A Guide for the Married Man
by Gene Kelly
List Price:
Our Price: $7.16
You Save: $7.82 (52%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $5.97 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Inger Stevens, Jackie Russell, Robert Morse, Sue Ane Langdon, Walter MatthauDirector: Gene Kelly
Brand: Fox
Cinematographer: Joseph MacDonald
Editor: Dorothy Spencer
Producer: Frank McCarthy
Writer: Frank Tarloff
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 89 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-09-06
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Reviews of A Guide for the Married Man
DVD Review: Both An Instructional Video AND A Disapproving Satire
Summary: 4 Stars
This classic Sixties sex farce has a decidedly schizophrenic attitude towards its subject matter: marital infidelity. On the one hand it gives the would be adulterer some excellent if joked up advice; on the other hand it clearly portrays said adulterers and would be adulterers in the cast as fools. Perhaps that is the secret of its success -- the tension between these conflicting viewpoints. When screenwriter Frank Tarloff first pitched his story idea to 20th Century-Fox, the focus of ridicule was on the cuckolded wives rather than the philandering husbands. Both the studio and proposed director Gene Kelly were concerned enough about this to push back and get Tarloff to acquiesce in changing the emphasis: "While the cameo sequences still detailed a long list of ways to avoid getting caught having an affair, the connecting storyline now amounted to something of a morality tale." Note: "Although the film credits indicate Tarloff's screenplay is based on his own book by the same name, the book was actually an afterthought of the studio publicity department; it was published in 1967, shortly before the film's release."
After a brief animated opening sequence illustrating a number of pro-adultery quotations, the movie opens with stunningly gorgeous Ruth Manning (Inger Stevens) doing calisthenics to maintain her fantastic body while being completely ignored by her book-reading schnook of a husband Paul Manning (Walter Matthau) who turns down her offer to have sex in order to finish his chapter. Thus in the first few minutes even the men in the audience are thinking what a fool he is. Nothing that happens later in the movie challenges this first impression; Ruth Manning appears to be the perfect wife. Similarly Ed Stander (a devilish Robert Morse) is also married to a nearly perfect wife, Harriet Stander (Claire Kelly); in fact one cannot help but notice that ALL of the adulterers and would be adulterers in Paul's and Ed's circle of friends are less than gorgeous men married to absolutely gorgeous wives.
The Turtles' rousing theme song accompanies the title sequence's comical display of Paul's almost crippling but so far not slaked lust for other women, a lust so obvious that his friend Ed, an experienced adulterer, offers to take him under his wing in order to prevent him from getting caught, the sort of "consideration" that would prove how much he loves his wife. What makes the movie the classic it is, is how Ed emphasizes his lessons with anecdotes acted out by several of the finest comic actors and actresses of the time: Joey Bishop, Carl Reiner, Sid Caesar, Art Carney, Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, Terry-Thomas, Phil Silvers, Wally Cox, etc. These are universally hysterical and downright instructional; they are also the parts of the movie that viewers tend to remember most fondly. Under Ed's coaching Paul finally gets ready to take the plunge, but before any viewer wishes to put these quite practical lessons into practice, he should watch the swicheroo of an ending. They don't make them like this anymore, and they probably shouldn't try.
Note: this bare bones DVD contains no extras beyond the trailer. Both widescreen and fullscreen versions are available on opposite sides of the double-sided disk; the widescreen version, which is the preferred version because some of the jokes are messed up by the snipping, is on the LABEL side.
Description of A Guide for the Married Man
GUIDE FOR THE MARRIED MAN - DVD MovieBestsellers in DVD
![The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS]Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS]by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops:
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
![Strike the Original Match [VHS] Image](/images/Strike-the-Original-Match-VHS-0001374079-X.jpg)
Strike the Original Match [VHS]New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
![Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] Image](/images/Medjugorje-The-Miracles-and-the-Message-VHS-0001373293-X.jpg)
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops:
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single Userby Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops:
Cost Accounting [VHS]by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
What a Way to Go!MACLAINE,SHIRLEY; Release date: 2005-01-11; DVD
Best price: $4.33
Price in other shops:
The Front PageUniversal Studios; Release date: 2005-05-31; DVD
Best price: $5.39
Price in other shops:
Sex and the Single GirlWarner Brothers; Release date: 2009-02-03; DVD
Best price: $2.98
Price in other shops:
Charley VarrickUniversal Studios; Release date: 2010-06-01; DVD
Best price: $7.81
Price in other shops:
Cactus FlowerSony; Release date: 2002-04-23; DVD
Best price: $7.54
Price in other shops:
House CallsUniversal Studios; Release date: 2005-05-31; DVD
Best price: $6.46
Price in other shops:
How to Succeed in Business Without Really TryingSony; Release date: 2000-04-18; DVD
Best price: $7.24
Price in other shops:
The Fortune CookieFortune; Release date: 2001-03-06; DVD
Best price: $6.94
Price in other shops:
Hopscotch (The Criterion Collection)MATTHAU,WALTER; Release date: 2002-08-20; DVD
Best price: $16.49
Price in other shops:
How to Murder Your WifeSony; Release date: 2002-10-15; DVD
Best price: $7.24
Price in other shops: