"Good Neighbor Sam" is a 1964 film starring Jack Lemmon, Dorothy Provine, Romy Schneider, Edward G. Robinson, and Mike Connors. Lemmon plays ad man Sam Bissell, married to the lovely Min (Provine). Min's best friend Janet (Schneider) comes to live in the area after her divorce, but she soon finds out she has a problem. Her grandfather has left her his estate, but on meeting with the lawyer, she finds out that she's supposed to be in a good marriage to Howard (Connors), her ex-husband. When her cousins, who want the $15 million she inherited, come to visit, Sam happens to be in her house, which is next door. Janet introduces him as her husband.At work, Sam gets a big promotion when the product's president wants a wholesome individual with good values to head up his account. Between that and a detective in a truck spying on both houses, Sam and Janet have to continue to pretend they're married, to Min's aggravation. Then Howard appears.Cute comedy that is overly long and a little frantic. The premise is simple but on the flimsy side and doesn't quite come off as intended - a Rock Hudson/Doris Day type comedy. It lacks the gloss and snap of the Hudson/Day films.Nevertheless, the performances are good. Provine, with her good figure and quirky voice, is lovely as the sometimes frustrated Min, and Romy Schneider, a huge star in Europe, is beautiful and vivacious as Janet. Sam is the type of role Lemmon could play with one hand tied behind his back. I don't imagine it was much of a challenge.The good supporting cast includes Edward Andrews, Louis Nye, Robert Q. Lewis, Anne Seymour, and Charles Lane (who died in 2007 at the age of 102 and worked to the end).Given the presence of "Mad Men," "Good Neighbor Sam" begs comparison between the way the advertising world is presented in both vehicles. Guess what - it's about the same! The Robinson character quotes the Bible and considers most of the people he deals with as cheating husbands with no moral values.It was fun for me to see Provine, whom I interviewed, Nye, and Robert Q. Lewis (whom I saw on stage in The Odd Couple), none of whom I'd seen in a film for a while. Nice memories and a mildly entertaining film.

The great Jack Lemmon is in top form here, along with a fine supporting cast in a frantic farce that gives wife-swapping a comic spin. Just as Lemmon's character's ad agency is about to lose its biggest account, he gets tapped to salvage the deal with the client, who happens to like Lemmon's virtuous, clean-living persona. This should be a cinch for him, as he is a happily-married suburbanite with a lovely wife and family; he exudes the exact qualities the client is looking for in an ad exec. But things become very complicated very fast when his wife's sexy best friend suddenly moves next door to them. The confusion is helped along by wary relatives, spies, ex-husbands, and a few ducks.As clever as it is silly, it's very easy to enjoy if one is a fan of the genre. Surprisingly lacking in sexual innuendo (although the situations allow ample opportunity for it), the film sails along with good energy which holds up almost to the end. Those expecting a big payoff in the finale will be let down a bit, but it's nonetheless a worthwhile and enjoyable slice of '60's humor.

Does anybody know who wrote the theme song? Did they live in Danville, or do I misremember? Since I have to pad this out a bit: has anyone else heard the Dorothy Provine had somethingon the order of a 160 IQ? Does naybody know why there is a minimum of ten lines required for comments? It smacks of mandatory loquaciousness. What of the laconic types among us who are cinct-suckers (I'd love to see what spell-check would make of that last word)? I do recall that, for its time, it was considered a bit risqué when it first came out. Well, I've run out of things to say and it's still a line or so short. But if you like this film, check out "How to Murdre Your Wife" and a very sexy Inger Stevens as Matthau's wife.

I also saw this movie as a child, and fell in love with it. I particularly liked the wacky gadgets Sam would build, and the theme song (by Frank De Vol) is very catchy. One time when it was on TV, I was able to make an audio tape of it on this crummy little portable real-to-real tape recorder my dad gave me. I played it so much that I was able to memorize whole lines of dialog - "you can't alter a man's death-bed request with a lot of childish spying and gossip. Now obviously this man and woman are husband and wife, Mr and Mrs Howard Ebbets, and as such, I set the distribution of the Lagerlof will for 9am tomorrow morning. Now good day..."It's nice to see Mike Connors in a pre-Mannix role, and you can never get enough of Louis Nye. Edward G Robinson does a good job of playing the wealthy dairyman, Mr Nurdlinger. Plus his participation gives the whole production a needed bit of weight. This is the kind of movie they're talking about when they say - "they don't make 'em like that anymore." And I say, it's our loss.