This looks utterly magical! I loved every second of this, especially Dick Van Dyke dancing and “Oh, yes, you too,” and the bathtub and the animation and MERYL STREEP. Can’t wait.
Neglected Gem: What a Way to Go! with Shirley MacLaine, Paul Newman, and Dick van Dyke
Posted on March 18, 2017 at 8:00 am
I don’t know why “What a Way to Go!” is not considered a classic. It is smart, colorful, and very funny, written by the people behind “Bells are Ringing” and with a once-in-a-lifetime all-star cast: Shirley MacLaine, Dick van Dyke, Dean Martin, Gene Kelly, Paul Newman, and Robert Mitchum. Which one of those stars does she get romantically involved with? All of them! This is a movie about a woman who just wants a simple, happy life, but who accidentally keeps marrying men who become hugely successful. Each marriage is portrayed in a different movie style. Husband number one is hometown boy Dick van Dyke (seen as a silent movie farce), followed by American in Paris Paul Newman (arty French film), industrialist Robert Mitchum (opulent, big-budget glamorous Hollywood romance), and small-town song-and-dance man Gene Kelly (big Hollywood musical). The costumes by Edith Head are wildly over the top.
My all-time favorite sitcom is “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” Though I’ve seen every episode many times, I still watch them on Hulu. And some of the best were the ones featuring Van Dyke’s real-life brother Jerry as Rob Petrie’s brother, Stacy. So I was delighted to see that this week Dick Van Dyke will guest-star on the terrific sitcom “The Middle,” playing the brother of the character played by Jerry Van Dyke. It will be great to see them together again.