Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1960
The Facts of Life (film)
Buy The Facts of Life (film) now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'The Facts of Life' is a 1960 romantic comedy starring Bob Hope and Lucille Ball as married people who have an affair. Written, directed and produced by longtime Hope associates Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, the film is more serious than many other contemporary Hope vehicles. The film features an opening animated title sequence created by Saul Bass.
The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one for Best Costume Design (for Edith Head and Edward Stevenson). Lucille Ball was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress Comedy.
Plot
As the yearly vacation of six neighbors, the Gilberts, Masons and Weavers, approaches, Kitty Weaver and Larry Gilbert find themselves frustrated with the routine. When their spouses are kept away from the vacation, Kitty and Larry find themselves alone in Acapulco, with the Masons bedridden with illness. Forced together, Kitty and Larry fall in love. However, when the vacation is over, they face difficulties deciding whether to continue the romance. They can't bear seeing each other at their usual social activities, without being together. This leads to a rendezvous at the drive-in movie, where they are recognized, followed by a botched visit to a local motel with humorous consequences. They arrange a weekend together in Monterey, and Kitty leaves behind a note for Jack telling him she is leaving him. The bungalow with a leaky roof rented by Larry becomes the backdrop for their gradual realization that leaving their families is much more complicated, and Larry and Kitty are much less compatible than they thought. The result is a madcap race back home to retrieve Kitty's breakup note before her husband Jack reads it.
Cast
* Bob Hope as Larry Gilbert
* Lucille Ball as Kitty Weaver
* Ruth Hussey as Mary Gilbert
* Don DeFore as Jack Weaver
* Louis Nye as Hamilton Busbee
* Philip Ober as Doc Mason
* Marianne Stewart as Connie Mason
* Hollis Irving as Myrtle Busbee
Reception
In a positive contemporary review in 'The New York Times', critic Bosley Crowther called the script "... a wonderfully good-humored estimation of an essentially pathetic state of affairs" and wrote: "It is a grandly good-natured picture, full of thoroughly sparkling repartee and word-gags and sight-gags that crackle with humor and sly intelligence."
In 1964, Stanley Kauffmann of 'The New Republic' wrote that the film "... was probably Bob Hope's best picture."
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! Award
! Category
! Nominee(s)
! Result
|-
| rowspan="5"| Academy Awards
| Best Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
| Melvin Frank and Norman Panama
|
|-
| Best Art Direction Black-and-White
| Art Direction: Joseph McMillan Johnson and Kenneth A. Reid;
Set Decoration: Ross Dowd
|
|-
| Best Cinematography Black-and-White
| Charles Lang
|
|-
| Best Costume Design Black-and-White
| Edith Head and Edward Stevenson
|
|-
| Best Song
| "The Facts of Life"
Music and Lyrics by Johnny Mercer
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| Golden Globe Awards
| colspan="2"| Best Motion Picture Comedy
|
|-
| Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
| Bob Hope
|
|-
| Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
| Lucille Ball
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| Laurel Awards
| colspan="2"| Top Action Drama
|
|-
| Top Male Comedy Performance
| Bob Hope
|
|-
| Top Female Comedy Performance
| Lucille Ball
|
|-
| Writers Guild of America Awards
| Best Written American Comedy
| Melvin Frank and Norman Panama
|
|}
References
Buy The Facts of Life (film) now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1960