OVP: The Bachelor Party (1957)

Film: The Bachelor Party (1957)
Stars: Don Murray, E.G. Marshall, Jack Warden, Patricia Smith, Carolyn Jones, Nancy Marchand
Director: Delbert Mann
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Supporting Actress-Carolyn Jones)
Snap Judgment Rating: 3/5 stars

There are few screenwriters that merit as much name recognition as film directors-Aaron Sorkin, Dalton Trumbo, and Michael Wilson come to mind, but perhaps none is as recognizable to a certain sect of moviegoer as that of Paddy Chayefsky.  Chayefsky is one of only two men to have won three Academy Awards for screenwriting solo (the other being Woody Allen).  While The Bachelor Party didn't get him one of his three trophies, it still has his trademark kitchen sink realism on sharp display.

The film centers around five men, each in different stages of their lives and relationships: one well into his 40's worrying about paying for his child's college education (Marshall), one a swinging bachelor (Warden), one a man doing night school and realizing that his wife is having a baby (Murray), one a former philanderer turned family man, and one, of course, the groom-to-be.  The first half of the movie centers around these characters, interchangeably we see them interact with Murray, a man in that brief period in your late 20's/early 30's where you have to decide what dreams will become reality and what dreams there is no longer room to strive toward.  The bravado, the rough conversational tone of the men is classic Chayefsky, and the soft, middle income storyline is pure Delbert Mann, this film coming off of his most celebrated film, Marty, just two years earlier, which won him and Chayefsky Academy Awards.

The movie remains fascinating, not just for the shocking-for-it's time conversations that occurred (discussions of abortion, pornography, and promiscuity seem to make the film seem more appropriate 15 years later, and there are even hints at homosexuality in the reluctant, consistent cold feet of the groom-to-be).

Murray ably plays his role as the handsome man on the threshold of middle age, though his actions, particularly in the latter half of the film, become hazier and hazier, and his sudden (spoiler alert) redemption after nearly having an affair with Jones and just hours earlier suggesting his wife (Patricia Smith) consider an abortion seems like a bit of a cop-out, either on the part of Chayefsky or a nervous United Artists, trying to make sure it appealed to a wider audience.

Carolyn Jones, best known today as Morticia Adams and the ex-wife of Aaron Spelling, receives the film's only Academy Award nomination (it was her only Oscar nod as well).  She plays a character simply known as the Existentialist, and while the performance couldn't possibly be more than eight minutes in length, she makes the most of what she's given, charming Murray and showing a woman who throws herself at men to feel loved (her most famous line is, "say you love me, you don't have to mean it").  Her character gets no resolution as the film ends, however, and you're left wanting more (perhaps the best sign of a supporting actress), which is true of most of the final third of the movie.  While I would give Miyoshi Umeki a slight advantage for the win in the category that year (I haven't seen Elsa Lanchester's work in Witness for the Prosecution quite yet), I'd put Jones in a close second.  However, I have yet to be really impressed at all by any of the five performances nominated in 1957 for Supporting Actress-here's to hoping that Lanchester's work delivers.

What about you?  Have you seen The Bachelor Party (notoriously difficult to find on VHS/DVD)?  Do you have trouble not thinking of Carolyn Jones as the saucy goth "Tish?"  And whom should the Academy have thrown into the Best Supporting Actress race of 1957?