- Divorce American Style
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Divorce American Style 
Original posterDirected by Bud Yorkin Produced by Norman Lear Written by Norman Lear
Robert KaufmanStarring Dick Van Dyke
Debbie Reynolds
Jason Robards
Jean SimmonsMusic by Dave Grusin Cinematography Conrad L. Hall Editing by Ferris Webster Distributed by Columbia Pictures Release date(s) June 21, 1967 Running time 109 minutes Country United States Language English Divorce American Style is a 1967 American satirical comedy film directed by Bud Yorkin.
Norman Lear produced the film and wrote the script based on a story by Robert Kaufman. It focuses on a married couple that opts for divorce when counseling fails to help them resolve their various problems, and the problems presented by divorced people by alimony.
Dick Van Dyke, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Simmons, Jason Robards and Van Johnson are the film's stars. The title is an homage to Divorce Italian Style (1961).
Contents
Plot
After seventeen years of marriage, affluent Los Angeles suburban couple Richard Harmon (Van Dyke) and his wife Barbara (Reynolds) seem to have it all, but they're constantly bickering. When they discover they no longer can communicate even to argue, they make an effort to salvage their relationship through counseling. But after catching each other emptying their joint bank accounts, they file for divorce.
Richard finds himself living in a small apartment and trying to survive on $87.30 a week. His take-home income has been cut to ribbons by high alimony. Richard meets a recently divorced man, Nelson Downes (Robards), who introduces him to ex-wife Nancy (Simmons). Nelson wants to marry off Nancy to be free of his alimony burden, so that he can marry his fiancee. Nancy also wishes to marry because she is lonely.
Since Richard cannot now afford to be remarried, Nelson and Nancy plot to set up Barbara with a millionaire auto dealer, Big Al Yearling (Johnson).
Barbara begins a relationship with Big Al, but one night all of the principals end up in the audience at a nightclub show. A hypnotist puts Barbara in a trance and coaxes her into doing a mock striptease. But when instructed to kiss her true love, Barbara plants one on Richard, and just like that their marriage problems are resolved.
Nelson, not to be deterred, immediately tries to get Nancy interested in Big Al.
Principal cast
- Dick Van Dyke as Richard Harmon
- Debbie Reynolds as Barbara Harmon
- Jason Robards as Nelson Downes
- Jean Simmons as Nancy Downes
- Van Johnson as Al Yearling
- Joe Flynn as Lionel Blandsforth
- Shelley Berman as David Grieff
- Martin Gabel as Dr. Zenwinn
- Lee Grant as Dede Murphy
- Tom Bosley as Farley
- Emmaline Henry as Fern Blandsforth
- Richard Gautier as Larry Strickland
- Tim Matheson as Mark Harmon
- Eileen Brennan as Eunice Tase
- Shelley Morrison as Jackie
Critical reception
In his review in the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert called the film "a member of that rare species, the Hollywood comedy with teeth in it" and added, "Bud Yorkin has directed with wit and style, and the cast, which seems unlikely on paper, comes across splendidly on the screen . . . The charm of this film is in its low-key approach. The plot isn't milked for humor or pathos: Both emerge naturally from familiar situations."[1]
Variety observed, "Comedy and satire, not feverish melodrama, are the best weapons with which to harpoon social mores. An outstanding example is Divorce American Style . . . which pokes incisive, sometimes chilling, fun at US marriage-divorce problems."[2]
New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther disliked the film. He said that "it is rather depressing, saddening and annoying, largely because it does labor to turn a solemn subject into a great big American-boob joke." Crowther criticized Van Dyke's performance, saying "He is too much of a giggler, too much of a dyed-in-the-wool television comedian for this serio-comic husband role."[3]
A more recent review in Time Out New York cites "Two or three very funny scenes . . . and a first-rate batch of supporting performances."[4]
Accolades
Norman Lear and Robert Kaufman were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay but lost to William Rose for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Lear also was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Comedy.
References
- ^ Chicago Sun-Times review
- ^ Variety review
- ^ Crowther, Bosley (1967-07-20). "The Screen: 'Divorce American Style':Solemn Topic Treated Too Much as Joke". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=1&res=9803E6D81E3CE731A25753C2A9619C946691D6CF. Retrieved 2009-09-15.
- ^ Time Out New York review
External links
- Divorce American Style at the Internet Movie Database
- Divorce American Style at AllRovi
- Divorce American Style at the TCM Movie Database
Films directed by Bud Yorkin 1960s Come Blow Your Horn (1963) · Never Too Late (1965) · Divorce American Style (1967) · Inspector Clouseau (1968)1970s Start the Revolution Without Me (1970) · The Thief Who Came to Dinner (1973)1980s Twice in a Lifetime (1985) · Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988)1990s Love Hurts (1990)Scheidung auf amerikanisch (1967)
Categories:- 1967 films
- American films
- English-language films
- 1960s comedy films
- American comedy films
- American satirical films
- Columbia Pictures films
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