Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? [1957]

Blu-ray edition of 'Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter' was delivered on time and as promised. The disk worked and the picture quality was great (for 1957). This edition is much superior to the standard DVD that has a blurry picture. There are such a limited number of these that they are hard to find but if you like this money (and I do), the Blu-ray edition is worth the money. The Sound was great. no 5.1 digital re-master but the sound is much improved over the DVD version.

I was nearing 10 in 1957, when 'Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter' (WSSRH) was first released. Discernment began to gel in 1963/64, when I became a Beatles' fan, vying them with the Rolling Stones before the decade ended, also with The Kinks, Manfred Mann and The Animals. Roy Orbison earns an honourable mention. I make no claim to sophistication.In 2024, WSSRH's impact on me ranged between charming to dated and from quaint to irritating, but I'm pleased that I made the trip: it was a journey back into the naive, less self-indulgent world of my birth, childhood and pre-teens-- an estranged place where Christianity ruled, social behaviour was restrained, and rebellion was muted but becoming restive.Books best rationalise and explain the American movie industry's influence. I would recommend Peter Suskind's 'Seeing is Believing', his take on the 1950s into the '60s, which dismisses WSSRH in a couple of lines. This book then segues into his 'Easy Riders, Raging Bulls', on the 1960s and '70s. Barrage upon barrage of films and documentaries have fallen short of their depths, at least in my opinion. His books resemble the pictures on jigsaw boxes, which help to make sense of the jumbled individual pieces.

LOVELY FILM IN HD FORMAT, COOL! THIS EDITION SEEMS FLAWLESS CONSIDERING MAINLY ON IMAGE QUALITY AND THE DISC DESIGN, AND IT STILL DESERVES A BETTER RELEASE LIKE THIS.

Frank Tashlin's 'Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?' is a curious kind of comedy film; both stiflingly patriarchal, and comedically ahead of its time. Rock Hunter (an excellent Tony Randall) is a frustrated advertising executive who becomes the talk of New York when film star Rita Marlowe (Jayne Mansfield) uses him as a prop to make her TV star boyfriend jealous, and soon Rock and Rita are playing the part of New York's newest couple - her to make her ex jealous, and he in exchange for her signing an advertising contract which could make his career. Meanwhile Rock's fiancee, the meek Jenny, finds herself feeling insecure and neglected, due to Rock's time-consuming fake relationship with Rita. 'Rock Hunter' is a genuinely very funny film, and over fifty years later, its laughs are fresh, original and intelligent. Rock's attempt to avoid the jealous Jenny throwing a plant pot onto his head from her balcony is one of the best handled comic scenes of any Hollywood film of the era; a genuinely side-splitting moment. This isn't a film short on laughs, with its wise undercutting of the advertising world, and the 'luvvie' style celebrity persona; represented here by a game, if over-the-top Mansfield.Despite the laughs, 'Rock Hunter' doesn't hold together particularly well. Jenny is an uncomfortably chauvinistic portrayal of womanhood - desperate to do anything to make herself more like Rock's faux-beau Rita, and obsessed with him in an improbably hysterical way which seems out of keeping with how her character is initially portrayed. Women come off badly as a whole in 'Rock Hunter'. It's obviously a picture from a different era, but its depiction of women as cooing, screaming, and never plain-speaking is an unfair, and also unfunny one. The film also struggles to balance its sharp comedy with more emotional moments; and the film's supposed softer side often comes off a little insincere, due to this. At times 'Rock Hunter' gets it absolutely right; from its depiction of Rock's frustrated boss, bound up by his father's success, to the comedy of Rock nearly getting run down in the street, dazed from his first kiss with the buxom Mansfield. But between these excellent moments, there's a lot of patronising attitudes, awkward attempts at sentimentality and simplistic characterisation, which keep 'Rock Hunter' from being a comedy gem; and make it an inconsistent film, with a smattering of comedy gems inside it.

It's a vehicle for Jayne Mansfields acting talents.It's a satire about Madison Avenue and co stars Tony Randall Betsy Drake Joan Blondell among others. Randall plays Rock well P Hunter a publicity agent in advertising. I really enjoyed this film

So much fun! I love it's spoofy, goofball tone.

Even more than than THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT! this is a classic example of Tashlin's dark, anarchic world. It just seemed wonderfully whacky in the cartoon world(where Tashlin is right up there with Tex Avery & Chuck Jones), but when it's Ms Mansfield et al in color by deluxe, Tashlin's breaking down the 4th wall stuff is really disturbing and exciting. No wonder the Nouvelle Vaguers loved him!His visual language is very very strange ... testimonials from Sam Raimi on this disc (& John Waters on THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT!) are fascinating as well.

This was an interesting (baffling) choice of film to receive the Masters of Cinema/Eureka treatment. I say this because it doesn't seem to follow the usual pattern/type of films they select. The package itself is, of course, beautiful - as are all MOC releases. Dual format Blu ray and DVD (with extras), with a wonderfully thick and satisfying accompanying booklet. The film itself is an odd one: whilst there are some genuinely laugh-out-loud hysterically funny moments and, I think excellent performances from Randall, Blondell and Mansfield, the film just doesn't seem coherent and, in my view, could have been a far greater film - not to mention biting satire - than it actually was.

Ok

This 1957 satire has an astonishing sharp bite more than 40 years after it's initial release! The movie is loaded with sharp barbs on America's obssession with sexy blondes, big breasts, "personality" movie stars who want to be pretentious dramatic ones, two celebrities in "love" who have their every move covered by the press, ordinary citizens turned into media celebrities (or "reality stars" as we call them now), and television and commercials everywhere you turn makes you wonder if we've really changed at all in 50 years.The star of this picture is the great Jayne Mansfield, often unjustly dismissed as a publicity hound instead of a real movie star but here she is in all her glory, dominating the screen and creating a real legend. Jayne's delicious perfomrmance here is as good as any of Marilyn Monroe and Jean Harlow's best comic work.I did find Tony Randall a little unappealing, a movie leading man he ain't, even when playing a blah sort who gets hyped into stardom. All through the picture I kept thinking how awesome Jack Lemmon would have been in this role. Randall's not bad though and he doesn't hurt the picture. But he does make our Jaynie work overtime keeping the film lively.Joan Blondell is enjoyable in one of her early films as a character actress, having been quite a sexy blonde lead herself in the 1930's and 1940's. Betsy Drake (best known as one of Cary Grant's wives) is an appealing ingenue sort as the real girlfriend of "Lover Doll" Randall who must stand by and watch the media promote Jayne and Tony as one of the great love stories of the era. The movie is hilarious from the opening credits to the final minute - but above all, this is a perfect showcase for the special talents of Miss Jayne Mansfield!!

The movie is one of the better comedies of the 1950's. Good performances by the cast with a witty script, the humor still holds up today. The video for this blu ray was less sharp than I expected, but it was an early Cinemascope film. Colors were okay. Not much in the way of extras, wish there were more.

Barbara Eden plays the role of Miss Carstairs the blonde secretary for Rock Hunter (played by Tony Randall).This was the 1st movie role for Barbara Eden for 20Th Century Fox studios.This was also the 1st of 3 movies Barbara Eden would co star with Tony Randall.The story of Will Sucess Spoil Rock Hunter? was about a young ad executive named Rockwell P Hunter who they called Rock Hunter and how he becomes successful in advertising.Tony Randall gives alot of laughs in his role.This was a Cinemascope Picture filmed in color.

Somehow I thought that the movie was the English version. Turns out it was the Spanish version, so had to return it.This movie is a great story, though! Will get in English.