HotToastyRag
On Wednesdays, Jason Robards tells his wife he's spending the night in a corporate apartment, when really he's spending the night at his girlfriend's place. His client, Dean Jones, is in town and is accidentally sent to the executive suite instead of a hotel. He thinks Jane Fonda, Jason's girlfriend, is actually a hooker hired by the company! Muriel Resnik's successful Broadway play Any Wednesday fits in with many 1960s sex comedies, and Jane Fonda fits right in, as she did in Sunday in New York and Barefoot in the Park. She's beautiful and has fantastic comic timing, so the misunderstandings are twice as funny when she's in the middle. I never find Jason Robards to be very likable, but when he's paired up against Jane, he softens around the edges. While I liked Sunday in New York the best, this is a cute movie for those who like play adaptations or silly comedies that take issue with premarital sex. Jane Fonda really is totally adorable!
SnoopyStyle
Wealthy businessman John Cleves (Jason Robards) lies to his wife Dorothy (Rosemary Murphy) to have affairs on any Wednesday. Ellen Gordon (Jane Fonda) is a gallery clerk who inadvertently helps him. He is relentless in his pursuit until she surrenders to his wealth and power. She's getting kicked out of her apartment unless she gets $32K. John proposes his company buy her apartment as a love nest. She surprises herself with her uncontrollable lust for him. One day, John's secretary sends Cass Henderson (Dean Jones) to stay at the company apartment. Cass figures it's a love nest and intends to find out if it's Cleves's. Dorothy drops by and assumes that Cass and Ellen are together. They play along leading to an all out farce.Jason Robards is old and disgusting. He is a horrible character. The affair makes my head hurt and my soul cry. Jane Fonda is playing such a weak minded character. Dean Jones' character is only better by comparison. These are all unlikeable character to one degree or another. I don't care about any of these characters and I don't care what happens to them. The farce is all wacky without being funny.
wes-connors
Jane Fonda (she's Ellen) is the mistress whom executive Jason Robards (he's John) squeezes regularly; they have an ecstatically happy relationship, meeting every Wednesday in the "executive suite" he keeps for her. Then, into the New York apartment walks Dean Jones (he's Cass), who claims to need the phone (and a place to stay). When Rosemary Murphy (John's WIFE!) arrives, major high-jinks ensue! "Any Wednesday" is another dated 1960s situation sex comedy. The four are okay - with, perhaps Mr. Jones and Ms. Murphy surpassing their more well-known upper tier co-stars. The "split screen" telephoning is interesting; and, the script is lively with sexual innuendo. These movies seem like three-times-too-long TV half-hours comedies featuring stuff they couldn't tastefully show on TV. The "Gay Joke" comic relief is an "interior decorator" whom Murphy enlists to correct Fonda's apartment decor - it is startlingly over-the-top, like a '60s version of the "Negro Joke" character. *** Any Wednesday (1966) Robert Ellis Miller ~ Jane Fonda, Jason Robards, Dean Jones
moonspinner55
Broadway hit about a married millionaire's mistress befriended by his unsuspecting wife and cooed over by a loyal associate. Lots of slamming doors, comic deception, hissy fits and balloons--okay ingredients for a frothy fracas, and the cast is good. Jane Fonda overacts all over the place, yet she's delicious while dropping dry wisecracks or guzzling champagne (Fonda really keeps this material popping). The picture is so ready-made to be adorable, with little 'shockable' lines dotting the script, that it's easy to see why critics dismissed it. Some of the jokes are about five years out of date (this might have been perfectly pleasant if made in 1960 or '61). The plush production and the tinkly music set a jovial mood, but I bet the film looked awfully archaic coming into the Free Love generation. **1/2 from ****
AD
