Max Shulman Movies
Author Max Shulman is best remembered for creating the popular character Dobie Gillis, a typical American teen who frequently suffered from romantic angst. The character appeared on a popular television sitcom during the '50s and was in a feature film in 1953. Shulman became a writer in the early '40s, after an editor at Doubleday read some of his college work and asked him to write a novel. Other Shulman novels adapted to the screen include The Tender Trap (1955) and Rally Round the Flag Boys (1958). In 1978, Shulman collaborated on the screenplay for House Calls. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1982
A career woman is so desperate to conceive a child that when her boyfriend the sportswriter comes up short, she goes looking for a fertile stranger in this made-for-TV comic outing. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Suzanne Pleshette, Gil Gerard, (more)
Recently widowed Dr. Nichols (Walter Matthau) finds himself ill at ease in re-entering the singles scene. Then he meets Ann Atkinson (Glenda Jackson), a patient recuperating from a jaw operation. Freshly divorced from a philandering spouse, Jackson is as reluctant to inaugurate a lasting commitment as Walter--but inaugurate they do, in a hilarious scene wherein Jackson and Walter try to emulate those romantic couples in 1930s movies who were forced by the censors to keep one foot on the floor while lying in bed. It is Jackson who encourages Matthau to stand up for his ideals during a lawsuit involving senile head physician Dr. Willoughby (Art Carney, who is unbearably funny at times). Richard Benjamin rounds off the cast of polished farceurs who add so much sparkle to House Calls. The film was later adapted into a TV sitcom starring Wayne Rogers in the Matthau role, Lynn Redgrave (and later Sharon Gless) in the Jackson counterpart, and David Wayne as a less aphasiatic version of the Carney character. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Matthau, Glenda Jackson, (more)
Director Leo McCarey was clearly past his prime when he made this screen version of Max Shulman's comic novel Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys; still, the film was a success, no small thanks to the star power of real-life husband and wife Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. The scene is Putnam's Landing, Connecticut, where commuter Harry Bannerman (Paul Newman) is driven crazy by his wife Grace's (Joanne Woodward) insistence upon joining every civic committee known to man. When the government chooses Putnam's Landing as the location for their new missile base, Grace immediately joins a committee to halt this project-which causes no end of trouble for Air Force reservist Harry, who is expected to be the government's liason man for the new base. Adding to the dilemma is local vamp Angela Hoffa (Joan Collins), whose efforts to get her lunchhooks into Harry lead to a dizzying series of recriminations and misunderstandings. Satirical barbs are aimed at military stupidity (as personified by thick-eared Captain Hoxie, played by Jack Carson), small-town hypocrisy, and the teenaged "beat" craze. Among the supporting players are Dwayne Hickman and Tuesday Weld, cast respectively as Marlon Brando wannabe Grady Metcalf and nubile high-schooler Comfort Goodpasture (!); within a year of this film, Hickman and Weld would be reunited on the TV series Dobie Gillis, likewise based on a Max Shulman novel. Also appearing are reliable comedy foil Gale Gordon and an uncredited Murvyn Vye as Angela Hoffa's neglectful husband. Considered fairly racy in 1958, Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys seems slightly childish and draggy today; one wonders how it would have fared had Leo McCarey been at the height of his powers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, (more)
Max Shulman and Robert Paul Smith's Broadway hit The Tender Trap is transformed into a beguiling Frank Sinatra film vehicle. Sinatra plays a Manhattan showbiz agent, Charlie Y. Reader, who enjoys the attentions of several willing young ladies. At an audition, Charlie meets aspiring actress Julie Gillis (Debbie Reynolds), who is so determined to land a husband that she's already set the date. She goes out with Charlie for a short while, then announces that she won't marry him until he gives up all his other girls. Charlie, who hasn't said word one about marriage and who'd been preparing to give Julie the brush-off, is startled by her ultimatum -- so much so that he genuinely falls in love with her, which (we can safely assume) was her intention all along. A complication involving Charlie's former amour Sylvia Crewes (Celeste Holm) and his best friend Joe McCall (David Wayne) paves the way for the film's slightly offbeat denouement. In addition to scoring at the box office, The Tender Trap yielded a hit song (written by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen), which would remain a part of Frank Sinatra's repertoire for the rest of his life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Sinatra, Debbie Reynolds, (more)
- 1953
Confidentially Connie is an MGM factory product starring Janet Leigh and Van Johnson. Upon learning she is pregnant, Leigh tries to convince her husband Johnson, a humble teacher, to find a better-paying job. But Johnson is a proud man, so much so that he refuses to request money from his wealthy father (Louis Calhern). Somehow this plotline was related to the dilemma of rising meat prices in the postwar era. In the 1930s, MGM would have stretched Confidentially Connie well past its welcome, say for about 100 minutes; but 1953 was a year of austerity, thus this harmless little comedy breezed along at 74 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Van Johnson, Janet Leigh, (more)
- 1953
Red Skelton does his best with the situation-comedy trappings of Half a Hero. A sort of poor man's Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, the story concerns one Ben Dobson (Skelton), whose wife Martha (Jean Hagen) talks him into leaving the big city and moving into a suburban housing development. Unfortunately, Ben doesn't make enough money to support his new life style, but Martha refuses to consider moving back downtown. When Ben's boss tells him to write a magazine article about the disadvantages of suburbia, Ben seizes upon the opportunity, hoping to teach his wife a lesson, and then, suddenly and improbably, our hero has a change of heart. Domestic comedy was not Red Skelton's forte, but he manages to extract a few laughs with the material at hand. Much funnier within the film's context is Kathleen Freeman as a "welcome wagon" lady and Willard Waterman as an unctuous real estate broker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Red Skelton, Jean Hagen, (more)
- 1953
Though the film may be titled The Affairs of Dobie Gillis, Dobie -- that is, Bobby Van -- takes second billing to Debbie Reynolds. The scene is a Midwestern university, where freshman Dobie Gillis and his pal Charlie Trask (Bob Fosse) court cute coeds Pansy Hammer (Debbie Reynolds) and Lorna Ellingboe (Barbara Ruick). Pansy's wealthy father (Hanley Stafford) can't stand Dobie and does everything in his power to keep them apart. Along the way, Dobie and Pansy manage to blow up the chemistry lab, while Dobie's officious English professor Pomfritt (Hans Conried) is misled to believe that the feckless Gillis is a literary genius. With Bobby Van, Debbie Reynolds, Bob Fosse, and Barbara Ruick in the cast, The Affairs of Dobie Gillis simply has to have a few musical numbers in its repertoire -- and it does. The film was based on the novel by Max Shulman, which subsequently served as the basis for the popular TV series of the late '50s-early '60s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Debbie Reynolds, Bobby Van, (more)
