Good Neighbor Sam (1964)

Good Neighbor Sam (1964) (DVD) (*)

Out of Stock

Screened, competed or awarded at:
BAFTA Awards
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Mono )
English ( Subtitles )
German ( Mono )
German ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
Germany ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
125 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.85:1)

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 1964 and produced in:
United States ( USA, Canada )

Directed By:
David Swift

Written By:
Jack Finney
James Fritzell

Actors:
Jack Lemmon ..... Sam Bissel
Romy Schneider ..... Janet Lagerlof
Dorothy Provine ..... Minerva Bissel
Mike Connors ..... Howard Ebbets (as Michael Connors)
Edward Andrews ..... Mr. Burke
Louis Nye ..... Reinhold Shiffner, detective
Robert Q. Lewis ..... Earl, neighnor
Joyce Jameson ..... Elsie Hooker
Anne Seymour ..... Irene Krump
Charles Lane ..... Jack Bailey
Linda Watkins ..... Edna
Peter Hobbs ..... Phil Reisner
Tristram Coffin ..... Sonny Blatchford (as Tris Coffin)
Neil Hamilton ..... Larry Boling
Riza Royce ..... Miss Halverson

Synopsis:

To help his divorced neighbor claim a substantial inheritance, a family man poses as her husband. The ruse spills over into his career in advertising, and his recent promotion relies on his wholesome and moral appearance.

Sam Bissel is a wholesome family man with a loving wife, Min, and two loving daughters. They lead a happy suburban life. The only part of Sam's life that he is not happy about is his job as a lowly cog in the art department of the advertising firm of Burke & Hare. Sam's professional life takes a major turn when he is made executive of the Nurdlinger Dairy account. Simon Nurdlinger is a wholesome family man who wants a wholesome family man with wholesome family ideals heading his account, Sam the only one in Burke & Hare that fits the bill. Sam's home life also takes a major turn when Min's college friend, Janet Lagerlof, moves in next door. Janet stands to inherit $15 million from her grandfather's estate, but the will has a clause that she must be happily married to inherit the money. Janet is technically divorced from Howard Ebbets, and states that getting back with Howard is not worth $15 million. But when Jack Bailey and Irene Krump - two of Janet's relatives who would like to find any excuse to contest the will - come by for an unexpected visit, Janet impetuously introduces Sam as her husband, Howard. Things get more complicated for Sam when he is later forced to introduce Janet as Mrs. Bissel to both Burke and Nurdlinger. Sam and by association Min go along with the ruse, and for their troubles Janet offers to give them $1 million of her inheritance. After that, further complications occur: Janet notices a private investigator snooping around the neighborhood, the P.I. hired by Janet's relatives; Howard, Janet's ex-husband comes back wanting to reconcile with her; and without Sam's knowledge, the Nurdlinger creative includes billboards featuring a wholesome couple espousing the goodness of Nurdlinger milk, that wholesome couple being Sam and Janet as Mr. & Mrs. Sam Bissel. They just have to continue dealing with these complications until the legal hearing. But Min may just have had enough of this plan before they get the money.

Disgusted by the smarminess of his 1963 vehicle Under the Yum Yum Tree, Jack Lemmon vowed that his next effort would be a wholesome family picture. Good Neighbor Sam is suitable for all ages, to be sure, but that doesn't stop producer-writer-director David Swift from injecting plenty of double-entendre dialogue and harmlessly risque situations. Lemmon plays ad executive Sam Bissell, happily married to all-American blonde Minerva (Dorothy Provine). Anxious to land the Nurdlinger's milk account, Sam is carefully scrutinized by the prudish Simon Nurdlinger (Edward G. Robinson), a staunch advocate of old-fashioned family values.

Meanwhile, Minerva welcomes her old school friend, sexy Janet Langerlof (Romy Schneider) into her home. Janet is in line to inherit a fortune, but only if she's married. Unfortunately, Janet is currently separated from her insanely jealous spouse Howard Ebbets (Michael Connors), so big-hearted Minerva volunteers Sam to pose as Janet's husband. The ensuing comic complications come to a head when Nurdlinger elects Sam and Janet as the nation's ideal "married" couple, and posts their pictures on billboards all over town! Some of the smaller pleasures in this film are provided by Louis Nye as a high-tech private eye, Barbara Nichols as a squeaky-voiced call girl, Robert Q. Lewis as Sam's lascivious neighbor, and an uncredited Gil Lamb as a genial wino. An amusing running gag involved the Hertz "man in the driver's seat" commercials of the 1960s has sometimes been cut from TV prints of Good Neighbor Sam.

This product was added to our catalog on Friday 19 February, 2016.