What a Cast!... What a Past!... What a Show!... What a Way to Go!

It was an incredible flop

Love this film. Much too clever for audiences today

[quote] I'm kinda surprised that, in all these years, it has never been remade.

that's because you're an aging gay man with a taste for camp. No one else is surprised it has never been remade.

I have vague memories of seeing this when I was a child. Isn't there an oil gusher scene at one point?

I always confuse this one with Woman Times Seven.

Both are bloated bores.

The last sequence in Woman Times Seven is worth sitting the the rest of it.

R4 Yes. That's the ending scene.

This was intended for Marilyn and recast with Shirl.

I love this movie (and we've discussed it here before.) The Robert Mitchum sequence is especially funny. (There's a sentence you don't read every day.)

R8, that kind of addresses a question I had. I know Shirley was slim and a good dancer. But in her prime, did straight men go to her movies because they found her sexy? She always seemed sort of unsexy to me. A good body but kind of a weird wide matronly RBF.

Well, it beats "The Great Race" and "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines."

As a wee gayling seeing this for the first time, I'll never forget that scene where Robert Mitchum as the richest man in the world gets onto his private jet with a bevy of beauties, lies down on a bed on the jet and proceeds to have all his clothes removed by the bevy so they they could have their way with him. But then, just as it was getting interesting and Mitchum was semi-nude, the scene faded away. Except in my wild imagination.

This gaudy witless film was emblematic of the mid-1960s when Hollywood was desperate to break all the moral codes but before the rebellious auteur talent of post-1967 clicked and changed everything. Shirley MacLaine was a major victim, whose career eventually survived . See also: Natalie Wood, whose career didn't.

This film opened the same year as the 1966 New York World's Fair. The MTA created an above-ground tram that would take Fair visitors directly onto the fairgrounds and (for a while) had it all painted hot pink, inside and out, in conjunction with the film with signs that blared: "What a Way to Go the NY World's Fair!"

I saw that movie the summer it was released. I was only 12 and very sheltered, so a lot of it was lost on me. I didn't see it again until a few years ago and I was surprised my parents let me see such an adult movie, especially since we were Catholic and paid attention to Legion of Decency ratings.

I saw it during the original run. I remember seeing Paul Newman, shirtless, in the shower. That was one of my first wake up calls.

[quote]Well, it beats "The Great Race"

How very DARE you. That movie costarred DL Goddess VIVIAN VANCE!

I remember life magazine had an edith head layout with all of the outfits and gowns

I would rather have had a Paul Newman head layout, without any outfits...

I think Miss Head also designed The Great Race.

R1 —According to Wikipedia, this movie grossed over $11 million and did post a profit, though it’s true that critics generally panned it.

I’ve always loved it for its excess. And I love the Gene Kelly/Pinky portion — the all pink pool by the all pink mansion. And that little unpretentious song and soft shoe that Kelly does without the clown makeup is one of my favorite things he ever did in a movie. For once he wasn’t trying too hard.

R12 Indeed, the movie sort of teased nudity and sex but never really went there there. By 1964, other movies had gone there so this one already felt like a bit of a dinosaur.

I've seen the movie a few times because I love the costume changes but what once looked glamorous and expensive now feels like backlot cheap. However, I think it would have been a much better vehicle for Marilyn than it was for SM.

Even my movies promised and delivered more sex and that's saying something!

Interesting that Dick van Dyke is billed below Bob Cummings.....

Film Debut Date: May 13, 1964 Location: New York City Film Title: What a Way to Go!

and within fourteen weeks, ........

Mary Poppins film debuted on August 27, 1964

DVD was a relative newcomer to film, even if his TV series was a hit. Had he done a film before this?

it does look cheap R21... the lighting is so harsh and flat, am I right?

Except for one scene at Los Angeles Airport, the entire film was shot on the Fox backlot on 73 sets. Because of the limited availability of the stars, the movie was shot over 45 days, which was considered short for a movie of this scale.[6]

Amazing that McLaine was signed in July1963, and it opened the following May.

r24 Have you heard of a little movie called "Bye Bye Birdie"?

it couldn't possibly be worse than JOHN GOLDFARB, PLEASE COME HOME, screenplay by William Peter Blatty, directed by J. Lee Thompson, produced by Steve Parker. Presented by 20th Century-Fox

It's all about Edie's rags...

How did they lure Edith head away from paramount?

It was the 8th highest grossing film of 1964

At least it's livelier than Two for the Seesaw adapted from the stage play with Robert Mitchum totally miscast

R1 an incredible flop!

Top grossing films 1964

1 Mary Poppins Aug 26, 1964 Walt Disney Musical $102,272,145 109,970,048

2 My Fair Lady Oct 22, 1964 Musical $72,000,000 77,419,354

3 Goldfinger Dec 22, 1964 MGM Action $51,100,000 54,946,236

4 The Carpetbaggers Apr 9, 1964 Paramount Pictures Drama $28,409,547 30,547,900

5 From Russia With Love Apr 8, 1964 MGM Action $24,800,000 26,666,666

6 Father Goose Dec 10, 1964 Universal Romantic Comedy $12,500,000 13,440,860

7 A Shot in the Dark Jun 23, 1964 MGM Comedy $12,368,234 13,299,176

8 What a Way to Go! May 12, 1964 Romantic Comedy $11,180,531 12,022,076

9 The Unsinkable Molly Brown Jul 11,

The early to mid-sixties were so corny. The social revolution of the late 60s couldn’t have come fast enough.

van dyke probably signed for What A Way to Go just as Birdie was opening...hence the billing

Bye Bye Birdie had its debut in movie theaters on April 4, 1963