Thu February 6, 2014
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Frank Tashlin (U.S., 1957)
SEE EVENT DETAILS
at Pacific Film Archive (PFA) Theater
(see times)
Pop culture goes !POP! in Frank Tashlin’s puncture-proof provocation of media-driven consumerism. The Stay-Put Lipstick account needs a new set of lips to lay on and TV ad exec Rockwell Hunter (Tony Randall) knows just the proper pucker, Rita Marlowe (Jayne Mansfield), a reigning celebrity with the “oh-so-kissable lips.” But nothing is a simple straight line, especially the curvaceous road to Marlowe’s good graces. Having previously featured Mansfield in The Girl Can’t Help It, Tashlin again sends her careening across the wide, wide screen with its broad swathes of pranky parody and vibrant production values, the only operative values in this gag fest.
—Steve Seid
• Written by Tashlin, based on the play by George Axelrod. Photographed by Joe MacDonald. With Tony Randall, Jayne Mansfield, Betsy Drake, Joan Blondell. (95 mins, Color, ’Scope, 35mm, From Criterion/20th Century Fox)
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—Steve Seid
• Written by Tashlin, based on the play by George Axelrod. Photographed by Joe MacDonald. With Tony Randall, Jayne Mansfield, Betsy Drake, Joan Blondell. (95 mins, Color, ’Scope, 35mm, From Criterion/20th Century Fox)
Pop culture goes !POP! in Frank Tashlin’s puncture-proof provocation of media-driven consumerism. The Stay-Put Lipstick account needs a new set of lips to lay on and TV ad exec Rockwell Hunter (Tony Randall) knows just the proper pucker, Rita Marlowe (Jayne Mansfield), a reigning celebrity with the “oh-so-kissable lips.” But nothing is a simple straight line, especially the curvaceous road to Marlowe’s good graces. Having previously featured Mansfield in The Girl Can’t Help It, Tashlin again sends her careening across the wide, wide screen with its broad swathes of pranky parody and vibrant production values, the only operative values in this gag fest.
—Steve Seid
• Written by Tashlin, based on the play by George Axelrod. Photographed by Joe MacDonald. With Tony Randall, Jayne Mansfield, Betsy Drake, Joan Blondell. (95 mins, Color, ’Scope, 35mm, From Criterion/20th Century Fox)
read more
—Steve Seid
• Written by Tashlin, based on the play by George Axelrod. Photographed by Joe MacDonald. With Tony Randall, Jayne Mansfield, Betsy Drake, Joan Blondell. (95 mins, Color, ’Scope, 35mm, From Criterion/20th Century Fox)
show less
Date/Times:
Pacific Film Archive (PFA) Theater
2575 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94720
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