Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957)

94% of critics liked it
(18 reviews)
77% of users liked it
(848 ratings)

Jayne Mansfield recreated her starmaking stage role in this film adaptation of George Axelrod's Broadway comedy. Mansfield plays a Monroe-like movie queen whom adman Tony Randall hopes to sign for a product endorsement. Through a fluke, the press believes that Randall is having an affair with… More Jayne Mansfield recreated her starmaking stage role in this film adaptation of George Axelrod's Broadway comedy. Mansfield plays a Monroe-like movie queen whom adman Tony Randall hopes to sign for a product endorsement. Through a fluke, the press believes that Randall is having an affair with Mansfield; she eagerly pounces on the attendant publicity, much to the dismay of her body-builder beau (Mickey Hargitay, then married to Mansfield). At the behest of his ad agency, Randall is forced to propose to Mansfield on a coast-to-coast TV show, which breaks the heart of his true love (Betsy Drake). Both Randall and Mansfield are saved from a marriage neither one wants by the last-minute arrival of Mansfield's hometown boy friend (Groucho Marx). Director Frank Tashlin uses Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter as an excuse to take satirical potshots at everything from TV commercials to the unwieldiness of CinemaScope. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 34 min.
Directed By: Frank Tashlin
Genres: Classics, Comedy

In Theaters: Jan 1, 1957 Wide
On DVD: Aug 8, 2006

Critic Reviews

, Variety
In converting the stageplay Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? to his purposes, Frank Tashlin turns out a vastly amusing comedy.
Bosley Crowther, New York Times
[Tashlin], as the writer, producer and director of the film, has let it go mushy and sprawling even more than the original play of George Axelrod.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Tashlin had a huge stylistic impact on the New Wave. Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, his greatest film, is the template for Godard's bold use of primary colors and 'Scope in the 60s.
Philip French, Guardian [UK]
The picture sends up and encapsulates the complacency of the conformist Eisenhower years.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
A panic.
Fernando F. Croce, Slant Magazine
Frank Tashlin never could harmonize his celebratory/critical impulses toward American pop culture, so it comes as no surprise that this is both his funniest and most despairing picture.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Cynical look at America during the 1950s.
, Time Out
The not inconsiderable charms of Jayne Mansfield are much to the fore, but it's Randall's performance as timid advertising executive Rockwell Hunter that holds the whole thing together.
Steve Crum, Kansas City Kansan
True Mansfield vehicle, one of the few.
, Film4
A highly entertaining satirical extravaganza that's executed with style and manic energy.
Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
The film is filled with a hmorously jaundiced view of the advertising and motion picture industries and the American star machinery.
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com
Aging but still funny.