF RAIN (1957), HOODLUM PRIEST (1961), BABY THE RAIN MUST FALL (1964) and THE BORGIA STICK (1967) to get an idea of what this remarkable performer is capable of doing. And finally, in small roles, it was fun to see a pre-"Addams Family" Carolyn Jones in a part that bagged her a Best Supporting Actress nomination and Nancy Marchand as a friend or the main character's wife. Many of you know her as the mother from hell to Tony Soprano.
It's slow...but worth seeing.
planktonrules21 May 2021
The plot to "The Bachelor Party" is extremely simple. A group of men who work together go out for a night on the town to celebrate the upcoming marriage of one of them. Over time, it seems that the film is less about what the guys do and more about the way they assess and reassess their lives during the course of the evening. Each is different and it's a character study more than a traditional story.
The biggest reason I watched the film was that it was written by Paddy Chayefsky....the brilliant writer of such classics as "Marty" and "Network". Clearly he's a man who loved writing dialog and characters as opposed to situations...and it's much the same here. It also was written by Delbert Mann, a very accomplished director. As for the actors, mostly the consist of character actors and they all do quite well.
So why did I only end up giving the film a 6? Well, despite being well made and interesting, the film seemed quite slow and actually might have played better as an hour long film instead...perhaps a teleplay. It just felt stretched out a bit too much,...and I found my attention wavering a bit as it progressed. Still, it is interesting and worth seeing.
The biggest reason I watched the film was that it was written by Paddy Chayefsky....the brilliant writer of such classics as "Marty" and "Network". Clearly he's a man who loved writing dialog and characters as opposed to situations...and it's much the same here. It also was written by Delbert Mann, a very accomplished director. As for the actors, mostly the consist of character actors and they all do quite well.
So why did I only end up giving the film a 6? Well, despite being well made and interesting, the film seemed quite slow and actually might have played better as an hour long film instead...perhaps a teleplay. It just felt stretched out a bit too much,...and I found my attention wavering a bit as it progressed. Still, it is interesting and worth seeing.
Nice Slice-of-life drama
Handlinghandel24 May 2007
"Look Back In Anger," which came out on film a year after this, is a far more famous and influential work. Yet it doesn't hold up. The charter of Jimmy Potter, the original angry young man, seems extremely disagreeable. That film is beautifully acted.
"The Bachelor Party," on the other hand, though a far lesser work, does not seem dated. Oh sure: The money is different. The approach to women is antithetical to Women's Liberation. But it's a nice little movie.
Of the Paddy Chayevsky movies from this time, I would rate "The Catered Affair" as the best. Next would come this. Then would be the feted "Marty," which is extremely dated.
Don Murray makes a highly likable main character. The other men are good too. The women don't register so well. And in particular, the gifted Carolyn Jones's role has not held up well: She plays a character called The Existentialist. Murray meets her at a Beatnik party in Greenwich Village -- and a highly improbable one, at that. She doesn't seem Bohemian. She seems like a garden variety kvetch.
But it's an easy movie to like and one I would recommend.
(It seems to me a precursor to the John Cassavetes buddy movies that were to begin a few years later.)
"The Bachelor Party," on the other hand, though a far lesser work, does not seem dated. Oh sure: The money is different. The approach to women is antithetical to Women's Liberation. But it's a nice little movie.
Of the Paddy Chayevsky movies from this time, I would rate "The Catered Affair" as the best. Next would come this. Then would be the feted "Marty," which is extremely dated.
Don Murray makes a highly likable main character. The other men are good too. The women don't register so well. And in particular, the gifted Carolyn Jones's role has not held up well: She plays a character called The Existentialist. Murray meets her at a Beatnik party in Greenwich Village -- and a highly improbable one, at that. She doesn't seem Bohemian. She seems like a garden variety kvetch.
But it's an easy movie to like and one I would recommend.
(It seems to me a precursor to the John Cassavetes buddy movies that were to begin a few years later.)
Unusually realistic, beautifully acted film from the fifties
mp-1421 April 2001
Don Murray is good as a married man coaxed (by his wife!) into attending a bachelor party for a fellow bookkeeper. The wife (well played by Patricia Smith) seems to know the party will test Murray's nose-to-the-grindstone dedication to their marriage. It does -- and reveals a great deal about the other participants as well, especially the prospective bridegroom, who seems to get more emotional satisfaction from friend Murray than his bride-to-be. The ending is sentimental, but moving, too, if you give it a chance, and there's a truly brilliant small performance from Carolyn Jones, probably seven or eight of the most mesmerizing minutes ever filmed.
Depressing story of boy's night out...fine performances...
Doylenf9 March 2007
THE BACHELOR PARTY is adapted from Paddy Chayefsky's TV play and is a watered down version of other Chayefsky stories about lonely men and the lives they live--even when married.
It's downbeat all the way, beginning with an office scene where an obnoxious JACK WARDEN monopolizes office routine with his loud personal calls as he arranges for the evening's bachelor party. Reluctantly, happily married DON MURRAY agrees to attend, giving himself a night off from night school studies, although his reluctance is partly due to the fact that his wife is expecting their first child. LARRY BLYDEN just wants a night out with the boys and PHILIP ABBOTT is the soon to be groom, a "Marty" type of guy, shy with the gals, who reveals during the course of the evening that he's not ready for marriage.
The talk is natural, the dialog is very much Chayefsky's gift for simple folks expressing themselves in ways we can all relate to--and yet, the film lacks pace and shows its origin--a TV play that is character driven but not open enough for the screen.
CAROLYN JONES has a brief party scene that she plays well as an "existentialist" mouthing gibberish and for some reason she got an Oscar nomination for what is almost a bit role. Unbelievable.
Summing up: A disappointment, noteworthy only for the sincerity of all the performances with DON MURRAY especially likable and straightforward in his portrayal of the conflicted husband.
It's downbeat all the way, beginning with an office scene where an obnoxious JACK WARDEN monopolizes office routine with his loud personal calls as he arranges for the evening's bachelor party. Reluctantly, happily married DON MURRAY agrees to attend, giving himself a night off from night school studies, although his reluctance is partly due to the fact that his wife is expecting their first child. LARRY BLYDEN just wants a night out with the boys and PHILIP ABBOTT is the soon to be groom, a "Marty" type of guy, shy with the gals, who reveals during the course of the evening that he's not ready for marriage.
The talk is natural, the dialog is very much Chayefsky's gift for simple folks expressing themselves in ways we can all relate to--and yet, the film lacks pace and shows its origin--a TV play that is character driven but not open enough for the screen.
CAROLYN JONES has a brief party scene that she plays well as an "existentialist" mouthing gibberish and for some reason she got an Oscar nomination for what is almost a bit role. Unbelievable.
Summing up: A disappointment, noteworthy only for the sincerity of all the performances with DON MURRAY especially likable and straightforward in his portrayal of the conflicted husband.
Terrific, realistic slice-of-life "Lost" movie NOT on DVD!
johnpressman@yahoo.com13 February 2007
This is one of my favorite movies,"Marty" is my number one!. Wonderful acting and realistic dialog not seen today except in small independent movies. As each character shows himself, we can see our own doubts and struggles with marriage and the accompanying responsibilities. I like how Nancy Marchand appears in this, she was "Clara" in the live TV version of "Marty" opposite Rod Steiger.Terrific location shots of New York in the 1950s especially Greenwich Village.
Now let's see the third in what I call the "Paddy Chayefsky Trilogy": "Marty", "The Bachelor Party" and (also, another "Lost" film not on DVD) "Middle of the Night"!
Now let's see the third in what I call the "Paddy Chayefsky Trilogy": "Marty", "The Bachelor Party" and (also, another "Lost" film not on DVD) "Middle of the Night"!
With healing the inner self-hatred that dominates all of us.
mark.waltz13 February 2021
Warning: Spoilers
When people have too much time on their hands or too much to drink, sometimes they tend to analyze themselves a bet too much. This focuses on five men at a bachelor party, overly confident at the outstart but revealing their insecurities and self doubts as the evening goes on and the liquor flows. The ensemble includes some of the most promising young actors of the 1950s, some who would go on too much greater success.
Don Murray is the unofficial lead as a married man who finds out that his wife, Patricia Smith, is going to have their first child, and this brings out a lot of stress and anger and regret. Then there's the seemingly older but eternal bachelor Jack Warden who is desperate to find some female action, and Phillip Abbott as the room to be with a lot of doubts. Other than Larry Blyden as one of the men given a character name, none of these people's identities are mentioned, giving the film an "every man" sort of feel.
The few women who appear throughout the film are basically minor parts but they still have strengths as far as character development mainly for themselves but also giving insights into the men surrounding them. Smith, as the pregnant wife, is filled with her own insecurities and Nancy Marchand, as her sister, is also very revealing in her brief time on screen. But the real powerhouse performance is Carolyn Jones, sporting her popular pixie haircut of the 50's, and really making a major impact in just a brief time.
Direction by Daniel Mann and a powerful script by Paddy Chayevsky add to the very personal atmosphere that utilizes great New York City locations and is filled with little details that make the stand the test of time. The scene on the subway as two co-workers observe a woman being harassed by another man on the train its just one little example of how powerful good drama can be when it is written with character in mind rather than exploitive plot
Don Murray is the unofficial lead as a married man who finds out that his wife, Patricia Smith, is going to have their first child, and this brings out a lot of stress and anger and regret. Then there's the seemingly older but eternal bachelor Jack Warden who is desperate to find some female action, and Phillip Abbott as the room to be with a lot of doubts. Other than Larry Blyden as one of the men given a character name, none of these people's identities are mentioned, giving the film an "every man" sort of feel.
The few women who appear throughout the film are basically minor parts but they still have strengths as far as character development mainly for themselves but also giving insights into the men surrounding them. Smith, as the pregnant wife, is filled with her own insecurities and Nancy Marchand, as her sister, is also very revealing in her brief time on screen. But the real powerhouse performance is Carolyn Jones, sporting her popular pixie haircut of the 50's, and really making a major impact in just a brief time.
Direction by Daniel Mann and a powerful script by Paddy Chayevsky add to the very personal atmosphere that utilizes great New York City locations and is filled with little details that make the stand the test of time. The scene on the subway as two co-workers observe a woman being harassed by another man on the train its just one little example of how powerful good drama can be when it is written with character in mind rather than exploitive plot
The Bachelor Party- Stag Nation **1/2
edwagreen12 March 2007
Remember in the 1955 film, "Marty," a group of guys keep asking, "So, what are we going to do tonight?" That film as well as this one was directed by Delbert Mann with the writing done by Paddy Chayefsky. In "Bachelor Party" the guys really don't seem to know again what they're going to be doing.
Despite excellent performances by Don Murray, E.G. Marshall, Larry Blyden and Nancy Marchand, this film stagnates. I was almost getting dizzy from the constant subway rides. It was great seeing what the New York subways looked like in the 1950s but enough was enough.
When several guys in an office plan a bachelor party for a nervous to-be-groom, nicely done by Philip Abbott, it becomes an evening of self-examination.
I was waiting for a burst out scene but unfortunately that never came.
Much has been made about Carolyn Jones's brief supporting Oscar nomination bid. As far as I'm concerned, it was much ado about nothing. Patricia Smith, as Don Murray's wife, and Nancy Marchand, as the sister-in-law, gave far better performances as an anxious-to-be mother and sister-in-law whose husband, a doctor, has been cheating on her.
Jack Warden epitomizes the care-free bachelor whose main purpose in life is to chase after women. His life is quite empty as we see at the end of the film. Larry Blyden, who left us way too early, depicts the stay-at-home type who quickly realizes that this "party" is a mistake and that he belongs home. Marshall does a complete turn in acting as the asthmatic member of the group who has to relocate to Arizona if he wants to survive.
The film conveys the frustrations of every day life. Someone should have told the film makers about the frustrations in this film as well.
Despite excellent performances by Don Murray, E.G. Marshall, Larry Blyden and Nancy Marchand, this film stagnates. I was almost getting dizzy from the constant subway rides. It was great seeing what the New York subways looked like in the 1950s but enough was enough.
When several guys in an office plan a bachelor party for a nervous to-be-groom, nicely done by Philip Abbott, it becomes an evening of self-examination.
I was waiting for a burst out scene but unfortunately that never came.
Much has been made about Carolyn Jones's brief supporting Oscar nomination bid. As far as I'm concerned, it was much ado about nothing. Patricia Smith, as Don Murray's wife, and Nancy Marchand, as the sister-in-law, gave far better performances as an anxious-to-be mother and sister-in-law whose husband, a doctor, has been cheating on her.
Jack Warden epitomizes the care-free bachelor whose main purpose in life is to chase after women. His life is quite empty as we see at the end of the film. Larry Blyden, who left us way too early, depicts the stay-at-home type who quickly realizes that this "party" is a mistake and that he belongs home. Marshall does a complete turn in acting as the asthmatic member of the group who has to relocate to Arizona if he wants to survive.
The film conveys the frustrations of every day life. Someone should have told the film makers about the frustrations in this film as well.
There's Life In This Party
telegonus4 September 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Having just finished watching the movie The Bachelor Party I'm surprised that it isn't all that highly regarded on this site. It's a far better than average slice,--more accurately, slices--of life from a now bygone era when people still sat on stoops of apartment buildings, and if it was a youngish, even plain woman most men would regard her as at least somewhat "available".
The plot of the movie is simple: a bunch of white collar guys, some middle class, others on the fringe, go out on a binge called a bachelor party to celebrate the engagement and impending marriage of one of their fellow workers. What transpires isn't so happy an evening as one might have imagined, and things do not, as time passes and the men get drunker, improve. As is to be expected in films (and at the time, TV dramas), the question of the meaning of life comes up in various forms; as does the issue of whether marriage is worth the grief that often comes along with it; and as the story meanders along, rambling with its characters, larger matters of love and death are brought up; too schematically for my tastes, but there you have it.
It's a decent, at times flawed script, but the superb performances of the major players help enormously; and the character development is good. Some of the parts are meatier than others, but the actors themselves cannot be blamed for this:
Don Murray is a young Everyman with a pregnant wife; he's in night school so as to become an accountant, which will better equip him to support his family. He's the "audience identification" character in what's in many ways a thankless part, but Murray breaths life into it. Jack Warden could have played his standard issue baseball loving bachelor in his sleep, but he didn't. E.G. Marshall's portrayal of a death haunted (and for good reason) book-keeper, is itself haunting, and for me, a revelation, as Marshall generally played men in control of their emotions, not in conflict with them.
Larry Blyden was fine in a small part, while Philip Abbott, whom I've always liked, played his role of the man the bachelor party was thrown for, with beauty, sincerity and an modest, non-showboating realism that made me wish he'd got better parts later in his career. Carolyn Jones made the best of her small beantick role but for the life of me I can't see why she got an Academy award nomination for her few brief scenes.
Joseph La Shelle's photography was Oscar worthy (he didn't win,--I don't know if he was even nominated). As a kind of street-bound, realistic panorama of a now vanished New York City the movie is worth viewing just for that. Not to belittle the story,--it's a good one, albeit prosaic--some of the greatest pleasures of the film are in the way it looks: the subways, the bars, whether neighborhood or the hipster kind, even the men's rooms, the staircases of older buildings. At its best, as the purely visual-spatial level, the film is a joy to behold.
The ending, the way author Chayefsky wound things up too neatly for my tastes, felt quite frankly specious, as if written for suburbanites who want to see city folk as "normal", or trying to be, rather than going their own way, so to speak, at the time an option in urban life; today, not so much, as the cities of today are, culturally, not much different from the suburbs. The lines Don Murray was given to read in his final few moments in the film felt like came from a sermon, not from the mouth of a real human being. Too bad. The movie is mostly talk, which is, when well done, fine by me, but it seemed, in those closing scenes to switch gears too quickly.
Overall, The Bachelor Party is a first rate movie with. admittedly, some issues that kept it from being truly great; and it's certainly worth watching. It does fall short, but not, in my humble opinion, nearly so far as many reviewers have said it does.
The plot of the movie is simple: a bunch of white collar guys, some middle class, others on the fringe, go out on a binge called a bachelor party to celebrate the engagement and impending marriage of one of their fellow workers. What transpires isn't so happy an evening as one might have imagined, and things do not, as time passes and the men get drunker, improve. As is to be expected in films (and at the time, TV dramas), the question of the meaning of life comes up in various forms; as does the issue of whether marriage is worth the grief that often comes along with it; and as the story meanders along, rambling with its characters, larger matters of love and death are brought up; too schematically for my tastes, but there you have it.
It's a decent, at times flawed script, but the superb performances of the major players help enormously; and the character development is good. Some of the parts are meatier than others, but the actors themselves cannot be blamed for this:
Don Murray is a young Everyman with a pregnant wife; he's in night school so as to become an accountant, which will better equip him to support his family. He's the "audience identification" character in what's in many ways a thankless part, but Murray breaths life into it. Jack Warden could have played his standard issue baseball loving bachelor in his sleep, but he didn't. E.G. Marshall's portrayal of a death haunted (and for good reason) book-keeper, is itself haunting, and for me, a revelation, as Marshall generally played men in control of their emotions, not in conflict with them.
Larry Blyden was fine in a small part, while Philip Abbott, whom I've always liked, played his role of the man the bachelor party was thrown for, with beauty, sincerity and an modest, non-showboating realism that made me wish he'd got better parts later in his career. Carolyn Jones made the best of her small beantick role but for the life of me I can't see why she got an Academy award nomination for her few brief scenes.
Joseph La Shelle's photography was Oscar worthy (he didn't win,--I don't know if he was even nominated). As a kind of street-bound, realistic panorama of a now vanished New York City the movie is worth viewing just for that. Not to belittle the story,--it's a good one, albeit prosaic--some of the greatest pleasures of the film are in the way it looks: the subways, the bars, whether neighborhood or the hipster kind, even the men's rooms, the staircases of older buildings. At its best, as the purely visual-spatial level, the film is a joy to behold.
The ending, the way author Chayefsky wound things up too neatly for my tastes, felt quite frankly specious, as if written for suburbanites who want to see city folk as "normal", or trying to be, rather than going their own way, so to speak, at the time an option in urban life; today, not so much, as the cities of today are, culturally, not much different from the suburbs. The lines Don Murray was given to read in his final few moments in the film felt like came from a sermon, not from the mouth of a real human being. Too bad. The movie is mostly talk, which is, when well done, fine by me, but it seemed, in those closing scenes to switch gears too quickly.
Overall, The Bachelor Party is a first rate movie with. admittedly, some issues that kept it from being truly great; and it's certainly worth watching. It does fall short, but not, in my humble opinion, nearly so far as many reviewers have said it does.
Paddy Chayefsky delivered a screenplay that's still insightful and enduring
jacobs-greenwood15 December 2016
Warning: Spoilers
One might be tempted to label this drama "dated", however, as was typical, screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky provided it with a story that is both insightful and (still) enduring today. Though the setup is rather contrived (a 30+ year old virgin male find himself about to be married to a more experienced war widow that also happens to be his distant cousin), every man questions: who he is, what he's become or what he will be if he continues down his current path, and/or his spouse and the state of his marriage at some point during his life ... and the truth isn't always pretty. While some of the events in the movie are "out of date" (e.g. the men watch stag films in a bachelor's apartment in lieu of going to a strip club), the story and its underlying themes remain as fresh as ever.
Don Murray is top billed in his second film role, after earning his only Academy recognition with a Best Supporting Actor nomination (in his screen debut) for playing a rodeo hick hunk opposite Marilyn Monroe in Bus Stop (1956). Initially, the focus of the plot appears to be on Murray's character Charlie and his wife Helen (Patricia Smith); they're a young couple, past the newlywed stage, and they've just learned that she's pregnant with (what would be) their first child. He goes to night school attempting to earn a degree for eventual advancement while she spends nights alone in their apartment, with television or her sister-in-law Julie (Nancy Marchand) to keep her company. Still, Helen encourages Charlie to skip school that evening to attend the titled event and enjoy a much needed respite from his daily grind. When Charlie gets to work that morning, the party's other would be participants (all bookkeepers, by profession) are introduced: two are married, and somewhat henpecked, and two are bachelors:
The film is also notable for earning Carolyn Jones her only Oscar nomination (Supporting Actress); she plays the Existentialist, an oversexed Greenwich Village philosopher that the men (specifically Charlie) encounter during the evening. You'll remember the performance for the speed of her (line) delivery as much as anything (plus, she looks a little like a young dark-haired Bette Davis). Otherwise, you might wonder if her performance was the shortest ever to be Oscar nominated; ironically, that record is held by Beatrice Straight's stint in Chayefsky's prescient drama Network (1976), which was decades ahead of its time in predicting today's world: the cult of celebrity, ratings-based news programming, faux experts, and "reality" TV.
While the film's ending may seem "tacked on", it contains a certain truth. While Arnold learned that married life isn't a panacea, Charlie gained an appreciation for what he had with Helen. It was directed by Delbert Mann, only his second film after Marty (1955), which was another Chayefsky-written drama (that initially aired on TV) about lonely people.
Don Murray is top billed in his second film role, after earning his only Academy recognition with a Best Supporting Actor nomination (in his screen debut) for playing a rodeo hick hunk opposite Marilyn Monroe in Bus Stop (1956). Initially, the focus of the plot appears to be on Murray's character Charlie and his wife Helen (Patricia Smith); they're a young couple, past the newlywed stage, and they've just learned that she's pregnant with (what would be) their first child. He goes to night school attempting to earn a degree for eventual advancement while she spends nights alone in their apartment, with television or her sister-in-law Julie (Nancy Marchand) to keep her company. Still, Helen encourages Charlie to skip school that evening to attend the titled event and enjoy a much needed respite from his daily grind. When Charlie gets to work that morning, the party's other would be participants (all bookkeepers, by profession) are introduced: two are married, and somewhat henpecked, and two are bachelors:
- Jack Warden is perfectly cast as Eddie, the confirmed bachelor who's (the titled groom's best man to be and) in charge of the evening's planned events. Except for "man of the hour" Arnold (Philip Abbott) and Eddie, the others are somewhat reluctant to commit to the festivities ("I'll go if you go"). Of course, in the end we learn that Eddie's life is empty as he pleads with his coworkers to stay as long as possible so he doesn't have to return home alone to his empty abode.
- E.G. Marshall as Walter is (by far) the oldest participant; he's in the twilight of his career with a mortgage and a daughter in college. Walter was recently diagnosed with asthma and advised to move to Arizona. Realizing his dire prospects and lack of "hire- ability" per his age, he expresses anxiety about the situation in various ways: early in the evening, he laughs excessively, later he's captivated by the stag films, and finally, after sweating profusely, he walks off away from the rest in solitude
- Larry Blyden plays Ken (between Charlie and Walter in age); he provides a steadying voice of experience to Charlie when he notices that his friend is about to stray (e.g. have an affair) midway through the evening. Ken had once strayed during a business trip and laments the change in his wife ever since; he's also the first to leave the party to go home, though he's unsuccessful in his attempt to convince Charlie to do the same.
- Arnold is a rather pathetic bridegroom; in one sense, Abbott's character is a plot device to give the other characters their moments of reflection.
The film is also notable for earning Carolyn Jones her only Oscar nomination (Supporting Actress); she plays the Existentialist, an oversexed Greenwich Village philosopher that the men (specifically Charlie) encounter during the evening. You'll remember the performance for the speed of her (line) delivery as much as anything (plus, she looks a little like a young dark-haired Bette Davis). Otherwise, you might wonder if her performance was the shortest ever to be Oscar nominated; ironically, that record is held by Beatrice Straight's stint in Chayefsky's prescient drama Network (1976), which was decades ahead of its time in predicting today's world: the cult of celebrity, ratings-based news programming, faux experts, and "reality" TV.
While the film's ending may seem "tacked on", it contains a certain truth. While Arnold learned that married life isn't a panacea, Charlie gained an appreciation for what he had with Helen. It was directed by Delbert Mann, only his second film after Marty (1955), which was another Chayefsky-written drama (that initially aired on TV) about lonely people.
The end of the movie is ridiculous and not believable.
dubchi12 February 2007
Warning: Spoilers
I had not seen this movie again for 25-30 years until recently. For all the praise it has received,it is disappointing. The story concerns three married men (Marshall,Blyden & Murray) and an unmarried man (Warden) all treating a co-worker (Abbott) to a bachelor party on a Thursday night in Manhattan.The married men want to go out to get away from their humdrum life.The unmarried man is simply out to have a good time.As the evening unwinds we learn the married men are basically unhappy and feel pressure to buy houses,raise children,earn more money,etc..They feel trapped but are resigned to their fate.They wish they were outgoing and free like the unmarried man.The prospective groom is unsure about going through with the wedding which takes place on Sunday.He wants someone to agree with him that the wedding is a bad idea.Then at the end all of a sudden the story changes-the unmarried man is to be pitied because his life is empty and meaningless and the married men are to be envied because they have their wives and children.This ending seems tacked on as if just to quickly end the film.The sudden married "joy" of the Murray character is simply ridiculous which is why ultimately the film is disappointing.The circumstances of his and his friends' marriages do not make this ending believable. The other disappointment was the short use of "The Existentialist" (Carolyn Jones).Her character was interesting but had so little screen time that the viewer is unsure about whether what she had to say had great meaning and insight or was simply gibberish.
Worth Looking Into
dougdoepke6 December 2008
Despite the reassuring conventional ending, this is one of the few 50's films to catch the decade's growing unease. It's a post-war period of fast rising prosperity and "settling down" into a comfortable life style denied to the Depression and war years. Migration to suburbs turns into a stampede as more and more folks can afford a piece of real estate. The movie's setting, however, is Manhattan, but the prevailing atmosphere of job, marriage and kids carries over.
The movie follows five office co-workers on-the-town, celebrating one of the buddies' engagement (Arnold's). Anxiously uncertain Arnold is about to settle into the prevailing life style, which seems like a cause to celebrate. But as the movie progresses, layers of convention begin to peel away exposing a core of self-doubt and degrees of unhappiness among the married men (Blyden, Marshall, and Murray), and one that soon turns into full-blown angst over ordinary middle-class norms. Each party-goer reacts in an individual way as he begins to face a hidden personal truth. As a result, the party turns from a celebration into what amounts to a trial by fire, at the same time we glimpse some of the underlying tensions of the time.
Those tensions revolve around two core issuessexuality and freedom. Settling down means security and the consolations of family and friends. But it also means a loss of freedom to explore new life styles and relationships. Murray, in particular, feels the conflict as the roving party opens up tempting new worlds and a sense of adventure, especially with Carolyn Jones' exotic seductress. It's really Murray's character who is pivotal as the less spirited Blyden and Marshall retreat from the temptations that urban nightlife offers. On the other hand, Murray's married man is stimulated, making his outcome emblematic of the film's outcome.
The movie is really more effective in opening these issues than in dealing with them. Warden, the bachelor, whom the others envy for his single-man freedom, is later shown as leading an empty and compulsive life, not to be envied. Similarly, Jones' sexual cravings are shown to be empty and unrewarding. Thus the deck is ultimately stacked against an unmarried life style, thereby reinforcing the conventions of then and perhaps now. I don't know if that was writer Chayefski's choice or whether the conformism was mandated by nervous producers, but the slant remains, nevertheless .
Two well-executed scenes expose tensions on the woman's side. Murray's sweet, pregnant wife Smith is visited by her older sister-in-law Marchand. The talk quickly becomes a heart- to-heart, where Marchand reveals the angst of a settled marriage, in which her doctor husband has pursued a number of affairs, leaving her with the kids and a comfortable life- style she'll stay with, even though she conveys an air of frustration and emptiness. When Smith objects that her husband, Murray, is not like that, Marchand tells her to just wait until they too have been married eleven years. What's more, she advises Smith to get rid of the pregnancy so that Murray will have a chance to finish accounting school and "fulfill himself". The implication is that marriage and family can become a trap leaving both partners unhappy. Needless to say, Smith's young wife is left deeply apprehensive, but hopeful that she and her husband are different. These are two very well written and well-acted scenes.
Taking an historical step back from the film-- the tensions on display here break into the open during the free-love counter-cultural movement of the 1960's, when a new generation not chastened by the hardships of the 30's and 40's arrives on the scene. Stripped of political context, their rebellion can be viewed as a more self-indulgent reaction to the confines of the job-marriage-family norm that Bachelor Party deals with and that their parents settled for. The issue of why the rebellion faded away in favor of a return to those more traditional norms remains an interesting question, but poses a context different from the one in the film.
The movie itself is well paced by director Mann, who manages to keep things moving despite all the dialogue. It's also a powerhouse cast with such familiar faces of the time as Warden, Marshall, Murray and Jones. Murray especially is an attractive player who managed to combine a sense of boyish enthusiasm with an adult-level of sincerity. As a young husband, he's perfect. Sure, the movie looks dated as fashions, styles, and technology change. But the underlying issues that the movie deals with remain as relevant now as then, as national divorce statistics, for one, testify. For a look at how similar themes were handled during the same period in a suburban rather than a city setting, check out No Down Payment (1957, Martin Ritt). Nonetheless, Bachelor Party remains a worthwhile look back in time for its perceptive exploration of conventions that in most ways are still with us.
The movie follows five office co-workers on-the-town, celebrating one of the buddies' engagement (Arnold's). Anxiously uncertain Arnold is about to settle into the prevailing life style, which seems like a cause to celebrate. But as the movie progresses, layers of convention begin to peel away exposing a core of self-doubt and degrees of unhappiness among the married men (Blyden, Marshall, and Murray), and one that soon turns into full-blown angst over ordinary middle-class norms. Each party-goer reacts in an individual way as he begins to face a hidden personal truth. As a result, the party turns from a celebration into what amounts to a trial by fire, at the same time we glimpse some of the underlying tensions of the time.
Those tensions revolve around two core issuessexuality and freedom. Settling down means security and the consolations of family and friends. But it also means a loss of freedom to explore new life styles and relationships. Murray, in particular, feels the conflict as the roving party opens up tempting new worlds and a sense of adventure, especially with Carolyn Jones' exotic seductress. It's really Murray's character who is pivotal as the less spirited Blyden and Marshall retreat from the temptations that urban nightlife offers. On the other hand, Murray's married man is stimulated, making his outcome emblematic of the film's outcome.
The movie is really more effective in opening these issues than in dealing with them. Warden, the bachelor, whom the others envy for his single-man freedom, is later shown as leading an empty and compulsive life, not to be envied. Similarly, Jones' sexual cravings are shown to be empty and unrewarding. Thus the deck is ultimately stacked against an unmarried life style, thereby reinforcing the conventions of then and perhaps now. I don't know if that was writer Chayefski's choice or whether the conformism was mandated by nervous producers, but the slant remains, nevertheless .
Two well-executed scenes expose tensions on the woman's side. Murray's sweet, pregnant wife Smith is visited by her older sister-in-law Marchand. The talk quickly becomes a heart- to-heart, where Marchand reveals the angst of a settled marriage, in which her doctor husband has pursued a number of affairs, leaving her with the kids and a comfortable life- style she'll stay with, even though she conveys an air of frustration and emptiness. When Smith objects that her husband, Murray, is not like that, Marchand tells her to just wait until they too have been married eleven years. What's more, she advises Smith to get rid of the pregnancy so that Murray will have a chance to finish accounting school and "fulfill himself". The implication is that marriage and family can become a trap leaving both partners unhappy. Needless to say, Smith's young wife is left deeply apprehensive, but hopeful that she and her husband are different. These are two very well written and well-acted scenes.
Taking an historical step back from the film-- the tensions on display here break into the open during the free-love counter-cultural movement of the 1960's, when a new generation not chastened by the hardships of the 30's and 40's arrives on the scene. Stripped of political context, their rebellion can be viewed as a more self-indulgent reaction to the confines of the job-marriage-family norm that Bachelor Party deals with and that their parents settled for. The issue of why the rebellion faded away in favor of a return to those more traditional norms remains an interesting question, but poses a context different from the one in the film.
The movie itself is well paced by director Mann, who manages to keep things moving despite all the dialogue. It's also a powerhouse cast with such familiar faces of the time as Warden, Marshall, Murray and Jones. Murray especially is an attractive player who managed to combine a sense of boyish enthusiasm with an adult-level of sincerity. As a young husband, he's perfect. Sure, the movie looks dated as fashions, styles, and technology change. But the underlying issues that the movie deals with remain as relevant now as then, as national divorce statistics, for one, testify. For a look at how similar themes were handled during the same period in a suburban rather than a city setting, check out No Down Payment (1957, Martin Ritt). Nonetheless, Bachelor Party remains a worthwhile look back in time for its perceptive exploration of conventions that in most ways are still with us.
Last man standing
sol12188 November 2008
Warning: Spoilers
***SPOILERS*** Taking upon himself almost Herculean efforts Charlie Samson, Don Murray, is not only holding down a job as a full-time bookkeeper at a major NYC brokerage house but is also spending all his free time from work taking collage classes to earn a degree as a CPA. It comes as a big shock to Charlie when his wife Helen, Patricia Smith, tells him that she's expecting their first child that coming February.
It just happens that one of Charlie's fellow workers Arnold Craig, Philip Abbott, is to get married that weekend and reluctantly, skipping a collage class for the first time in six months, Charlie agrees to attend his bachelor party secluded to take place that evening. It turned out that Charlie as well as those who attended Arnold's bachelor party got an education in life and human relationships that in the end changed their lives around and for the better at that as well!
Getting tanked up on both beer and hard liquor Charlie and his friends that included life long bachelor, and best man at Arnold's wedding, Eddie, Jack Warden, as well as married men Walter, E.G Marshall, and Kenny, Larry Blyden, ended up letting their hair down and exposing to each other their deepest and darkest secrets. Eddie the big swinger and womanizer that he is showed that he was a man who couldn't bear to be alone even for a moment. Without booze friends and women Eddie was nothing but a lonely soul without any direction in life.
Walter 48 years old with two teenagers is obsessed with the thought that he's soon going to die, from an asthmatic attack, if he doesn't move to the dry, of humidity not booze, and year round hot state of Arizona. Kenny about the only normal person of the group of beer swelling and woman grabbing bookkeepers showed how normal he was by leaving the party when it started to get out of hand and was never seen or heard from again in the movie.
As for Arnold, the man of honor at the party, he started to get freaked out as his wedding day, some three days off, approached in his fears that he, being a virgin, won't be able to satisfy his recently divorced-or is it widowed-as well as experienced, in sexual matters, fiancée. Charlie who's a straight as an arrow no fooling around family man soon loses his cool as the hot for him and really wanting it 25 year old woman beatnik Carolyon Jones, or the Existentialist in the movie credits, puts the squeeze on him at a local Greenwich village anything goes and free for all swingers party.
As the dawn starts to approach Charlie together with his friends realizes what fools they made of themselves and try to put all the pieces of their shattered lives, because of the party that got out of control, back together. Both Charlie and Eddie having unknowingly, due to their childish needing, had Arnold brake off his engagement to his future bride finally get the by now totally drunk Arnold to go back home in Queens, to his parents, to make up with his girl before she leaves him both him and dry at the altar.
Charlie who was about to drop his night classes in collage and become a full time carousing midnight scorer, or all day snorer, goes back to his wife Helen who was, like Arnold's fiancée, about to walk out on him and move back to her parents. It took those heart wrenching and both boozing and womanizing 12 hours of partying the night away that in the end showed Charlie how good he's had it all along. It also showed Charlie that the life of a swinging and irresponsible bachelor, like his friend Eddie, was not his or his fellow married friends at the office cup of tea or bowl of borscht.
It just happens that one of Charlie's fellow workers Arnold Craig, Philip Abbott, is to get married that weekend and reluctantly, skipping a collage class for the first time in six months, Charlie agrees to attend his bachelor party secluded to take place that evening. It turned out that Charlie as well as those who attended Arnold's bachelor party got an education in life and human relationships that in the end changed their lives around and for the better at that as well!
Getting tanked up on both beer and hard liquor Charlie and his friends that included life long bachelor, and best man at Arnold's wedding, Eddie, Jack Warden, as well as married men Walter, E.G Marshall, and Kenny, Larry Blyden, ended up letting their hair down and exposing to each other their deepest and darkest secrets. Eddie the big swinger and womanizer that he is showed that he was a man who couldn't bear to be alone even for a moment. Without booze friends and women Eddie was nothing but a lonely soul without any direction in life.
Walter 48 years old with two teenagers is obsessed with the thought that he's soon going to die, from an asthmatic attack, if he doesn't move to the dry, of humidity not booze, and year round hot state of Arizona. Kenny about the only normal person of the group of beer swelling and woman grabbing bookkeepers showed how normal he was by leaving the party when it started to get out of hand and was never seen or heard from again in the movie.
As for Arnold, the man of honor at the party, he started to get freaked out as his wedding day, some three days off, approached in his fears that he, being a virgin, won't be able to satisfy his recently divorced-or is it widowed-as well as experienced, in sexual matters, fiancée. Charlie who's a straight as an arrow no fooling around family man soon loses his cool as the hot for him and really wanting it 25 year old woman beatnik Carolyon Jones, or the Existentialist in the movie credits, puts the squeeze on him at a local Greenwich village anything goes and free for all swingers party.
As the dawn starts to approach Charlie together with his friends realizes what fools they made of themselves and try to put all the pieces of their shattered lives, because of the party that got out of control, back together. Both Charlie and Eddie having unknowingly, due to their childish needing, had Arnold brake off his engagement to his future bride finally get the by now totally drunk Arnold to go back home in Queens, to his parents, to make up with his girl before she leaves him both him and dry at the altar.
Charlie who was about to drop his night classes in collage and become a full time carousing midnight scorer, or all day snorer, goes back to his wife Helen who was, like Arnold's fiancée, about to walk out on him and move back to her parents. It took those heart wrenching and both boozing and womanizing 12 hours of partying the night away that in the end showed Charlie how good he's had it all along. It also showed Charlie that the life of a swinging and irresponsible bachelor, like his friend Eddie, was not his or his fellow married friends at the office cup of tea or bowl of borscht.
A young man begins to have second thoughts about his up-coming event
bux28 October 1998
Murray turns in a good performance as a young man on the threshold of marriage. During his batchelor party, Murray learns of the many problems facing friends that he'd thought were happily married, and begins to doubt if he should make 'the big jump.' As in "Marty" another of Chayefskys' works brought to the screen, this is drama of the 'everyman'-however, unlike the Borgnine classic, this one lacks the big punch.
great movie, poor ending
jamesdubrobooks29 March 2009
Warning: Spoilers
the ending was a bit to pat for a well written, questioning movie--moves to brink of nihilism and then becomes very conventional. The acting of the main male leads is very good and one of Chayevsky's best scripts (Hospital is another favorite) butt he main character Charlie gives in too easily at the end to a positive and sappy conclusion; love the 50's existential ambiance and the great party scene in the Village; Kerouac would could have been at the party; the wife of Charlie is a bit simplistic as are some of the other women in the film, black and white very effective. Eg MArshall is poignant is his nihilistic questioning of the meaning of life.
typical bachelor party... remake is better
ksf-21 April 2020
Such a collection of hollywood names... Writer Paddy Cheyevsky had won Three oscars! Don Murray was oscar nominated for Bus Stop. Twice nominated, 37 year old Jack Warden, although not nominated for his best known works, The Bad News Bears and Being There. directed by Delbert Mann, who WON the oscar for Marty, not one of my favorite films. keep an eye out for nancy marchand, probably best known as Mrs. Pynchon in Lou Grant. and an uncredited producer role for Burt Lancaster, since it was made by Hill-Hecht-Lancaster. imdb also shows production assistant Jim Lancaster on the payroll, but it's not clear if that was his dad or his son. anyhoo... the plot is exactly as expected. temptations are there at the bachelor party, and the married guys are tempted to stray with the single women. REAL similar to the 1984 version of Tom Hanks in the modern Bachelor Party. it's pretty good, but so much more serious than the newer 1984 one. Best Supporting actress nomination for Carolyn Jones! in the background, we see "Sutter's Confections", which really was a real dessert place in new york city. shown on Turner Classics here and there. it was waaaay after the production code had fallen apart, so it was okay to talk about these things. but i'd skip this one and watch the newer one.
The reluctant bridegroom
jotix10022 July 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Charlie Samson, who works as an accountant, starts his day with an unexpected news. His wife Helen is going to be a mother. The announcement startles Charlie, who was not planning on the new arrival. He asks Helen for five dollars for the gift the guys at the office are buying Arnold, the man that will be marrying soon. Charlie does not plan in going to the dinner Eddie has prepared for the future groom, but Helen feels he should go to unwind. After all, going to night school is clearly taking its toll.
Little prepares Charlie for the long night he will spend in the company of four of his fellow workers. Eddie is an aggressive single whose only wish is to go to bars where he can pick up women to satisfy his empty life. After the dinner, Eddie wants to keep the party going. The five men go from bar to bar, to his apartment, where no one really wants to go.
Meanwhile, Helen Samson receives the visit of her sister-in-law, Julie, a bitter woman stuck in a bad marriage. She knows her husband cheats on her constantly. Upon learning about Helen's pregnancy, Helen tells her, point blank, about the possibility of getting rid of the baby. Helen is horrified because she has been looking forward to motherhood as the fulfillment of her life, as a woman, and as a wife.
The bar hopping scene becomes pathetic, when only Arnold, Eddie and Charlie are left to keep the party going. The three men finally show up at a party they had been told by a lonely young woman that needs all the help she can get because of her narcissistic outlook in life. She just wants to be told she is loved from any man, including Charlie, who has had enough and leaves to take Arnold home. In his drunken state, Arnold reveals he is terrified of getting married. Getting home and seeing Helen again, brings a kind of peace to Charlie after the crazy night he just experienced.
"The Bachelor Party" was an achievement when it made its debut. The film spoke of things no one had dared to say on the screen intended for a big audience before. Abortion is clearly pointed out to Helen by Julie, an unhappy woman, as a way to avoid the situation she is facing. There is also the case of loneliness with Eddie and the young Village girl that must be told how much is is loved. These creatures of the Manhattan of the times continue to live in big cities all over America, although the language in films is much more frank today.
Paddy Chayefski, the screenwriter of "Marty", created this work as a television play, which was expanded to a film. Delbert Mann, was the natural choice, after having worked with Mr. Chayefsky. The film had an excellent cast. Don Murray, Jack Warden, E.G. Marshall, Larry Blyden, Philip Abbott, Patricia Smith, among others. The two outstanding performances came from Nancy Marchand, making her film debut and by Carolyn Jones, the lonely "Village" girl, who went to win the Oscar for best supporting actress.
Joseph LaShelle, the cinematographer, gives us a tour around the New York of that era. Some of the locations included Stuyvesant City Housing Project, home for lots of middle class families. Paul Merz is credited with the musical score with the help of Alex North. The film owes to the inspired collaboration of Delbert Mann and Paddy Chayefsky.
Little prepares Charlie for the long night he will spend in the company of four of his fellow workers. Eddie is an aggressive single whose only wish is to go to bars where he can pick up women to satisfy his empty life. After the dinner, Eddie wants to keep the party going. The five men go from bar to bar, to his apartment, where no one really wants to go.
Meanwhile, Helen Samson receives the visit of her sister-in-law, Julie, a bitter woman stuck in a bad marriage. She knows her husband cheats on her constantly. Upon learning about Helen's pregnancy, Helen tells her, point blank, about the possibility of getting rid of the baby. Helen is horrified because she has been looking forward to motherhood as the fulfillment of her life, as a woman, and as a wife.
The bar hopping scene becomes pathetic, when only Arnold, Eddie and Charlie are left to keep the party going. The three men finally show up at a party they had been told by a lonely young woman that needs all the help she can get because of her narcissistic outlook in life. She just wants to be told she is loved from any man, including Charlie, who has had enough and leaves to take Arnold home. In his drunken state, Arnold reveals he is terrified of getting married. Getting home and seeing Helen again, brings a kind of peace to Charlie after the crazy night he just experienced.
"The Bachelor Party" was an achievement when it made its debut. The film spoke of things no one had dared to say on the screen intended for a big audience before. Abortion is clearly pointed out to Helen by Julie, an unhappy woman, as a way to avoid the situation she is facing. There is also the case of loneliness with Eddie and the young Village girl that must be told how much is is loved. These creatures of the Manhattan of the times continue to live in big cities all over America, although the language in films is much more frank today.
Paddy Chayefski, the screenwriter of "Marty", created this work as a television play, which was expanded to a film. Delbert Mann, was the natural choice, after having worked with Mr. Chayefsky. The film had an excellent cast. Don Murray, Jack Warden, E.G. Marshall, Larry Blyden, Philip Abbott, Patricia Smith, among others. The two outstanding performances came from Nancy Marchand, making her film debut and by Carolyn Jones, the lonely "Village" girl, who went to win the Oscar for best supporting actress.
Joseph LaShelle, the cinematographer, gives us a tour around the New York of that era. Some of the locations included Stuyvesant City Housing Project, home for lots of middle class families. Paul Merz is credited with the musical score with the help of Alex North. The film owes to the inspired collaboration of Delbert Mann and Paddy Chayefsky.
"It's A Short Life"
atlasmb10 December 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Paddy Chayefsky wrote this drama, so viewers would be right in thinking it is not a riotous comedy. Five coworkers who consider themselves friends decide to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of one of them-Arnold (Philip Abbott).
They all work in an accounting office where, it seems, little happiness resides. In fact, the entirety of their lives appears to thankless slogs, though they are at different points in life.
Charlie (Don Murray) is the central character. Between his job and night classes, he sees life as a "grind". His wife, Helen, is pregnant and it feels like the walls are closing in on him. On the positive side, Helen encourages him to attend the bachelor outing.
E. G. Marshall plays the part of Walter, the oldest of them. With decades of marriage and a brood of children, he might be what they all can hope for in life. He has little will or enthusiasm, as if enjoyment and positivity have been beaten out of him over the years. He likes to say, "I'm gonna die."
Larry Blyden plays Larry, married but younger than Walter. And Jack Warden is Eddie, the confirmed bachelor, who the other guys envy. They see his life as one adventure after another, unrestrained by marital bonds, pursuing women and living the good life. While it's true he pursues women non-stop, is he truly happy?
Little planning goes into the "bachelor party". It is understood there will be drinking, and there are vague hopes that some titillation will be had. The film follows them for the entirety of their night, primarily from the viewpoint of Charlie, documenting their gray existences and uncovering their fears and worries. One word best describes their realities: impotence. Their interactions with women, which are symbolic of their aspirations for the evening, turn out to be unfulfilling. All the men give advice to others at some point, but none of them is any example others should emulate.
As in most films of its time, the married men live vicariously through the exploits of their bachelor friends (or those who cheat). "The Apartment" (1960) comes to mind. Also, Boys' Night Out" (1962). But those films are comedies and filmed in color. "The Bachelor Party" shows drab interiors and a dark urbanscape, perfect settings for reality, not fantasy.
They all work in an accounting office where, it seems, little happiness resides. In fact, the entirety of their lives appears to thankless slogs, though they are at different points in life.
Charlie (Don Murray) is the central character. Between his job and night classes, he sees life as a "grind". His wife, Helen, is pregnant and it feels like the walls are closing in on him. On the positive side, Helen encourages him to attend the bachelor outing.
E. G. Marshall plays the part of Walter, the oldest of them. With decades of marriage and a brood of children, he might be what they all can hope for in life. He has little will or enthusiasm, as if enjoyment and positivity have been beaten out of him over the years. He likes to say, "I'm gonna die."
Larry Blyden plays Larry, married but younger than Walter. And Jack Warden is Eddie, the confirmed bachelor, who the other guys envy. They see his life as one adventure after another, unrestrained by marital bonds, pursuing women and living the good life. While it's true he pursues women non-stop, is he truly happy?
Little planning goes into the "bachelor party". It is understood there will be drinking, and there are vague hopes that some titillation will be had. The film follows them for the entirety of their night, primarily from the viewpoint of Charlie, documenting their gray existences and uncovering their fears and worries. One word best describes their realities: impotence. Their interactions with women, which are symbolic of their aspirations for the evening, turn out to be unfulfilling. All the men give advice to others at some point, but none of them is any example others should emulate.
As in most films of its time, the married men live vicariously through the exploits of their bachelor friends (or those who cheat). "The Apartment" (1960) comes to mind. Also, Boys' Night Out" (1962). But those films are comedies and filmed in color. "The Bachelor Party" shows drab interiors and a dark urbanscape, perfect settings for reality, not fantasy.
No life in this party.
st-shot9 April 2014
Following up their critically acclaimed Oscar winning triumph Marty collaboration, screenwriter Paddy Chayevsky and director Del Mann attempt to make lightening strike twice with another stroll down melancholy lane, The Bachelor Party. Morose and sluggish it only serves to re-enforce how moving a performance Ernie Borgnine gave in their previous treatment.
Glum family man Charlie Sampson (Don Murray) vacillates about attending a bachelor party with co-workers after quitting time. The boys spend the evening drinking and ogling but as the night wears on they become confessional about the disappointments they've been met with in life. Barging into a bohemian get together Charlie is momentarily mesmerized by a Beat (Carolyn Jones) delivering one rapid fire monologue and they plan a hook-up later in the night. Back at home his wife frets about the lack of spark in her life with a confidant (Nancy Marchand) who sets her straight about the realities of marriage.
With everyone in a deep state of torpor or frustration (save for scene stealer Jones) The Bachelor Party has little to celebrate as each member gets his opportunity to flaccidly expound on his hum drum existence. It's all talk and no action with a group of noxious whiners and silent suffering wives compartmentalizing and remaining in denial with a sell out ending that lazily allows itself to tie things up with hangovers and a musical flourish rather than attempt to get beyond its cliché scenario populated by lugubrious dullards and address the issue with a touch more verve.
Glum family man Charlie Sampson (Don Murray) vacillates about attending a bachelor party with co-workers after quitting time. The boys spend the evening drinking and ogling but as the night wears on they become confessional about the disappointments they've been met with in life. Barging into a bohemian get together Charlie is momentarily mesmerized by a Beat (Carolyn Jones) delivering one rapid fire monologue and they plan a hook-up later in the night. Back at home his wife frets about the lack of spark in her life with a confidant (Nancy Marchand) who sets her straight about the realities of marriage.
With everyone in a deep state of torpor or frustration (save for scene stealer Jones) The Bachelor Party has little to celebrate as each member gets his opportunity to flaccidly expound on his hum drum existence. It's all talk and no action with a group of noxious whiners and silent suffering wives compartmentalizing and remaining in denial with a sell out ending that lazily allows itself to tie things up with hangovers and a musical flourish rather than attempt to get beyond its cliché scenario populated by lugubrious dullards and address the issue with a touch more verve.
Paddy Chayefsky does it again
camille-054247 February 2020
I find that the films that come from the writings of Mr. Chayefsky have what many writers lack is soul. Mr. C. had an unique way of writing what is in a person heart and soul that be either man or woman can appreciate and understand on some level of what makes a human live out life. The actors chosen to play out his scripts like Bachelor Party seem perfectly right to deliver the words and feelings that Mr. C. is trying to convey.in this film. I believe those who view this film will each take away a little something different. I highly recommend this film to those who want to come closer to what makes a person tick and feel a little better about life.
Very typical mid-50s film.
661jda28 May 2021
I love mid-50s films - they illustrate what Hollywood was like after the Golden Age and prior to the New Age of cinema. Pictures like this, MARTY, THE ROSE TATTOO, COME BACK LITTLE SHEBA - all stories that are personal with scripts that the viewer can get into. Most are around 85-100 minutes (this is 95) and most are in glorious Black and White. Chayefsky tells us the story of 5 men who work in the same office and have a night on the town to celebrate one of them getting married. Without going thru spoilers, the men relate to the viewers, their status or ilk in life and how they are coping with it. Along the way Carolyn Jones flashes thru the story. I'm not crazy about her performance - it was competent and she did a good job. Not sure it was all that Oscar worthy (I think Elsa Lanchester in WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION was a more admirable performance). It's worth a view but remember this is a little film - not a big budget epic.
oddly unrealistic depiction of the 50's
chejoubert7 April 2013
What's strange about most of the reviews on this site is their acceptance of the social culture in The Bachelor Party as realistic. However, though its dialog contains some soul searching, and its characters have a certain earnest sincerity, the overall depiction of social conditions in this mid-'50's film is completely off.
As a woman who lived through this period, I would say it was not characterized by the kind of casual misogyny embraced by these buddies, but more by an emerging awareness on the part of women, that children and marriage were not just a blessing but a burden. Thus, I doubt that the writer, Paddy Chayefsky, was terribly satisfied by the final draft of The Bachelor Party. Indeed, Chayefsky wrote in the Afterword of that play - 'obviously the line of the story is six inches off from beginning to end, and the third act resolution is hardly an inevitable outcome of the proceeding two acts.'
More typical of themes of the mid-50's was Chayefsky's play, 'Marty,' in which Earnest Borgnine plays a butcher whose patient tenderness toward the shy schoolteacher he woos creates the foundation for their relationship. Also typical in the post WW2 mid-'50's was Chayefsky's film, 'The Americanization of Emily', in which James Garner plays a flagrant wartime coward forced to contend with conflicted Emily, who makes no apologies for her disgust at his cowardice.
In Marty, and The Americanization of Emily, men revealed their humanness, their fears, and need for love - qualities they were afraid women might forget as their own lives expanded. In The Bachelor Party, on the other hand, the theme is male existential boredom with marriage, and no reason is given other than the consensus between the bachelor and married men, that after children arrive socializing becomes more restricted, one ages, responsibilities increase, blah blah. The idea that arises out of this plot vacuum, a false one that flips the truth on its head and buries it, is that men, not women were wrestling with the issue of independence in the 50's.
As a woman who lived through this period, I would say it was not characterized by the kind of casual misogyny embraced by these buddies, but more by an emerging awareness on the part of women, that children and marriage were not just a blessing but a burden. Thus, I doubt that the writer, Paddy Chayefsky, was terribly satisfied by the final draft of The Bachelor Party. Indeed, Chayefsky wrote in the Afterword of that play - 'obviously the line of the story is six inches off from beginning to end, and the third act resolution is hardly an inevitable outcome of the proceeding two acts.'
More typical of themes of the mid-50's was Chayefsky's play, 'Marty,' in which Earnest Borgnine plays a butcher whose patient tenderness toward the shy schoolteacher he woos creates the foundation for their relationship. Also typical in the post WW2 mid-'50's was Chayefsky's film, 'The Americanization of Emily', in which James Garner plays a flagrant wartime coward forced to contend with conflicted Emily, who makes no apologies for her disgust at his cowardice.
In Marty, and The Americanization of Emily, men revealed their humanness, their fears, and need for love - qualities they were afraid women might forget as their own lives expanded. In The Bachelor Party, on the other hand, the theme is male existential boredom with marriage, and no reason is given other than the consensus between the bachelor and married men, that after children arrive socializing becomes more restricted, one ages, responsibilities increase, blah blah. The idea that arises out of this plot vacuum, a false one that flips the truth on its head and buries it, is that men, not women were wrestling with the issue of independence in the 50's.
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