Themes: Breakups and Divorces, Foibles of Marriage, Crumbling Marriages
Main Cast: Dick Van Dyke, Debbie Reynolds, Jason Robards, Jr., Jean Simmons, Van Johnson
Release Year: 1967
Country: US
Run Time: 109 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
An unhappy couple discover breaking up really is hard to do in this satiric comedy. Richard Harmon (Dick Van Dyke) and his wife, Barbara (Debbie Reynolds), are a typical married couple in American Suburbia -- which is to say they're not very happy with each other. After 15 years together, Richard and Barbara decide they've reached the end of their collective rope, and after several rounds of marriage counseling proves fruitless, they file for divorce. Between negotiating child custody, alimony, and finding new places to live, Richard and Barbara discover divorce isn't appreciably easier than being married; meanwhile, Richard makes a new friend in Nelson Downes (Jason Robards), a fellow divorcé who would love nothing more than for Richard to marry his former wife, Nancy (Jean Simmons), and take away the burden of alimony. Also featuring Van Johnson, Lee Grant, Shelley Berman, and Eileen Brennan in her first film role, Divorce American Style earned an Oscar nomination for Norman Lear and Robert Kaufman's original screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Although Divorce American Style has lost some of its bite since 1967, it still packs a considerable punch. Norman Lear and Robert Kaufman's dialogue may occasionally come off as dated, and the attacks on marriage, divorce, and relationships may not feel as fresh as they once did, but there's still an abundance of wit in this sharp, abrasive movie -- as witness the opening, in which an orchestra conductor directs a concerto of domestic unhappiness. Director Bud Yorkin does not make the most of all the comedic opportunities presented in the screenplay, and there are stretches when the material cries out for a more imaginative approach, but he has cast it with a sterling ensemble, with Dick Van Dyke and Debbie Reynolds turning in solid comic performances that still have warmth and humanity (not a small feat, considering the darkness of much of the humor). The supporting cast is a feast of character talent, from Lee Grant and Shelley Berman to Eileen Brennan and Dick Gautier, and not a weak link among them. Divorce may not be a timeless classic, but it's good, wicked fun. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Bob Mackie - Costume Designer, Bud Yorkin - Director, Ferris Webster - Editor, Dave Grusin - Composer (Music Score), Edward Stephenson - Production Designer, Conrad L. Hall - Cinematographer, Norman Lear - Producer, Frank A. Tuttle - Set Designer, Robert Kaufman - Screenwriter, Norman Lear - Screenwriter
After seventeen years of marriage, affluent suburban couple Richard Harmon (Van Dyke) and his wife Barbara (Reynolds) seem to have it all, but they're constantly bickering. When they discover they no longer can communicate even to argue, they make an effort to salvage their relationship through counseling. But when their situation doesn't improve, they file for divorce.
Richard finds himself living in a small apartment and trying to survive on $87.30 a week. His take-home income had been cut to ribbons by high alimony. Richard meets a recently divorced man, Nelson Downes (Robards), who introduces him to his wife Nancy (Simmons). Nelson wants to marry off Nancy to free him of his alimony burden, so that he can marry his fiancee. Nancy also wishes to marry because she is lonely.
Since Richard himself cannot afford to be married, Nelson and Nancy plot to set up Barbara with a millionaireauto dealer, Al Yearling (Johnson). As they try to muddle their way through their separate lives, Richard and Barbara realize the marriage they had might not have been as bad as they thought, and they reconcile.
In his review in the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert called the film "a member of that rare species, the Hollywood comedy with teeth in it" and added, "Bud Yorkin has directed with wit and style, and the cast, which seems unlikely on paper, comes across splendidly on the screen . . . The charm of this film is in its low-key approach. The plot isn't milked for humor or pathos: Both emerge naturally from familiar situations."[1]
Variety observed, "Comedy and satire, not feverish melodrama, are the best weapons with which to harpoon social mores. An outstanding example is Divorce American Style . . . which pokes incisive, sometimes chilling, fun at US marriage-divorce problems."[2]
New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther disliked the film. He said that "it is rather depressing, saddening and annoying, largely because it does labor to turn a solemn subject into a great big American-boob joke." Crowther criticized Van Dyke's performance, saying "He is too much of a giggler, too much of a dyed-in-the-wool television comedian for this serio-comic husband role."[3]
A more recent review in Time Out New York cites "Two or three very funny scenes . . . and a first-rate batch of supporting performances."[4]
