The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker

Infobox Film
name = The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker


caption = Theatrical Release Poster.
director = Lawrence Turman
producer = Lawrence Turman
writer = Lorenzo Semple Jr Charles Webb
starring = Richard Benjamin Joanna Shimkus Elizabeth Ashley Adam West Patricia Barry
music = Fred Karlin
cinematography = Laszlo Kovacs (cinematographer)
editing = Fredric Steinkamp
distributor =
released = flagicon|USA August 19, 1971 | runtime = 95 mins
country = USA
language = English
budget =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0067398

"The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker" (1971) is an American motion picture released by Twentieth Century Fox, and was a comedy romance based upon the novel by Charles Webb. It was directed and produced by Lawrence Turman, whose credits most notably include producing 1967's high-grossing hit "The Graduate" (1967).

It starred "Goodbye Columbus" (1969) actor Richard Benjamin in the lead role, Joanna Shimkus, later on to become the wife of Sidney Poitier, as his beleagured wife, Adam West of TV's "Batman", stage and screen star Elizabeth Ashley, Patricia Barry, and Tiffany Bolling in supporting roles.

Movie Synopsis

The film mainly deals with the crumbling marriage of William Alren (Richard Benjamin) and his wife Lisa (Joanna Shimkus), and how William uses voyeurism and extra-marital affairs to 'spice up' his marriage. William gives up his career as a stockbroker, and takes up voyeurism full-time.

After putting up with her husband's various dalliances, and his persistent voyeurism, Lisa is advised by her outspoken sister Nan (Elizabeth Ashley) how to end her marriage to William by giving him a divorce. Nan's own marriage to Chester (Adam West), though, is in no better shape than Lisa's, and equally on the rocks. The film ends with William and Lisa reunited, with Lisa finally getting her 'revenge' on her husband.

Critical Reception

Critics of the film have been generally split about it. Leonard Maltin felt that while the film was a "humorous and sad depiction of marital breakdown", the cast was let down by a script which "seems uncertain as to what point it wants to drive across," (Maltin, 1991: 769). Steven Scheuer concurred somewhat with Maltin, saying that while the film was "occasionally amusing" it also tended to be "generally heavy-handed," (Scheuer, 1990: 672).

Roger Greenspun generally found the picture to be miscast, especially Richard Benjamin, feeling that while he is "a good comedian [he is] miscast [in this role] ," (Greenspun, 1971). He also thought that the film was closer to an "unsucessful television pilot," than a movie, in terms of its treatment of themes such as "sexual mechanics, the mechanics of marital supremacy, [and] the nuclear family as a machine for getting on in the suburbs," (Greenspun, 1971). Perhaps the most telling critique of the film comes from Leslie Halliwell, who thought that it was a "sardonic adult comedy of the battle of the sexes," (Halliwell, 2000: 522).

References

*Greenspun, Roger (1971) "The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker" The New York Times, August 20, 1971. (accessed 6 April 2008). [http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=2&res=9C01E5D71238EF34BC4851DFBE66838A669EDE&oref=slogin&oref=login]

*Halliwell, Leslie (2000) Walker, John (ed.) "Halliwell's Film & Video Guide 2001", HarperCollinsEntertainment, London.

*Maltin, Leonard (1991) "Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide 1992", Signet, New York.

*Scheuer, Steven H. (1990) "Movies on TV and Videocassette", Bamtam Books, New York.

External links

*imdb title|0067398