Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?

1957 "Man, oh man, oh Mansfield!"
6.9| 1h33m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 29 July 1957 Released
Producted By: 20th Century Fox
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

To save his career, an ad man wants a sex symbol to endorse a lipstick but in exchange, she wants him to pretend to be her lover.

Genre

Comedy, Romance

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Director

Frank Tashlin

Production Companies

20th Century Fox

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Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Audience Reviews

Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!
YouHeart I gave it a 7.5 out of 10
Spoonatects Am i the only one who thinks........Average?
Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.
bettycjung 1/26/18. I watched this because it is a National Film Registry pick. It was an okay movie for the time period. However, what was interesting was Mansfield's breathless delivery throughout the whole movie. While Marilyn Monroe was her contemporary, after watching this movie it makes me wonder if all the characteristics that Monroe was noted for (breathless delivery) was really Mansfield's creation than Monroe's. Oh well, I guess we'll never know.
mark.waltz A brilliant comedy that spoofs the world of advertising, publicity and fan worship. Tony Randall scores his greatest role as Rock Hunter, a staid advertising executive looking for the perfect image for a lipstick advertisement. Discovering that his niece is obsessed with movie star Rita Marlowe (Jayne Mansfield), he decides to get her to endorse the lipstick, hoping that it will get him in good with the stuffy head of the company, John Williams, who snubs him, bringing out the beast in thus mild mannered milquetoast. Mansfield not only agrees to endorse the lipstick, but creates a huge publicity scheme that makes everybody believe that Mansfield and Randall are in love. This is ultra upsetting to Randall's secretary/fiancée Betsy Drake and makes Randall's immediate supervisor (Henry Jones) wonder what Randall puts in his wheat germ to look like he does and all of a sudden become "lover boy", the sought after target of a group of determined fan girls.Ironically spoofing his friend Rock Hudson, Randall is both nebbish and sensual as the publicity turns him into somebody even he doesn't know. It is obvious who Mansfield is spoofing, and without making any names, she makes it very clear while gentlemen prefer blondes. Normally I can't stand the sound of female screeching (hawk calls I refer to them as), but when Mansfield does it, I can't help but roar in laughter.In fine support, Joan Blondell (once a popular blonde bombshell herself) is excellent as Mansfield's assistant, especially when she confides her own troubled romantic past. She provides a slew of wisecracks in the manner of her future "Grease" co-star, Eve Arden. Wearing little, sexy Mickey Hargitay is funny as a Tarzan style actor, complete with leading lady chimp, whom Mansfield insists he smelled like when he came to pick her up for their dates.Henry Jones also scores laughs as the dipsomaniac boss, creating guffaws by just pouring a morning martini, sending his daughter off to therapy and later, romancing Blondell. Look fast for Barbara Eden as a buxom secretary. While this might be considered a period piece as far as advertising industry is concerned today (as well as publicity for modern movie stars) it is one of the classic comedies of the 1950's. 20th Century Fox parodies their own publicity department, although it never once mentions the influential star whom Mansfield is spoofing. I can imagine the laughs that Mansfield must have gotten on Broadway, but like her first movie lead, you must admit, the girl can't help it.
jjnxn-1 Frothy, fun comedy with some smart jabs at advertising and fan worship. Tony Randall is a hoot as the suddenly fish out of water main character and Jayne Mansfield, repeating her stage triumph, is a knockout and proves an adapt comedienne. She's no Marilyn Monroe but had she had more roles like this her career at the top might not have been so short. While Tony and Jayne do most of the heavy lifting script wise the main supporting cast adds a great deal to the picture. Joan Blondell scores strongly as Jayne's right hand woman. An actress of wonderful subtlety she makes what could have been a nothing role both humorous and touching at times. Henry Jones and John Williams both add sly portrayals of two different kinds of successful men, one who wants to climb higher and the other who never wanted to be there in the first place. The weakest link is Betsy Drake as Rock's true love, the part doesn't offer much but unlike Blondell she doesn't have the distinction to make more of it than what's on the page. She doesn't mar the film she's just sort of there and when she's off screen you forget about her.The picture has that high gloss studio sheen and gorgeous saturated color that was a signature of the A pictures of that time. A winner and a great showcase for its stars.
itamarscomix This piece of satire from 1957 was probably considered edgy and sharp back then, but it really didn't age too well, and there isn't much else about it to make it stand on its own legs as a classic. The witty send-ups of television, the advertising industry and celebrity culture seems tame and mellow now that real celebrity culture is so much more extreme than anybody in the 50's might have guessed, and reality had surpassed any possible satire. The film is still watchable, even entertaining - the script is solid and smart and has more double entendres than most writers back then and which probably should have never received the Hays code's approval. Joan Blondell is hilarious and steals the show whenever she's on screen, and obviously Jayne Mansfield is a screen presence to be reckoned with, and she nails her role here and is a real pleasure to watch. Tony Randall spoils it a little - he's just good enough to be passable as a dull straight man, but he's far more wooden and dull than the role calls for, and he did better before and after, most notably in TV's The Odd Couple. Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? is worth keeping if only because Jayne Mansfield films are so precious few, and it still has the slightly campy fun of a 50's comedy, but it isn't a classic worth lingering on.