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The High Cost Of Loving

1958, Movie, NR, 87 mins

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A cute, adult comedy that deserved a better fate than it got at the box office, THE HIGH COST OF LOVING is notable for several reasons, not the least of which is that it debuted Gena Rowlands, hot off her broadway success in the Chayefsky drama "Middle of the Night," where she played the sweet young thing who falls for the older man, a role she lost to Kim Novak in the film. She was only about 24 when she made this picture, so it was hard to envision her as 46-year-old Ferrer's wife, especially after the screenplay established that they had been married and childless for nine years. The story opens with a smashing 10 minutes of silence as Ferrer and Rowlands, in a satire of old married couples, rise from bed, perform their ablutions, dress and eat breakfast bleary-eyed. Complications arise when Ferrer paranoically thinks he may be losing his job, since his small company has been bought by a conglomerate, and Rowlands believes that she may finally be expecting. (He was wrong; she was right.) A sharp satire of modern marriage and modern business, with Jim Backus scoring as a cliche-mouthing advertising executive and Bobby Troup and Joanne Gilbert--excellent as the wacky wife--as the lead couple's best buddies. leave a comment
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