The Facts of Life
Directed byMelvin Frank
Written byNorman Panama
Melvin Frank
Produced byNorman Panama
StarringBob Hope
Lucille Ball
CinematographyCharles Lang
Edited byFrank Bracht
Music byLeigh Harline
Johnny Mercer
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
  • November 14, 1960 (1960-11-14)
Running time
103 minutes
LanguageEnglish
Box office$3.2 million[1]

The Facts of Life is a 1960 romantic comedy starring Bob Hope and Lucille Ball as married people who have an affair. Written, directed and produced by longtime Hope associates Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, the film is more serious than many other contemporary Hope vehicles. The film features an opening animated title sequence created by Saul Bass.

The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one for Best Costume Design (for Edith Head and Edward Stevenson). Lucille Ball was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress – Comedy.

Plot

As the yearly vacation of six neighbors, the Gilberts, Masons and Weavers, approaches, Kitty Weaver and Larry Gilbert find themselves frustrated with the routine. When their spouses are kept away from the vacation and the Masons are bedridden with illness, Kitty and Larry find themselves alone in Acapulco. Spending time together, Kitty and Larry fall in love. However, when the vacation is over, they face difficulties deciding whether to continue the romance. They can't bear seeing each other at their usual social activities, without being together. This leads to a rendezvous at the drive-in movie, where they are recognized, followed by a botched visit to a local motel with humorous consequences. They arrange a weekend together in Monterey, and Kitty leaves behind a note for Jack telling him she is leaving him. The bungalow with a leaky roof rented by Larry becomes the backdrop for their gradual realization that leaving their families is much more complicated, and Larry and Kitty are much less compatible than they thought. The result is a madcap race back home to retrieve Kitty's breakup note before her husband Jack reads it.

Cast

Reception

In a positive contemporary review in The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther called the script "... a wonderfully good-humored estimation of an essentially pathetic state of affairs" and wrote: "It is a grandly good-natured picture, full of thoroughly sparkling repartee and word-gags and sight-gags that crackle with humor and sly intelligence."[2]

In 1964, Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic wrote that the film "... was probably Bob Hope's best picture."[3]

Awards and nominations

Award Category Nominee(s) Result
Academy Awards[4][5] Best Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen Melvin Frank and Norman Panama Nominated
Best Art Direction – Black-and-White Art Direction: Joseph McMillan Johnson and Kenneth A. Reid;
Set Decoration: Ross Dowd		 Nominated
Best Cinematography – Black-and-White Charles Lang Nominated
Best Costume Design – Black-and-White Edith Head and Edward Stevenson Won
Best Song "The Facts of Life"
Music and Lyrics by Johnny Mercer		 Nominated
Golden Globe Awards[6] Best Motion Picture – Comedy Nominated
Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Bob Hope Nominated
Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Lucille Ball Nominated
Laurel Awards Top Action Drama Nominated
Top Male Comedy Performance Bob Hope Nominated
Top Female Comedy Performance Lucille Ball Nominated
Writers Guild of America Awards Best Written American Comedy Melvin Frank and Norman Panama Nominated

References

  1. ↑ "1961 Rentals and Potential". Variety. 10 Jan 1961. p. 13.
  2. ↑ Crowther, Bosley (1961-02-11). "Screen: 'The Facts of Life' Opens". The New York Times. p. 27.
  3. ↑ Kauffmann, Stanley (1974). Living Images Film Comment and Criticism. Harper & Row Publishers. p. 202.
  4. ↑ "The 33rd Academy Awards (1961) Nominees and Winners", oscars.org, retrieved 2011-08-22
  5. ↑ "NY Times: The Facts of Life". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-06-25. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
  6. ↑ "The Facts of Life – Golden Globes". HFPA. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
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