The Art of Love (1965 film)

Last updated
The Art of Love
Art-of-love.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Norman Jewison
Screenplay by Carl Reiner
Story by Richard Alan Simmons
William Sackheim
Produced by Ross Hunter
Starring James Garner
Dick Van Dyke
Elke Sommer
Angie Dickinson
Ethel Merman
Carl Reiner
Cinematography Russell Metty
Edited byMilton Carruth
Music by Cy Coleman
Production
companies
Cherokee Productions
Ross Hunter Productions
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date
  • June 30, 1965 (1965-06-30)
Running time
99 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$3,500,000 (US/ Canada rentals) [1]

The Art of Love is a 1965 technicolor comedy film directed by Norman Jewison and starring James Garner, Dick Van Dyke, Elke Sommer, and Angie Dickinson.

Contents

The film involves an American artist in Paris (Van Dyke) who fakes his own death in order to increase the worth of his paintings (new paintings keep "posthumously" hitting the market). His conniving pal (Garner) sells the paintings and withholds the proceeds while the artist toils in a shabby garret.

The picture was written by Carl Reiner (from a story by Richard Alan Simmons and William Sackheim). The supporting cast features Carl Reiner and Ethel Merman.

Jewison noted in his autobiography that the film's flaw was that the script assumes that an artist's death guarantees a huge increase in the sales value of his paintings. That hurt audiences' responses to the movie enormously. [2]

All of the paintings that were used in the movie were the work of international artist Don Cincone.

Plot

An aspiring artist, Paul Sloane, struggles in Paris and wants to return home to America to resume his relationship with his rich fiancee, Laurie. His best friend and roommate, Casey Barnett, tries to talk him out of it. When a beautiful woman, Nikki Donay, suddenly leaps into the river Seine to escape a man's attentions, Paul jumps in to save her. They make it to a barge, but Casey and everyone else is under the mistaken impression that neither survived. Casey gets an idea—a dead artist's paintings could now be very valuable, particularly considering the publicity given Paul's heroic attempt to save the damsel in distress. He begins selling Paul's work, but when the artist himself reappears, very much alive, they hatch a scheme. Paul will pretend to still be dead while continuing to produce paintings for Casey to sell. Matters become further complicated when Laurie comes to Paris. Casey falls in love with her. This infuriates his best friend, resulting in Paul seeking revenge by slipping evidence to the police that Casey actually murdered him to profit from the art. Casey is tried, convicted and sentenced to death, by guillotine. Paul saves Casey at the last second. Casey and Laurie end up together. Paul and Nikki get married.

Cast

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rob Reiner</span> American actor and film director (born 1947)

Robert Reiner is an American actor and filmmaker. As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence with the role of Mike "Meathead" Stivic on the CBS sitcom All in the Family (1971–1979), a performance that earned him two Primetime Emmy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethel Merman</span> American actress, singer (1908–1984)

Ethel Merman was an American actress and singer. Known for her distinctive, powerful voice, and her leading roles in musical theater, she has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage." She performed on Broadway in Anything Goes, Annie Get Your Gun, Gypsy, and Hello, Dolly!

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Reiner</span> American actor (1922–2020)

Carl Reiner was an American actor, stand-up comedian, director, screenwriter, and author whose career spanned seven decades. He was the recipient of many awards and honors, including 11 Primetime Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1999.

<i>The Dick Van Dyke Show</i> American television sitcom (1961–1966)

The Dick Van Dyke Show is an American television sitcom created by Carl Reiner that initially aired on CBS from October 3, 1961, to June 1, 1966, with a total of 158 half-hour episodes spanning five seasons. It was produced by Calvada Productions in association with the CBS Television Network, and was shot at Desilu Studios. Other producers included Bill Persky and Sam Denoff. The music for the show's theme song was written by Earle Hagen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Van Dyke</span> American actor and comedian (born 1925)

Richard Wayne Van Dyke is an American actor and comedian. His career has spanned over seven decades in film, television, and stage. Van Dyke is the recipient of a Golden Globe, Tony, Grammy, a Daytime Emmy, and four Primetime Emmys. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1995 and the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2012. He was honored with the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2013, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2021, and was recognized as a Disney Legend.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elke Sommer</span> German actress (born 1940)

Elke Sommer is a German actress. She appeared in numerous films in her heyday throughout the 1960s and 1970s, including roles in The Pink Panther sequel A Shot in the Dark (1964), the Bob Hope comedy Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (1966), Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None (1974), and the British Carry On series in Carry On Behind (1975).

"There's No Business Like Show Business" is an Irving Berlin song, written for the 1946 musical Annie Get Your Gun and orchestrated by Ted Royal. The song, a slightly tongue-in-cheek salute to the glamour and excitement of a life in show business, is sung in the musical by members of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in an attempt to persuade Annie Oakley to join the production. It is reprised three times in the musical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Max Showalter</span> American actor (1917–2000)

Max Gordon Showalter, sometimes credited as Casey Adams, was an American film, television, and stage actor, as well as a composer, pianist, and singer. He appeared on more than 1,000 television programs. One of Showalter's memorable roles was as the husband of Jean Peters' character in the 1953 film Niagara.

<i>The Thrill of It All</i> (film) 1963 film by Norman Jewison

The Thrill of It All is a 1963 American romantic comedy film directed by Norman Jewison and starring Doris Day and James Garner, with a supporting cast featuring Carl Reiner, Arlene Francis, Reginald Owen and ZaSu Pitts. The screenplay was written by Carl Reiner from a story by Larry Gelbart and Carl Reiner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Williams (composer)</span> American composer, arranger, and conductor (1939–2018)

Patrick Moody Williams was an American composer, arranger, and conductor who worked in many genres of music, and in film and television.

<i>Fiddler on the Roof</i> (film) 1971 film by Norman Jewison

Fiddler on the Roof is a 1971 American period musical film produced and directed by Norman Jewison from a screenplay written by Joseph Stein, based on the 1964 stage musical of the same name by Stein, Jerry Bock, and Sheldon Harnick. Set in early 20th-century Imperial Russia, the film centers on Tevye, played by Topol, a poor Jewish milkman who is faced with the challenge of marrying off his five daughters amidst the growing tension in his shtetl. The cast also features Norma Crane, Leonard Frey, Molly Picon, Paul Mann, Rosalind Harris, Michèle Marsh, Neva Small and Paul Michael Glaser. The musical score, composed by Bock with lyrics by Harnick, was adapted and conducted by John Williams.

<i>Anything Goes</i> (1936 film) 1936 American musical film

Anything Goes is a 1936 American musical film directed by Lewis Milestone and starring Bing Crosby, Ethel Merman, Charles Ruggles and Ida Lupino. It is based on the 1934 stage musical Anything Goes by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, which included songs by Cole Porter.

<i>The Comic</i> 1969 film by Carl Reiner

The Comic is a 1969 American Pathécolor comedy-drama film co-written, co-produced, and directed by Carl Reiner. It stars Dick Van Dyke as Billy Bright, Michele Lee as Bright's love interest, and Reiner himself and Mickey Rooney as Bright's friends and work colleagues. Reiner wrote the screenplay with Aaron Ruben; it was inspired by the end of silent film era and, in part, by the life of silent film superstar Buster Keaton.

Sheldon Bernard "Shelly" Keller was an American screenwriter and composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Estelle Reiner</span> American actress and singer (1914–2008)

Estelle Reiner was an American actress and singer, described by The New York Times as "matriarch of one of the leading families in American comedy". She was the wife of Carl Reiner and the mother of Rob Reiner.

<i>Call Me Madam</i> (film) 1953 film

Call Me Madam is a 1953 American Technicolor musical film directed by Walter Lang, with songs by Irving Berlin, based on the 1950 stage musical of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie Ryder</span> American television and film actor

Eddie Ryder was an American television and film actor, as well as a writer and television director. Ryder was born in New York City and died in El Paso, Texas.

<i>The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz</i> 1968 film by George Marshall

The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz is a 1968 DeLuxe Color American comedy film directed by George Marshall and starring Elke Sommer, Bob Crane, Werner Klemperer and Leon Askin. The screenplay concerns an East German athlete who defects to the West by pole-vaulting over the Berlin Wall.

The Muppets Go Hollywood is a one-hour television special that promoted The Muppet Movie, the first theatrical film in The Muppets franchise. It first aired May 16, 1979 on CBS, six weeks before the American release of The Muppet Movie.

Home Movie: The Princess Bride is an American comedy television miniseries directed by Jason Reitman, a "fan made" recreation of the 1987 film The Princess Bride. Produced while the participating actors were isolating themselves during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, it is filmed in a deliberately DIY fashion, with an ensemble cast recording their scenes on their own smartphones, and multiple actors playing the most prominent roles. It features the final screen performance of Carl Reiner, the father of the original film's director Rob Reiner. It premiered in short installments in June and July 2020, on Quibi.

References

  1. This figure consists of anticipated rentals accruing distributors in North America. See "Big Rental Pictures of 1965", Variety, 5 January 1966 p 6
  2. Norman Jewison (2005). This terrible business has been good to me. Internet Archive. T. Dunne Books. ISBN   978-0-312-32868-9.