Pauline Kael, film critic for the New Yorker, quipped about this film, "It's the kind of liberation movie that never liberated anyone." That's a clever line, but it isn't exactly true. Writer-director Richard Brooks shows the upwardly mobile as stiff dullards with drinks in their hands, the upper middle class as stifling bores. There's wry wit in these vignettes, but the trouble with Brooks' film is the central character. As played by Jean Simmons, she's one of those bored and lonely housewives who desires MORE! Simmons is repressed of her emotions, yet even when she makes her escape, she's still a pinchy drag. The supporting characters aren't written any better, but the performers themselves are more interesting: Bobby Darin is terrific as a phony gigolo, Tina Louise excellent as an acerbic society wife, Shirley Jones lovely as a single woman trying to remain casual about her married lover. John Forsythe gives his standard controlled performance as Simmons' confused spouse (he doesn't know how to reach her, which is a sympathetic quality since we don't either). The title means to tell us that we make our own happy endings--that we can't find them through other people--and the final scene between husband and wife is a tricky little chess-move that leaves us up in the air. I liked many things in "The Happy Ending", but its parts are better than the sum. **1/2 from ****
28 Reviews
If you like the song "What are you doing the rest of your life..."
blanche-25 July 2011
--this film is for you, as you'll hear that song constantly throughout the film.
"The Happy Ending" stars Jean Simmons, John Forsythe, Teresa Wright, Shirley Jones, Nanetete Fabray and Lloyd Bridges, and is directed by Simmons' husband, Richard Brooks. Interestingly, Teresa Wright didn't like his directing and found it pedantic, adding, "but I can't say anything because of Jean." Jean Simmons is one of my favorite actresses and this story serves her well. After twenty years, the lust is gone from Mary Wilson's marriage to husband Fred (Forsythe); she drinks, she pops pills, and finally, after a huge spending spree, her husband takes her credit cards and charge accounts away from her. Her favorite thing is watching old movies which have happy endings; strangely, one of her favorites is Casablanca. Casablanca has a noble ending, even a satisfactory ending. But a happy ending? I mean, Bogie ends up with Louis.
Finally, Mary manages to get her hands on some money, and she takes off for the Bahamas, where she is taken in by an old school friend (Shirley Jones), the "other woman" in several relationships who now finds herself involved with Lloyd Bridges, looking pretty darn good, I might add.
The film seems to be a series of flashbacks and music videos; it is surprising how little dialogue there actually is. Jean Simmons at 40 is radiantly beautiful as usual and she does a great job as Mary. Simmons was a totally underrated actress, squeezed in as she was with the likes of Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor. Brooks again has cast Shirley Jones as a bad girl, and again, she's effective. Teresa Wright plays Mary's mother, who can't quite understand her daughter's quest for happiness. Mary wants the fairytale.
I found this film just okay, at times confusing because of the seamlessness of the flashbacks, and frankly, I got sick of hearing "What are you doing...", a song a young man once sang to me and informed me that he had written it. Right.
Anything with Simmons is worth seeing, but at times, this one is tough going.
"The Happy Ending" stars Jean Simmons, John Forsythe, Teresa Wright, Shirley Jones, Nanetete Fabray and Lloyd Bridges, and is directed by Simmons' husband, Richard Brooks. Interestingly, Teresa Wright didn't like his directing and found it pedantic, adding, "but I can't say anything because of Jean." Jean Simmons is one of my favorite actresses and this story serves her well. After twenty years, the lust is gone from Mary Wilson's marriage to husband Fred (Forsythe); she drinks, she pops pills, and finally, after a huge spending spree, her husband takes her credit cards and charge accounts away from her. Her favorite thing is watching old movies which have happy endings; strangely, one of her favorites is Casablanca. Casablanca has a noble ending, even a satisfactory ending. But a happy ending? I mean, Bogie ends up with Louis.
Finally, Mary manages to get her hands on some money, and she takes off for the Bahamas, where she is taken in by an old school friend (Shirley Jones), the "other woman" in several relationships who now finds herself involved with Lloyd Bridges, looking pretty darn good, I might add.
The film seems to be a series of flashbacks and music videos; it is surprising how little dialogue there actually is. Jean Simmons at 40 is radiantly beautiful as usual and she does a great job as Mary. Simmons was a totally underrated actress, squeezed in as she was with the likes of Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor. Brooks again has cast Shirley Jones as a bad girl, and again, she's effective. Teresa Wright plays Mary's mother, who can't quite understand her daughter's quest for happiness. Mary wants the fairytale.
I found this film just okay, at times confusing because of the seamlessness of the flashbacks, and frankly, I got sick of hearing "What are you doing...", a song a young man once sang to me and informed me that he had written it. Right.
Anything with Simmons is worth seeing, but at times, this one is tough going.
The difficult sixties
slabihoud11 March 2009
Well, The Happy Ending is a textbook example of a late sixties movie by an established director. In as much as it is well intended, partly even "hip" but still missed its audience by a mile. How is that? The late sixties were a bad time for Hollywood filmmakers and producers. The box office numbers dropped and the pressure to have a hit increased. The well-known directors of the thirties, forties and fifties more and more lost contact with the moviegoers. One can almost say that Hollywood made films for a past generation. Looking at the big winners and losers tells you that a new style was in demand. This of course happened world wide.
It is interesting to notice that many of the best directors still had a hit in the early sixties but finished with a big flop in the end of the same decade! The bigger the director, the greater the downfall, I'm tempted to say.
And the failure was not only that not enough people went to see the films. In most cases the public was right and the film was just not good. The producers put pressure on the filmmakers to employ more modern stories and story telling devices and fresh faces. The established directors were not used to this cold wind blowing into their faces, and had little ideas what the public wanted to have changed. Everyone tried something but no one really hit the nail on the head. Let's have a look at some of them. Hitchcock started the sixties with Psycho and ended with Topaz. Billy Wilder started with The Apartment and ended the decade with The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. Otto Preminger had a big hit with Exodus in 1960 but his last film in the sixties, Skidoo, did so badly with critics and public that few people ever saw it. Frank Capra realized the changes and stopped film-making in 1961.
Fred Zinnemann began the sixties with The Sundowners, had a big Success with A Man of all Seasons, but couldn't get the funding for another project until The Day of the Jackal (1973) since box office in general was going down and producers were scared. Most of the named directors managed to get a foot on the ground again in the seventies and end their career with a respectable picture.
Some managed to have hits till to the middle of the sixties like Robert Wise with Sound of Music, but even that did not help to prevent him from having a bomb with Star!. Richard Brooks had a similar experience with In Cold Blood, that was followed by The Happy Ending. What was going on?
I think the fact that the general interest of the audience changed dramatically throughout the sixties almost completely eluded the Hollywood producers and filmmakers. And when they finally notices and tried to join the new wave it turned out that they have been too old to understand what was going on or that they thought it is enough to get some new faces into their films to appeal to a young and critical audience. Howard Hawks for example tried to jump on the wagon by simply recycling one of his earliest successes The Crowd Roars with new and unknown (and in-experienced) actors but did basically the same thing in Red Line 7000. It was a terrible mistake.
The dinosaur directors only managed to make money by concentrating again on what they did best and Hawks did El Dorado and had a decent swan song with Rio Lobo. Hitchcock tried to join in on the big business with spy movies that made so much money in the form of James Bond or his little brother Harry Palmer. Hitch tried it with Torn Curtain and with Topaz. To be on the safe side he even took a bestseller from Leon Uris (Topaz). The stories as they were told were mainly old fashioned. He had same new ideas in them but the general approach was like the espionage films he did in the thirties. He got out of this loop by going back to the kind of thrillers he was famous for and returned to the screen with Frenzy and had a good final movie with The Family Plot.
The studio system that already started to die with the advent of TV collapsed for good. New directors like Bogdanovich, Scorsese, Coppola and so on began to work for the big studios only after they started for small budget producers, mainly Roger Corman. Others like Dennis Hopper or John Cassavetes had long worked as an actor before being able to direct.
But what exactly is wrong with The Happy Ending? The story line is about a couple after they married. It tries to have a realistic look about problems arising from delusions almost everyone has about "happy ends". Jean Simmons still looks very young and attractive and John Forsythe does his very best. For one thing the constant music playing that lies like a veil over every scene that is really annoying. I'm a big fan of Michel Legrand but this film suffers from the soundtrack he wrote. (Two for the Road is another film that is, theme and music, very similar to The Happy Ending. This time Henry Mancini's music drowns every serious feeling.)
The story drags on and on, we see many episodes that amount to very little. The dialog is dull and everyone moves in upper class levels. The worst thing about The Happy Ending is that everything and everyone seems so boring. At the end you do not care what Jean Simmons decides. You are only glad the movie is over.
It is interesting to notice that many of the best directors still had a hit in the early sixties but finished with a big flop in the end of the same decade! The bigger the director, the greater the downfall, I'm tempted to say.
And the failure was not only that not enough people went to see the films. In most cases the public was right and the film was just not good. The producers put pressure on the filmmakers to employ more modern stories and story telling devices and fresh faces. The established directors were not used to this cold wind blowing into their faces, and had little ideas what the public wanted to have changed. Everyone tried something but no one really hit the nail on the head. Let's have a look at some of them. Hitchcock started the sixties with Psycho and ended with Topaz. Billy Wilder started with The Apartment and ended the decade with The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. Otto Preminger had a big hit with Exodus in 1960 but his last film in the sixties, Skidoo, did so badly with critics and public that few people ever saw it. Frank Capra realized the changes and stopped film-making in 1961.
Fred Zinnemann began the sixties with The Sundowners, had a big Success with A Man of all Seasons, but couldn't get the funding for another project until The Day of the Jackal (1973) since box office in general was going down and producers were scared. Most of the named directors managed to get a foot on the ground again in the seventies and end their career with a respectable picture.
Some managed to have hits till to the middle of the sixties like Robert Wise with Sound of Music, but even that did not help to prevent him from having a bomb with Star!. Richard Brooks had a similar experience with In Cold Blood, that was followed by The Happy Ending. What was going on?
I think the fact that the general interest of the audience changed dramatically throughout the sixties almost completely eluded the Hollywood producers and filmmakers. And when they finally notices and tried to join the new wave it turned out that they have been too old to understand what was going on or that they thought it is enough to get some new faces into their films to appeal to a young and critical audience. Howard Hawks for example tried to jump on the wagon by simply recycling one of his earliest successes The Crowd Roars with new and unknown (and in-experienced) actors but did basically the same thing in Red Line 7000. It was a terrible mistake.
The dinosaur directors only managed to make money by concentrating again on what they did best and Hawks did El Dorado and had a decent swan song with Rio Lobo. Hitchcock tried to join in on the big business with spy movies that made so much money in the form of James Bond or his little brother Harry Palmer. Hitch tried it with Torn Curtain and with Topaz. To be on the safe side he even took a bestseller from Leon Uris (Topaz). The stories as they were told were mainly old fashioned. He had same new ideas in them but the general approach was like the espionage films he did in the thirties. He got out of this loop by going back to the kind of thrillers he was famous for and returned to the screen with Frenzy and had a good final movie with The Family Plot.
The studio system that already started to die with the advent of TV collapsed for good. New directors like Bogdanovich, Scorsese, Coppola and so on began to work for the big studios only after they started for small budget producers, mainly Roger Corman. Others like Dennis Hopper or John Cassavetes had long worked as an actor before being able to direct.
But what exactly is wrong with The Happy Ending? The story line is about a couple after they married. It tries to have a realistic look about problems arising from delusions almost everyone has about "happy ends". Jean Simmons still looks very young and attractive and John Forsythe does his very best. For one thing the constant music playing that lies like a veil over every scene that is really annoying. I'm a big fan of Michel Legrand but this film suffers from the soundtrack he wrote. (Two for the Road is another film that is, theme and music, very similar to The Happy Ending. This time Henry Mancini's music drowns every serious feeling.)
The story drags on and on, we see many episodes that amount to very little. The dialog is dull and everyone moves in upper class levels. The worst thing about The Happy Ending is that everything and everyone seems so boring. At the end you do not care what Jean Simmons decides. You are only glad the movie is over.
Smashing Performance by Jean Simmons
drednm22 November 2005
The Happy Ending is dated and overlong but Jean Simmons is just terrific as the bored Denver housewife who turns to drink. Simmons earned her only Oscar nomination for this film. Many of the scenes in this film ring very hollow now, especially the "swinging" party where people actually KISS! Shocking. But looking past the hideous 1969 fashions worn by Simmons and Shirley Jones and Tina Louise, the film tries to take a serious look at modern-day marriages. So in counterpoint to the desperate housewives in Denver we get Shirley Jones as a happy hooker approaching 40 and getting a little desperate herself.
Simmons and Jones were college chums away back in 1953. Simmons married; Jones became a party girl. They meet on a plane to the Bahamas as Simmons is running away from her boring boozy life. Jones is shacked up with Lloyd Bridges. So we see the two extremes and two choices open for women. Luckily Simmons sees thru Bobby Darin's awful gigolo act and accent.
Back home Jones is abetted by a pill-popping cleaning lady (Nanette Fabray) who helps her thru her various crises with husband (John Forsythe), mother (Teresa Wright), and daughter(a very unappealing Kathy Fields). And then there are those parties! Poor Tina Louise is stuck married to schmuck Dick Shawn.
Best thing in this movie are the performances. Jean Simmons is just excellent as the smoldering wife who can't quite figure what's gone wrong. Shirley Jones is fine as the tramp. Nanette Fabray is funny and touching as the domestic. John Forsythe is OK as the dumb-ass husband. Tina Louise is good as the bored neighbor. And Teresa Wright is solid as the mother who just can't figure out the new generation and changing times. Dick Shawn and Kathy Fields are both lousy.
The film also boasts the excellent Michel Legrand song, "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?"
Simmons and Jones were college chums away back in 1953. Simmons married; Jones became a party girl. They meet on a plane to the Bahamas as Simmons is running away from her boring boozy life. Jones is shacked up with Lloyd Bridges. So we see the two extremes and two choices open for women. Luckily Simmons sees thru Bobby Darin's awful gigolo act and accent.
Back home Jones is abetted by a pill-popping cleaning lady (Nanette Fabray) who helps her thru her various crises with husband (John Forsythe), mother (Teresa Wright), and daughter(a very unappealing Kathy Fields). And then there are those parties! Poor Tina Louise is stuck married to schmuck Dick Shawn.
Best thing in this movie are the performances. Jean Simmons is just excellent as the smoldering wife who can't quite figure what's gone wrong. Shirley Jones is fine as the tramp. Nanette Fabray is funny and touching as the domestic. John Forsythe is OK as the dumb-ass husband. Tina Louise is good as the bored neighbor. And Teresa Wright is solid as the mother who just can't figure out the new generation and changing times. Dick Shawn and Kathy Fields are both lousy.
The film also boasts the excellent Michel Legrand song, "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?"
Observations on a life not worth having...
JasparLamarCrabb28 March 2010
Warning: Spoilers
A bravura performance by Jean Simmons as a wife and mother who re-thinks her whole existence and realizes that some endings aren't going to be all that happy. She's been married for 15 years to tax attorney John Forsythe, has a teenage daughter, a house in the suburbs, a maid...and she hates it all. Abandoning the family for a trip to Nassau, Simmons reevaluates her life and realizes that she's right, it stinks. She's heartbreaking and never less than true. Writer/director Richard Brooks infuses this movie with a lot of acrid observations of life AND married life. There are very few characters in the film that do not espouse what they think is the definitive meaning of it all. Simmons gives a career best performance with a seemingly odd supporting cast all doing great work: Dick Shawn as one of Forsythe's more philosophical clients; Nanette Fabrey as Simmon's practical maid; Tina Louise as Shawn's disillusioned wife. A very good Shirley Jones shows up at the film's mid-point to teach some real life lessons to Simmons. The film is not without its flaws. There is a pretty dim first fifteen minutes of a supposedly young Simmons & Forsythe courting (other actors are not used, so what we're seeing is actually a bit confusing). Bobby Darin (billed, for some reason, as Robert) has a really disposable cameo as a would-be gigolo. Minor flaws. Brooks is a great director and makes a very adult drama. Finally, it's Simmons's movie all the way. It's a brilliant performance.
And they say millennials are self-absorbed...
gee-158 March 2024
Angsty movie about an upper middle class woman who is unhappy with her life and tries to start over. I watched it mainly because I really like its theme song (What Are You Doing with the Rest of Your Life). Jean Simmons is lovely and even compelling as the woman looking for her "happy ending" and not really finding it. But my goodness, she and nearly all the characters come across as whiny, self involved social drinkers whose drinking passed "social" long ago. It's hard to think of a movie where you will find more navel-gazing and self-finding. Perhaps it came across as more edgy in the late 60s. The most honest moment of emotion is when Jean Simmons' character confronts her somewhat abandoned daughter (whom you've almost forgotten about) late in the film. The teenager is sad, angry and confused. It's a good reminder of how much children can suffer for their parents' psychological malaise.
The Happy Ending
CinemaSerf3 June 2023
The interesting topic for this film just about gives it enough steam to sustain the almost two hours of screen time. Jean Simmons ("Mary") is suffering from a long-term ennui with husband "Fred" (John Forsythe) and after trying drink and drugs to stimulate her existence, she absconds to the Bahamas (pawning her watch to fund this) on the evening of their wedding anniversary. It's on the plane that she encounters old friend "Flo" (Shirley Jones) and her pal "Sam" (Lloyd Bridges) and upon arrival they take the now penniless "Mary" in charge. It doesn't take long for the disillusioned lady to start to release that the grass is never really any greener, but her time in this idyllic location does allow her to recalibrate her priorities and sense of self (as well as to evaluate how her own life bears comparison with those of her friends). Simmons reminded me a little of Liz Taylor in this film. She has a confidence to portray a middle aged woman with demons and doubts; flawed and envious but kind and lonely too. Jones is good, also, as the friend whose life adds up to little more than series of relationships with wealthy men who have delivered fun and luxury, but little of substance. It falls to Bobby Darin's ("Franco") to finally help the penny to drop. Sadly, the film also focusses on the other half of this partnership a little too much, as Forsythe just had no weight as actor. Sure he was debonaire and had a certain class about him, but even at his ostensibly most impassioned in this film, his characterisation of the loving husband was more akin to that of a caring doctor. There was nothing remotely visceral about his effort, and that - I felt - really compromised the overall value of the film. Lloyd Bridges was never my favourite actor either, and here he contributes little of value by way of a foil to the kindly but selfish Jones. Plenty for us to get our teeth into, with a good strong story (though I didn't much like the ending) directed with a pace that suited the star. The dialogue is wordy, and sometimes a little melodramatic, but it is still a vehicle for fans of Jean Simmons to enjoy. Could have been much better, though.
Time for the women's movement
trudyr_19991 July 2011
Warning: Spoilers
I had to stay up late to do some work at my computer the other night, so I watched this on TCM, often my default channel. Jean Simmons was a wonderful actress who got a whole lot of projects not worthy of her talents, and the movie featured a lot of other good performers--John Forsythe, Teresa Wright, Nanette Fabray, Shirley Jones, Lloyd Bridges. (Singer Bobby Darin, billed here as "Robert," was decent in some movies but laughable and largely unrecognizable here as a gigolo.) And Richard Brooks made some good movies, both as director and writer. But despite all the talent involved, the film was quite frustrating. All the women are obsessed with keeping their looks so they keep their husbands, and none of them seem to be able to imagine having a career--I mean, I know feminism was considered rather radical at the time, but these women certainly needed it! Seeing them kvetch at the spa, I yelled at the TV, "Go to a NOW meeting!" (Or at least do some volunteer work to get a clue about people outside your social class.) And the unmarried woman, Shirley Jones, has not supported herself with a job but made a life as a kept woman. Granted, the professional opportunities for women were limited, but there were some...I don't think this is exactly an accurate picture of the time (I lived through it, although I was just a kid). Anyway, I got frustrated with all the whiny rich women, and also with the fact that, like a lot of movies in the 1960s, this one was trying to be somewhat "hip" but just not succeeding. Sort of the hip '60s filtered through old-Hollywood conventionality...and I love old Hollywood, but by the late '60s a new sensibility was needed. Anyway, at least Simmons got out of her rut at the end...but then, my sister, who watched most of the movie with me, thought the character really had nothing to complain about. So, two different views, but both of us had our frustrations. I do love the Michel Legrand song, so that was a plus--and I found this worth watching just to see where it went wrong!
One of my favorite films
ricbigi3 April 2014
When I first saw THE HAPPY ENDING, back in 1970, I was blown over by the film's sensitive portrayal of an unhappy housewife trying to decide what to do with her life. I took family and friends to see it and most people liked the film, finding it unusually frank as a portrayal of a failed marriage. I still find THE HAPPY ENDING very good. It is aesthetically rooted in the late sixties but that does not diminish its essential value. The all-star cast is excellent (Jean Simmons, John Forsythe, Teresa Wright, Nanette Fabray, Shirley Jones, Bobby Darin, Lloyd Bridges, Tina Louise) and Jean Simmons might have shared the Oscar with Maggie Smith that year. Both actresses deserved to receive acting honors for their respective roles. I love the jazzy music score by Michel Legrand; Marilyn & Alan Bergman's beautiful song-theme for the film is a perennial favorite of mine as far as romantic songs are concerned. All in all, I will always have a special place in my heart for THE HAPPY ENDING.
The Main Issue Is MIA
Mirella7717 September 2023
Warning: Spoilers
After a series of flashbacks, the principle issues of Jean Simmon's character emerge - Her husband (John Forsythe) has had at least one affair (in Reno) and his active displays of affection are only perfunctory at best in recent years . . . Like many of the other married women in this film, Simmons is bored as she tries to kill time & wrestle with her deep sadness.
Simmons tries to end her life after finding out her husband is away on an affair - It becomes clear that this event has caused her to become a heavy drinker and pill popper - Simmons should have left her husband and found a purpose for her life with study/work - She finally does this at the end of the film and seems far more fulfilled
Those who have reviewed this film without mentioning the affair, or it's impact on Simmons, are not really understanding the character's torment
The ending makes a great deal of sense but I would have liked a little more detail -- The song 'What are you doing the rest of your life' is really the driver of this film - What will she do 12 months after the affair, her suicide attempt, pill popping, increasing alcoholism and obvious depression? I just wish this area had more detail and that the husband's contribution to his wife's unhappiness was brought out more.
Simmons tries to end her life after finding out her husband is away on an affair - It becomes clear that this event has caused her to become a heavy drinker and pill popper - Simmons should have left her husband and found a purpose for her life with study/work - She finally does this at the end of the film and seems far more fulfilled
Those who have reviewed this film without mentioning the affair, or it's impact on Simmons, are not really understanding the character's torment
The ending makes a great deal of sense but I would have liked a little more detail -- The song 'What are you doing the rest of your life' is really the driver of this film - What will she do 12 months after the affair, her suicide attempt, pill popping, increasing alcoholism and obvious depression? I just wish this area had more detail and that the husband's contribution to his wife's unhappiness was brought out more.
"Vodka and Seconal: Marriage on the rocks!"
brefane18 March 2007
Writer/Director Richard Brooks made some well respected films like In Cold Blood and The Blackboard Jungle, as well as this unintended camp fest. Like Brooks' Sweet Bird of Youth and Looking for Mr. Goodbar, The Happy Ending is an elaborately misconceived mess but, a lot more fun.
It's a sincere attempt to portray middle-age unhappiness: infidelity,emptiness, aging, pills, and booze, but the dialog has to be heard to be believed. Talented Jean Simmons (Great Expectations, Spartacus, Elmer Gantry) stars as an alcoholic Denver housewife along with a host of second string actors like Bobby Darin, Tina Louise, Nanette Fabray, Dick Shawn, and Shirley Jones who recite the laughable dialog as if it was profound. My favorite piece of imparted wisdom is delivered by Nanette Fabray: "If sex were the only thing that really mattered, the WHOLE WORLD would be run by rabbits!"
The Happy Ending may be best remembered for its Oscar-nominated theme song "What Are You Doing for the Rest of Your Life?" that's heard several times throughout the film. The film has an effective ending, fine cinematography from Conrad Hall, and as he did in Looking for Mr.Goodbar and In Cold Blood, Brooks uses extensive flashbacks and flashy editing. Jean Simmons, nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Hamlet in 1948, received her second Oscar nomination(Best Actress) for this film. She and director Brooks were married at the time. Released the same year as Easy Rider, The Wild Bunch, and Midnight Cowboy, The Happy Ending pretty much disappeared without a trace. Because it takes its subject seriously, the film becomes seriously funny. It does for desperate Denver housewives, what Valley of the Dolls did for ladies in showbiz. Hard to find but, worth catching.
It's a sincere attempt to portray middle-age unhappiness: infidelity,emptiness, aging, pills, and booze, but the dialog has to be heard to be believed. Talented Jean Simmons (Great Expectations, Spartacus, Elmer Gantry) stars as an alcoholic Denver housewife along with a host of second string actors like Bobby Darin, Tina Louise, Nanette Fabray, Dick Shawn, and Shirley Jones who recite the laughable dialog as if it was profound. My favorite piece of imparted wisdom is delivered by Nanette Fabray: "If sex were the only thing that really mattered, the WHOLE WORLD would be run by rabbits!"
The Happy Ending may be best remembered for its Oscar-nominated theme song "What Are You Doing for the Rest of Your Life?" that's heard several times throughout the film. The film has an effective ending, fine cinematography from Conrad Hall, and as he did in Looking for Mr.Goodbar and In Cold Blood, Brooks uses extensive flashbacks and flashy editing. Jean Simmons, nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Hamlet in 1948, received her second Oscar nomination(Best Actress) for this film. She and director Brooks were married at the time. Released the same year as Easy Rider, The Wild Bunch, and Midnight Cowboy, The Happy Ending pretty much disappeared without a trace. Because it takes its subject seriously, the film becomes seriously funny. It does for desperate Denver housewives, what Valley of the Dolls did for ladies in showbiz. Hard to find but, worth catching.
well-acted study of a dead marriage
django-113 December 2004
THE HAPPY ENDING might not seem special today, and may well seem very dated in some ways, but we must remember this is the pre-DIARY OF A MAD HOUSEWIFE era. I'm sure the film seemed pioneering in its day, questioning the role of the traditional housewife and demanding that women are entitled to the same satisfaction and autonomy that men expected. Writer-director Richard Brooks often dealt with social issues and political themes--that he took on women's issues is no surprise. The film is especially an acting tour-de-force: Jean Simmons as the unsatisfied woman; John Forsythe as the non-understanding but well-meaning husband; Teresa Wright as Simmons' mother; Dick Shawn and Tina Louise as a miserable couple; Shirley Jones as the woman who survived by having affairs with married men; Lloyd Bridges as a married man with Jones as his mistress; Bobby Darin as a lost and lonely gigolo looking for that one big score. I was also impressed by the film's structure--with two parallel stories a year apart and various flashbacks all presented in such a way that the details of the relationship's coming apart are given to us a little at a time, and we are gradually brought to the point where we understand WHY the present state has become what it is. It's quite well-paced and creates tension throughout. Also, the unexpected and non-traditional ending is perfect. It's tempting to wonder what these rich people are whining about when people in the same community are working two jobs, sixteen hours a day, or starving, or dying of cancer, but Ms. Simmons' performance makes us care about and sympathize with her character. The film would perhaps also be of value as an educational tool for future generations who want to understand the ending of the pre-feminist era. Those who enjoy the teaming of stars Jean Simmons and Shirley Jones and director Richard Brooks should also check out his excellent film version of Sinclair Lewis' ELMER GANTRY. Those who know Shirley Jones only from The Partridge Family might be shocked to see what a fine dramatic actress she is!
Unhappy Movie Making
jeffhaller21 March 2020
Something I always wondered about. It is pretty bad. There is little honesty here; Simmons and Forsythe were completely committed and we care for them. But the characters played by Nanette Fabray, Shirley Jones (one of my least favorite actresses) and Bobby Darin (huh?) are goofy and work against what this might have been. Richard Brooks was a great film maker. He took things seriously,. His love for this project was evident and it is amazing to see such sloppiness and silliness. Still, I was never bored. I just wish the screenplay had not come across like a Love Boat episode. Particularly interesting was to see urban Denver in the late 60s. You won't be bored, but you will find it a mess that could have easily been fixed with just a little more attention. Simmons and Forsythe are gorgeous looking people.
Serious but dated
gilli10 May 1999
This is a serious work about a bored wife. Some of it seems a little dated. Seen in 1999, the development of the story is quite predictable, although I figure it was less so 30 years ago. Didn't move me much. All in all, respectable stuff.
Boo!
Louisville8826 March 2010
Warning: Spoilers
This film is (to sum it up without giving spoilers) about a bunch of married people who don't love each other and give every excuse in the book why they deserve to cheat and do whatever else they do~ "I fell out of love." This film had potential with it's subject matter. However, after hearing everyone dog marriage and how it's so stupid and their "trapped" I was just tired of hearing it. What are these people doing to make it work? Besides thinking, "Me, me, me!" Selfishness doesn't work in a companionship. The film starts out with a college age (yeah right) Jean Simmons falling in love with William Forysth (sorry if it's spelled wrong). They marry and have a daughter~ who seems just as selfish as everyone else. We discover she has problems~ with drinking. Things had been bad. Her maid (who lies to the husband about helping him make sure she stays sober) ends up helping her fulfill her selfish desire of running off the the islands. She meets (what a small world) her old pal Shirley Jones who has been the "other woman" for many years and has supported herself by sleeping her way through life (why an STD hasn't come her way we'll never know). Shirley gives the classic line of, "You can't break up a home that's already cracked." as a justification on why what she's doing is right. Having met her dear old college pal, Jean Simmons now has a means of supporting herself since she sold some jewelry in a pawn shop to buy a one way ticket. The Pawn shop dealer tells her (upon Jean motioning for her ring) "No lady no wedding rings. Who wants to buy someone else's heartache." I wont go further, but I was very unhappy with this film. I can take movies about divorce or people in unhappy relationships but this one takes the cake. EVERYONE was unhappy and painted the picture of marriage ruining everything and everyone gave the excuse of why what they were doing was acceptable. The film was immoral (can't believe I'm actually writing that~ a first for me and a movie) in every way. Happy endings aren't achieved by sleeping with whomever, taking whatever and not giving a darn (I don't think you can curse words on IMDb reviews) about anyone else but yourself. Marriage takes a lot of work but is well worth it. I wouldn't watch it again.
Who Was Ever Promised A Storybook Ending?
bkoganbing11 May 2008
Take a good look at the film credits of Jean Simmons especially during the Fifties and you'll find that woman has been in some of the best movies ever made. Yet nary an Oscar nomination for her until The Happy Ending and she lost that year to Maggie Smith for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
A great example of this would be Elmer Gantry where Jean did not get a nomination unlike the Oscars won by her co-stars Burt Lancaster and Shirley Jones. Yet she did walk off with the director Richard Brooks who became her second husband. It was Brooks who wrote and directed The Happy Ending about a woman tipping into forty something who still has a whole lot of silly romantic notions.
Jean and husband John Forsythe are approaching their twentieth anniversary together and she feels in a rut. So she indulges in all kinds of bad behavior, runs up huge charge account bills, starts drinking like a fish, runs away to a vacation in the Bahamas where an old college pal, Shirley Jones, takes her in.
Elia Kazan in the same year 1969 did a similar film from the man's point of view, The Arrangement which starred Kirk Douglas. The Happy Ending however is far better and it might really have been interesting if Deborah Kerr in that film had gone off the edge the way Jean does here.
In The Happy Ending Jean loves watching Casablanca and I find it fascinating that she picks that as a great romantic film. If memory serves that's the one where Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman give up their personal happiness for what they conceive as the greater good.
I do like Shirley Jones in this film as the old college sorority chum who eschewed marriage to just being a permanent 'other' woman. She's had three so far and she's accompanying a fourth to Nassau in the person of Lloyd Bridges. It's fascinating that only Richard Brooks cast Shirley in parts where she wasn't a goody goody and she won great acclaim and an Oscar for being prostitute in Elmer Gantry.
Jean's partial solution to her problems in the end is a very typical feminist one which I will not reveal. As to whether she's damaged her relationship with Forsythe beyond repair, that's anyone's guess.
You will also like Teresa Wright as Jean's mother, Bobby Darin as an about to go over the hill gigolo, and Tina Louise as the neighbor who's ready to take Jean's place with Forsythe any time.
Besides Jean Simmons nomination, The Happy Ending also was nominated for Michel LeGrand's classic song, What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life, a question Jean is struggling to answer all the film long.
The Happy Ending is a good and mature film that could only have been made once the sacred Code was abandoned. Too bad though that it could not have resulted in an Oscar for its star.
A great example of this would be Elmer Gantry where Jean did not get a nomination unlike the Oscars won by her co-stars Burt Lancaster and Shirley Jones. Yet she did walk off with the director Richard Brooks who became her second husband. It was Brooks who wrote and directed The Happy Ending about a woman tipping into forty something who still has a whole lot of silly romantic notions.
Jean and husband John Forsythe are approaching their twentieth anniversary together and she feels in a rut. So she indulges in all kinds of bad behavior, runs up huge charge account bills, starts drinking like a fish, runs away to a vacation in the Bahamas where an old college pal, Shirley Jones, takes her in.
Elia Kazan in the same year 1969 did a similar film from the man's point of view, The Arrangement which starred Kirk Douglas. The Happy Ending however is far better and it might really have been interesting if Deborah Kerr in that film had gone off the edge the way Jean does here.
In The Happy Ending Jean loves watching Casablanca and I find it fascinating that she picks that as a great romantic film. If memory serves that's the one where Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman give up their personal happiness for what they conceive as the greater good.
I do like Shirley Jones in this film as the old college sorority chum who eschewed marriage to just being a permanent 'other' woman. She's had three so far and she's accompanying a fourth to Nassau in the person of Lloyd Bridges. It's fascinating that only Richard Brooks cast Shirley in parts where she wasn't a goody goody and she won great acclaim and an Oscar for being prostitute in Elmer Gantry.
Jean's partial solution to her problems in the end is a very typical feminist one which I will not reveal. As to whether she's damaged her relationship with Forsythe beyond repair, that's anyone's guess.
You will also like Teresa Wright as Jean's mother, Bobby Darin as an about to go over the hill gigolo, and Tina Louise as the neighbor who's ready to take Jean's place with Forsythe any time.
Besides Jean Simmons nomination, The Happy Ending also was nominated for Michel LeGrand's classic song, What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life, a question Jean is struggling to answer all the film long.
The Happy Ending is a good and mature film that could only have been made once the sacred Code was abandoned. Too bad though that it could not have resulted in an Oscar for its star.
The Happy Ending is Anything But **
edwagreen11 February 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Jean Simmons in the type of part that Geraldine Page and Elizabeth Taylor would have thrived in. A frustrated married woman who doesn't know what she wants out of life.
The flashback technique used in this film is interesting because the latter comes at pivotal parts of the picture.
John Forsythe is terribly miscast here. You needed more of a Gregory Peck or Kirk Douglas type as the husband who doesn't know what has gone wrong with their 16 year marriage.
It is made to appear that the happiness ended when the marriage started.
We have a very interesting supporting cast here. Comedians Nanette Fabray and Dick Shawn are cast in rather serious parts. As the maid, Fabray does come up with one hilarious line in the film: "If sex were the most important thing, rabbits would rule the world!"
Bobby Darin shines briefly as the false gigolo who seems to come down to earth only to resort to his previous ways.
Shirley Jones, who co-starred with Simmons in "Elmer Gantry," is back again. Remember how everyone was surprised when the usual wholesome Jones copped a supporting Oscar as a tramp in 'Gantry?' Well, she is back at it again as Flo, but this time she is college educated as she vamps her way with married businessman Lloyd Bridges. Suddenly, they're getting married. It is the announcement of her impending nuptials that drives Simmons back home after she had fled from her husband and ran off to an ideal Eden.
The film also marked the return to the screen of Teresa Wright, who plays Simmons's conventional mother. When Simmons tries to kill herself by taking 28 pills, Wright assures everyone that it was just an accident.
The ending of the film may have been considered by many to be abrupt, but he who hesitates is lost. The appropriate Michel Le Grand masterpiece What Are You Doing the Rest of Your life? is sung at least twice in the film. Windmills of Your Mind, LeGrand's Oscar nominated film, the year before, is also played. Only Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head from "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" could have beaten out "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life." The title alone is so appropriate to Jean Simmons's conflicted role here as the Denver housewife. What I didn't like here... The Simmons character reminded me so much of Julie Christie's Oscar winning role in "Darling." Both women basically just didn't know what they wanted. These emotional pitfalls can become quite dull on occasion.
The film is a reflection of a lost generation of the 1960s.
The flashback technique used in this film is interesting because the latter comes at pivotal parts of the picture.
John Forsythe is terribly miscast here. You needed more of a Gregory Peck or Kirk Douglas type as the husband who doesn't know what has gone wrong with their 16 year marriage.
It is made to appear that the happiness ended when the marriage started.
We have a very interesting supporting cast here. Comedians Nanette Fabray and Dick Shawn are cast in rather serious parts. As the maid, Fabray does come up with one hilarious line in the film: "If sex were the most important thing, rabbits would rule the world!"
Bobby Darin shines briefly as the false gigolo who seems to come down to earth only to resort to his previous ways.
Shirley Jones, who co-starred with Simmons in "Elmer Gantry," is back again. Remember how everyone was surprised when the usual wholesome Jones copped a supporting Oscar as a tramp in 'Gantry?' Well, she is back at it again as Flo, but this time she is college educated as she vamps her way with married businessman Lloyd Bridges. Suddenly, they're getting married. It is the announcement of her impending nuptials that drives Simmons back home after she had fled from her husband and ran off to an ideal Eden.
The film also marked the return to the screen of Teresa Wright, who plays Simmons's conventional mother. When Simmons tries to kill herself by taking 28 pills, Wright assures everyone that it was just an accident.
The ending of the film may have been considered by many to be abrupt, but he who hesitates is lost. The appropriate Michel Le Grand masterpiece What Are You Doing the Rest of Your life? is sung at least twice in the film. Windmills of Your Mind, LeGrand's Oscar nominated film, the year before, is also played. Only Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head from "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" could have beaten out "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life." The title alone is so appropriate to Jean Simmons's conflicted role here as the Denver housewife. What I didn't like here... The Simmons character reminded me so much of Julie Christie's Oscar winning role in "Darling." Both women basically just didn't know what they wanted. These emotional pitfalls can become quite dull on occasion.
The film is a reflection of a lost generation of the 1960s.
Excellent Simmons fare
DJBlackSwan29 November 2005
I love movies that come down hard against conventional life. And the ones that feature nagging, chronically unhappy, never-satisfied married people go in my "horror" stack, along with Halloween, Videodrome, Suspiria, The Fog, etc. Watching that way of life is enough to fill anyone with ineffable dread.
When you consider that lead actress Jean Simmons and director Richard Brooks (married 1960-1977) were on their way to divorce, that just adds to the terror.
Though it echoes themes in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper (1899), The Happy Ending is still seen as a proto-feminist text, which it well may be. I've long held that Jean Simmons (or at least the "Jean Simmons image") is not this quiet, polite, understated "demure beauty" that is somehow constantly breaking out of that particular mold. Ms. Simmons herself can be seen as a "proto-feminist" or strong female lead actress. She demonstrates this in Hamlet, Desiree, Young Bess, The Big Country, and certainly Elmer Gantry; one could actually make this case for many of her films available on video.
Her part in The Happy Ending is really just an expansion of these roles, only this time, the unhappy marriage is brought to the fore instead of subsumed in Hollywood/Happy ending resolve.
It's not just proto-feminist women who feel trapped by marriage; that men get cold feet and then have affairs is almost too cliché to mention or bother to put in quotes. How many movies about extramarital affairs have entertained millions? This film just happens to present the unthinkable horror of when a woman wants out of it. Good for them. 8/10, but be advised, this is coming from someone unable to resist movies about women who don't want to be married.
To this end, see it as a double feature with Baby Doll (1956), or Possession (1981), mess up your mind, a little.
When you consider that lead actress Jean Simmons and director Richard Brooks (married 1960-1977) were on their way to divorce, that just adds to the terror.
Though it echoes themes in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper (1899), The Happy Ending is still seen as a proto-feminist text, which it well may be. I've long held that Jean Simmons (or at least the "Jean Simmons image") is not this quiet, polite, understated "demure beauty" that is somehow constantly breaking out of that particular mold. Ms. Simmons herself can be seen as a "proto-feminist" or strong female lead actress. She demonstrates this in Hamlet, Desiree, Young Bess, The Big Country, and certainly Elmer Gantry; one could actually make this case for many of her films available on video.
Her part in The Happy Ending is really just an expansion of these roles, only this time, the unhappy marriage is brought to the fore instead of subsumed in Hollywood/Happy ending resolve.
It's not just proto-feminist women who feel trapped by marriage; that men get cold feet and then have affairs is almost too cliché to mention or bother to put in quotes. How many movies about extramarital affairs have entertained millions? This film just happens to present the unthinkable horror of when a woman wants out of it. Good for them. 8/10, but be advised, this is coming from someone unable to resist movies about women who don't want to be married.
To this end, see it as a double feature with Baby Doll (1956), or Possession (1981), mess up your mind, a little.
Why is this an interesting story?
HotToastyRag30 July 2022
After three tries, I finally managed to finish the movie The Happy Ending. I couldn't stand it, but I finished it. Call me old-fashioned, but I can never get behind a movie about a spoiled, bored housewife who has no problems and yet feels unfulfilled. She's wealthy and she can't stand how she spends her days, so she gets hooked on booze or pills. She has a devoted husband who loves her, yet she thinks sleeping with other men will solve all her problems. This scenario was really popular in the 1960s and 1970s, but I have yet to watch one of those movies and root for the heroine. Jean Simmons got an Oscar nomination for The Happy Ending, but the entire movie, including her performance, was very overrated.
Full of flashbacks of her fighting with her husband, John Forsythe, the present timeline involves Jean's escape from her home. She's had a suicide attempt, she's embarrassed herself in front of their friends, and she's hidden liquor bottles all over the house. Her maid, and "friend", enables her, and she helps Jean run away to the Bahamas. On the plane, Jean meets an old pal Shirley Jones, who's currently the mistress of a married man. Will a girls' trip full of swimsuits and cocktails make Jean happy? Will a string of affairs make her feel important? If you actually care enough to find out, you might also want to check out The Pumpkin Eater. The only redeeming element I found was that Jean got to show off her lovely figure, after so many years being forced to cover it up in the 1950s.
Full of flashbacks of her fighting with her husband, John Forsythe, the present timeline involves Jean's escape from her home. She's had a suicide attempt, she's embarrassed herself in front of their friends, and she's hidden liquor bottles all over the house. Her maid, and "friend", enables her, and she helps Jean run away to the Bahamas. On the plane, Jean meets an old pal Shirley Jones, who's currently the mistress of a married man. Will a girls' trip full of swimsuits and cocktails make Jean happy? Will a string of affairs make her feel important? If you actually care enough to find out, you might also want to check out The Pumpkin Eater. The only redeeming element I found was that Jean got to show off her lovely figure, after so many years being forced to cover it up in the 1950s.
An underrated movie
Boyo-24 May 2000
I have not seen this movie in awhile so I do not know if it has aged well, but I remember it being very dramatic and very well acted by a large cast. Richard Brooks movies are always full of great actors & this is no exception. First is Jean Simmons, who received an Oscar nomination for her performance. The supporting cast includes John Forsythe, Nanette Fabray and Shirley Jones. The soundtrack has a song by Barbara Streisand called "What Are You Doing The Rest of Your Life"? which is so great that you can't believe you don't hear it more often.
Not Richard Brooks' finest hour.
MOscarbradley17 October 2022
You could say writer/director Richard Brooks fashioned "The Happy Ending" as a vehicle for his then wife Jean Simmons and this finest and most undervalued of actresses was rewarded with an Oscar nomination for her performance. She plays the unhappy wife of John Forsythe, (shot in soft-focus, the early part of the film explores their 'youthful' courtship though they do make for very unlikely 'kids'), who finally leaves him in order to 'find herself'. Unfortunately the film itself is something of a slog despite being a reasonably well-acted example of 'the women's picture', (even Forsythe isn't bad), with good work from co-stars Shirley Jones, Lloyd Bridges and Bobby Darin, billed here for some reason as Robert Darin.
The problem is the dime-store novel plotting and dialogue straight out of the worst kind of television soap as Brooks explores the rotteness at the heart of American marriage. Apparently it was something of a hit at the time though it's now largely and mercifully forgotten though its theme-song, 'What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life', has become something of a classic.
The problem is the dime-store novel plotting and dialogue straight out of the worst kind of television soap as Brooks explores the rotteness at the heart of American marriage. Apparently it was something of a hit at the time though it's now largely and mercifully forgotten though its theme-song, 'What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life', has become something of a classic.
Jean Simmons gives a funny and thoughtful performance in The Happy Ending
tavm7 September 2012
Jean Simmons portrays a woman feeling trapped in a routine marriage to John Forsythe as she depends on drink, drugs, and the romanticism of classic movies to keep her sanity. I'll stop there and just say that I found this quite a compelling drama full of cynical humor addressing the personal problems of many middle-aged women feeling restless during the late-'60s concerning their desirability and satisfaction of their lot in life. And many of the supporting roles of the fairer sex like those of Nanette Fabray, Teresa Wright, Tina Louise, and especially Shirley Jones hit the right notes in their respective characterizations. And while those roles of Forsythe, Lloyd Bridges, and Robert (Bobby) Darin seem to be afterthoughts compared to the ladies, they also provide some fine moments when showcased. And I loved the way Michel Legrand's score provides a mix of musical genres at the beginning as they overlap and also his song with Alan and Marilyn Bergman, "What are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" being sung during some parts. In summary, Richard Brooks' The Happy Ending is a powerful examination of the way certain women start to feel stifled after a certain age.
A Hard Hitting Film about Love and Marrage
Dan Briggs23 April 1999
A really well made film,one of the better 1960's Melodramas.The cast shines,with Jean Simmons perfectly cast as Mary Wilson,A Denver Housewife who is stuck in a Stale Marrage,but wants to be loved in the way she was when she first fell in love.John Forsythe plays a great 60's Three-Martin-lunch-stuffed-shirt husband Fred Wilson.Nanette Fabray,Bobby Darin,and Tina Louise also compliment the others in a stellar lineup,and Michael Legrand's score can't be beat.A real Winner!!
Watch it for Jean's superior work
jjnxn-130 April 2013
Jean Simmons makes this compelling viewing. The back-story of the film is that director Richard Brooks, Simmons husband at the time, was concerned and aware of Jean's alcoholism and designed the picture not only as a showcase for her prestigious talent, rewarded with an Oscar nomination, but hopefully a wakeup call for her. It didn't work immediately and eventually helped destroy their marriage but she was able to eventually conquer her demons and live sober until the end of her life. The film itself is a scatter-shot affair what with its frequent flashbacks and fragmented nature but does have a beautiful score and excepting Bobby Darin very good supporting work. Shirley Jones is notable in particular in the smallish role of an old college chum of Jean's. The ending is beautifully done, simple and true.
One of the best movies on the problems of the marriage!
billywilder18 February 1999
Unfortunately, it's a movie that a few number of people watch. Many lost its intelligence and perspicacity in portraying the emptiness of a married woman's life, played beautifully by Jean Simmons. The direction and the screenplay belongs to Richard Brooks, author of other great works as "CAT IN A HOT TIN ROOF" e "SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH". In this film, he presents more one of its unforgettable characters, just as Elizabeth Taylor as Maggie. Jean Simmons has the fragility and the necessary beauty for the role. Not the two was indicated to the Academy Award. It's a shame that the screenplay has not also been indicated, since it is an excellence of great observations about the life for two. The great moments of the film are the flash-backs grafted along the narrative, that put the history of the characters in a bitter tone, and explains its attitudes in the future. An adult, feminist, intelligent, deep, romantic but realistic movie, recommended to all the married people, mainly the women.
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