Houseboat is a 1958 romantic comedy film starring Cary Grant, Sophia Loren, Martha Hyer, Paul Petersen, Charles Herbert and Mimi Gibson. The movie was directed by Melville Shavelson, who also directed the original 1968 version of Yours, Mine and Ours.
Plot Summary
Tom Winters (Grant), has been separated from his wife for three years and their divorce is pending when she is killed in a car crash. He returns home from Europe to find his three children - David, Elizabeth, and Robert - in the care of his wife's family. The children's grandparents intend to raise Elizabeth, and Tom's sister-in-law Carolyn (Hyer) plans to take in David and Robert. The children wish to stay with their aunt and grandparents in the country, but Tom decides to take the children back home to Washington DC, where he works in the State Department.
The children resent their father's presence and, at an outdoor Watergate concert, Robert runs away. He is found by Cinzia Zaccardi (Loren), the daughter of a famous Italian conductor. She, too, is running away and is enchanted by little "Roberto" and his harmonica. When she brings him back home to Tom's apartment, he offers her a job as a maid, which she eventually accepts.
Carolyn, now recently divorced from her husband, offers Tom and the children her old guest house, which was supposed to be moved to a new foundation before the family arrives. However, while on the way to their new home, they encounter the house being towed down the road, and stop the driver, Angelo Donatello (Guardino). Angelo, distracted while staring at Cinzia, accidentally hits their parked car with his tow truck, and parks the house on a train track. While Angelo flirts with Cinzia and Tom checks the car for damage, both of them ignoring warnings from David (Petersen), an oncoming train smashes the traveling guest house. Angelo, feeling guilty, offers Tom his weekend home: a houseboat.
The houseboat is a leaky, dirty mess, but Tom decides to buy it from Angelo. Once moved in, Tom discovers that Cinzia is unable to cook, do laundry or make "American coffee". Upon learning this, Carolyn and others mock Cinzia and her role in the household. However, Cinzia is able to befriend David, who complains that his father treats him like a "lame brain", and convince Elizabeth that her father loves her. The entire family becomes very fond of Cinzia.
Meanwhile, Tom is spending evenings at the country club with Carolyn, who has harbored a secret crush on him her entire life. She helps Tom buy a gaudy gold dress for Cinzia, for her date with Angelo. Cinzia, who at first believes she's being asked on a date with Tom, transforms the dress into a gorgeous gown, stunning both Angelo and Tom. Angelo, frightened at how beautiful and classy she looks, cancels the date.
Carolyn arrives at the boat with Captain Alan Wilson (Murray Hamilton) and his wife. Alan, who has already had quite a few drinks, jokes about Cinzia's suspicious living arrangement with Tom, and slaps her on the behind as she serves drinks. She throws a drink on him in retaliation. Tom asks Alan to leave the boat, but Carolyn takes Alan's side, so Tom asks all three of the guests to leave.
David cheers Cinzia up, and they make plans to go fishing, but Tom ruins his son's plans by asking Cinzia to the country club. Once there, Tom reconciles with Carolyn and they agree to get married, but when Tom starts to tell Cinzia the news, he realizes he is in love with her. When Alan congratulates Tom for proposing to Carolyn, Cinzia gets upset and runs away, but Tom catches her, and a little while later, David unhappily finds them kissing in a rowboat.
The children don't want Cinzia to marry their father. David calls Cinzia ugly, Robert rejects her as his mother, and Elizabeth wants to continue sleeping in the same bed as her father. Discouraged by this, Cinzia returns home to her father (Cianelli). But Tom comes after her, and her father convinces them to get married because they love each other.
The wedding takes place on the houseboat. At first, the children refuse to participate in the ceremony, even though their father pleads with them. However, as the ceremony begins, Elizabeth and David join Tom and Cinzia at the altar, and Robert plays "Here Comes the Bride" on his harmonica before joining his new family.
Production
Grant's wife Betsy Drake wrote the original script, and Grant originally intended that she would star with him. After he began an affair with Loren while filming The Pride and the Passion, Grant arranged for Loren to take Drake's place with a rewritten script for which Drake did not receive credit. The affair ended in bitterness before The Pride and the Passion's filming ended, causing problems on the Houseboat set. Grant hoped to resume the relationship, but Loren agreed to marry Carlo Ponti instead.[1]
Filming locations
Parts of the movie were filmed in Fort Washington, Maryland on the Potomac River and Piscataway Creek at the present site of Fort Washington marina.
Featured cast
Awards
- The film was nominated for two Oscar Awards: one for Best Original Song for "Almost in Your Arms (Love Song from Houseboat)", and the other for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen.
- The movie won Golden Laurel Awards for Top Comedy and Top Male Comedy Performance by Cary Grant.
References
- ^ Jaynes, Barbara Grant; Trachtenberg, Robert. Cary Grant: A Class Apart. Burbank, California: Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and Turner Entertainment. 2004.
External links
