Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957)
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95% of critics liked it
(19 reviews) -
76% of users liked it
(870 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
- Directed By
- Frank Tashlin
- Genres
- Classics, Comedy
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Jan 1, 1957 Wide
- Studio
- Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.
Critic Reviews
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Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York
[Mansfield] constantly catches you off guard. She's this unabashedly crude movie's bleached-blond heart and soul.
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, Variety
In converting the stageplay Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? to his purposes, Frank Tashlin turns out a vastly amusing comedy.
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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.
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, 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.
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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.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Jayne Mansfield
as Rita Marlowe
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Tony Randall
as Rock Hunter
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Betsy Drake
as Jenny
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Joan Blondell
as Violet
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Mickey Hargitay
as Bobo Branigansky
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Groucho Marx
as Surprise Guest
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Henry Jones
as Rufus
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John Williams (II)
as Le Salle Jr.
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Lili Gentle
as April
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Georgia Carr
as Calypso Number
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Dick Whittinghill
as TV Interviewer
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Ann McCrea
as Gladys
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Alberto Morin
as Frenchman
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Louis Mercier
as Frenchman
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Bob Adler
as Mailman
- Minta Durfee
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Barbara Eden
as Secretary
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Larry Kerr
as Mr. Ezzarus
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Lida Piazza
as Junior's Secretary
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Mack Williams
as Hotel Doorman
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Phil Chambers
as Mailman
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Benny Rubin
as Theater Manager
