MartinHafer
I noticed that this was called a 'sex romp' or 'adult comedy', however, the film really is pretty wholesome and not the sensual film you might imagine.The film is a merry mix-up film starring Jack Lemmon, Dorothy Provine and Romy Schneider. Lemmon and Provine are happily married and he has a lower-level job working for an advertising firm. However, his hum-drum life is about to be turned upside down when some seemingly harmless lies begin to snowball. First, when his wife's friend (Schneider) is about to inherit $15,000,000 dollars, there's a problem--because it's stipulated that she can only have the money if she's happily married. But, she's separated from her husband (Mike Connors)--and Lemmon agrees to pretend to be the husband. At the same time, Lemmon has a VERY old fashioned client (Edward G. Robinson) and Robinson prizes Lemmon for being a decent family man. However, the 'wife' he sees Lemmon with is Schneider--and to keep this account, they must continue to pretend to be married. Plus, some of Schneider's cousins now have hired private detectives to prove the two are not happily married--and there's even more reason for them to pretend to be married. It all gets pretty crazy and the lie continues to snowball even more. How far it goes and how it all ends is something you'll just need to see for yourself.Aside from people THINKING there is hanky-panky going on, this is a pretty chaste and rather funny comedy. In many ways, it's reminiscent of an old-time Hollywood screwball comedy and I enjoyed it very much. My only quibble, and it's a minor one, is that Schneider was miscast. Her Austrian accent was not adequately explained away in the plot and although very beautiful she just wasn't right for the part because of this inexplicable accent. However, Lemmon was terrific and the film was quite clever.
bobvend
The great Jack Lemmon is in top form here, along with a fine supporting cast in a frantic farce that gives wife-swapping a comic spin. Just as Lemmon's character's ad agency is about to lose its biggest account, he gets tapped to salvage the deal with the client, who happens to like Lemmon's virtuous, clean-living persona. This should be a cinch for him, as he is a happily-married suburbanite with a lovely wife and family; he exudes the exact qualities the client is looking for in an ad exec. But things become very complicated very fast when his wife's sexy best friend suddenly moves next door to them. The confusion is helped along by wary relatives, spies, ex-husbands, and a few ducks.As clever as it is silly, it's very easy to enjoy if one is a fan of the genre. Surprisingly lacking in sexual innuendo (although the situations allow ample opportunity for it), the film sails along with good energy which holds up almost to the end. Those expecting a big payoff in the finale will be let down a bit, but it's nonetheless a worthwhile and enjoyable slice of '60's humor.
williwaw
Jack Lemmon was groomed at Columbia and what a run Lemmon had... working as co star to glamor girls Rita Hayworth, Doris Day and Kim Novak in a series of great films. Jack Lemmon was also loaned out to WB for his Oscar winning Mr. Roberts working with Henry Fonda, William Powell and directed by John Ford, and loaned out to UA for Billy Wilder's comedic masterpiece Some Like It Hot with the peerless Marilyn Monroe, and Joe E Brown. (All four: Wilder, Monroe, Brown and Lemmon ought to have won Oscars).Good Neighbor Sam was one of if not the last film Jack Lemmon made at Columbia Pictures, and it is a riotous film co starring Romy Schneider, Mike Connors, Edward G Robinson and the dazzling Dorothy Provine (on loan from Ms Provine's studio Warner Bros). Dorothy Provine should have been a major movie star.David Swift who directed Pollyanna with Jane Wyman, a film that made Hayley Mills a star and other fine films such as Mr. Lemmon's Under The Yum Yum Tree directs here and creates a lot of fun. The cast is superb.This is a laugh out loud funny film, and one of Jack Lemmon's true gems.
jackmronner
Does anybody know who wrote the theme song? Did they live in Danville, or do I misremember? Since I have to pad this out a bit: has anyone else heard the Dorothy Provine had somethingon the order of a 160 IQ? Does naybody know why there is a minimum of ten lines required for comments? It smacks of mandatory loquaciousness. What of the laconic types among us who are cinct-suckers (I'd love to see what spell-check would make of that last word)? I do recall that, for its time, it was considered a bit risqué when it first came out. Well, I've run out of things to say and it's still a line or so short. But if you like this film, check out "How to Murdre Your Wife" and a very sexy Inger Stevens as Matthau's wife.
AD
