For Pete's Sake (film)

Infobox Film
name = For Pete's Sake


image_size =
caption = DVD cover
director = Peter Yates
producer = Stanley Shapiro
writer = Stanley Shapiro
Maurice Richlin
starring = Barbra Streisand
Michael Sarrazin
music = Artie Butler
cinematography = László Kovács
distributor = Columbia Pictures
released = June 26, 1974 USA
runtime = 90 minutes
country = USA
language = English
budget =
gross =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0071514

"For Pete's Sake" is a 1974 American screwball comedy film directed by Peter Yates. The screenplay by Stanley Shapiro and Maurice Richlin chronicles the misadventures of a Brooklyn housewife. In 1977 it was remade in India as the Hindi film "Aap Ki Khatir".

Plot synopsis

Henrietta and Pete Robbins are a young couple struggling to get by on the income he earns as a cab driver. His pompous sister-in-law Helen delights in reminding them that an early marriage robbed him of a college education and how much better off than they she and her husband Fred are. When Henrietta gets an inside tip on pork belly futures, she borrows $3,000 from a Mafia loan shark to purchase the stock. Unfortunately, its value doesn't increase as rapidly as she anticipated, and when she's unable to pay her debt, her contract is sold to Mrs. Cherry, a grandmotherly-type who operates a prostitution ring. When Henrietta's initial attempts at entertaining clients prove to be less than successful, her contract is sold yet again . . . and again, as Henrietta fails to fulfill the requirements of each new individual to whom she becomes indebted - each time for more money - and tries to keep her new enterprises - bomber, then cattle rustler - secret from her unsuspecting husband.

Production notes

The title tune, "For Pete's Sake (Don't Let Him Down)," was written by Artie Butler and Mark Lindsay, former lead singer of Paul Revere & the Raiders.

Principal cast

*Barbra Streisand ..... Henrietta Robbins
*Michael Sarrazin ..... Pete Robbins
*Estelle Parsons ..... Helen Robbins
*William Redfield ..... Fred Robbins
*Molly Picon ..... Mrs. Cherry
*Louis Zorich .....Nick Kasabian
*Heywood Hale Broun ..... Judge Hiller
*Joseph Maher ..... Mr. Coates

Critical reception

In his review in the "New York Times", Vincent Canby called the film "an often boisterously funny old-time farce" and added, "The movie may not hold together as any kind of larger comic statement, but the laughs are self-sustaining throughout . . . Miss Streisand's comedy range is narrow, like a cartoon character's, but "For Pete's Sake" operates almost entirely within that range. She's at her best in this kind of farce." [ [http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F0CE6DF153AEF34BC4F51DFB066838F669EDE "New York Times" review] ]

"Time Out London" says, "Yates sure is an erratic talent . . . Here he's adrift in a sea of poor performances and bad comic timing." [ [http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/66924/for-petes-sake.html "Time Out London" review] ]

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0071514|title=For Pete's Sake