Recently, Shirley MacLaine was honored at the Texas Film Awards as a Texas Legend for her work in the films Terms of Endearment and Bernie. It was a great and fitting tribute to a career that is still more than thriving. It also coincides with a couple of treasured MacLaine classics which have recently made their way to Blu-ray for new generations to hopefully uncover. One of these, the rollercoaster-like romantic comedy What a Way to Go!, is the perfect introduction to someone discovering MacLaine for the first time. The 1964 effort from director J. Lee Thompson is just the kind of escapist fare that fans of classic films can easily get lost in, which also carries with it a subtle, yet true ideology. Far from the likes of Sweet Charity or Irma La Douce, What a Way to Go! is one of the quintessential MacLaine vehicles from this era which greatly shows the kind of spirited and energetic actress she remains.
In What a Way to Go!, MacLaine stars as Louisa May Foster, a small-town girl whose sole dream is to find a man who loves her for who she is and with whom she can make a good life, regardless of money or prosperity. However, fate has other plans as Louisa proceeds to fall in love with and marry a collection of wildly different men who each proceed to strike it rich before suddenly dropping dead, including a local hardware store owner (Dick Van Dyke), a hot-blooded Parisian painter (Paul Newman), a struggling entertainer (Gene Kelly), and a wealthy businessman (Robert Mitchum). Louisa decides to see a psychiatrist (Robert Cummings) in an effort to uncover why she’s cursed with falling in love with men who strike it rich and die when all she wants is someone to spend the rest of her life with.
One of the greatest aspects of What a Way to Go! is how it provides an A-level showcase for all of its male stars, with each of them doing what they do best to remarkable effect. The film seems to be tailor-made for lovers of all kinds of cinema who will lap up seeing Van Dyke’s still-unmatched physical comedy in the same feature as Newman’s famous method yelling. By the same token, there’s nothing but sheer pleasure at seeing MacLaine react to Mitchum’s trademark coolness or being wowed as the actress holds her own alongside Kelly’s legendary dance moves. More than that, though, What a Way to Go! maintains a great sense of fun and exuberance by illustrating each of Louisa’s marriages as a different movie within a movie according to whatever new setting and husband she finds herself attached to, from slapstick to silent and French new wave.
What sticks out most about What a Way to Go! is its incredibly lavish production design, which boasts one unbelievably stunning set after another. Not only is each one carefully and eye-poppingly made, but they’re also wildly different, ranging from a rural farm, to a jet plane, to a Paris city street, to a psychiatrist’s office which comes complete with a couch for his patients which has the ability to rise several feet in the air. If audiences aren’t too quick to praise the sets, it’s probably because they’re far too busy being in awe of the endless array of costumes MacLaine sports throughout the film. The star is carefully and elaborately made up in every scene she appears in, never looking like the same woman twice in a wild collection of ‘60s colors and patterns. The costumes become such a focus in the film that What a Way to Go! nearly pushes its star aside and makes famed designer Edith Head and her creations the true leads of the film.
As previously mentioned, What a Way to Go! is the perfect showcase for some of the strongest and most eclectic group of actors working during that era. Each one seems invested in his character, making them his own by blending their own skills as an actor while never forgetting that they’re in a decidedly frothy comedy. It’s certainly a testament to MacLaine that not only is she able to acquit herself well in the company of one commanding acting presence after another, but that she never manages to get stuck behind them. It’s interesting to see the way MacLaine is able to adjust to the differing styles of her male costars as she appears to carry the entire affair with the greatest of ease. As for her character, it’s also very telling of MacLaine’s skills that she is able to maintain Louisa’s purity and focus throughout. She never lets her get lost in whatever world she finds herself in, and keeps her ultimate goal of finding true love intact.
While the film is a perfect fit for its leading lady, the role was far from intended to be MacLaine’s. What a Way to Go! was originally developed as a vehicle for Marilyn Monroe, who died shortly before production could commence. Following her death, executives began reshaping the film for Elizabeth Taylor, despite the fact that she was not known as a comedic actress. Eventually, the film found its way to MacLaine, and the rest is history. It’s interesting to wonder, however, what the film would have been like had either Monroe and Taylor actually followed through with filming. While the former would have easily carried the comedy off without a hitch, and the latter would have been a stunner in the dazzling assortment of costumes, neither one would have brought with them the skilled timing, wit, depth, and pathos quite like MacLaine did…and still does.
What a Way to Go! is now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.
