A Guide for the Married Man

Directed with a lascivious eye by Gene Kelly, A Guide for the Married Man has the illicit kick of finding a vintage copy of Playboy in your dad's sock drawer. With its zoom shots of ample cleavage and jiggling bottoms, this sophisticated sex farce is Naughty with a capital N. Walter Matthau stars as a desperate husband with a roving eye who is "ready to take the plunge." Robert Morse costars as his philandering best friend who becomes his "coach." Morse's "pointers" are acted out by a stellar cast of comic actors. Scoring highest are Carl Reiner as a vainglorious movie star arranging a cross-global tryst; Joey Bishop as a husband who steadfastly denies, denies, denies even after he is caught in the act by his wife, and Terry Thomas as a man driven to an early grave after his paramour (Jayne Mansfield) loses her bra in his home. The film's bevy of beauties includes ravishing Inger Stevens as Matthau's unsuspecting wife and Sue Ann Langdon as the neighborhood tease. Just to make the film even more '60s, The Turtles perform the title song. A Guide for the Married Man is so wrong, so dated, and so sexist. It's a wonder it hasn't been remade! --Donald Liebenson