Main Cast: Walter Matthau, Anne Jackson, Patrick O'Neal, Edy Williams, Richard Bull
Release Year: 1968
Country: US
Run Time: 97 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
This light romantic comedy finds Victoria (Anne Jackson) the 34-year-old wife of public-relations man Tom Layton (Patrick O'Neal). Tom's biggest client is a big movie star (Walter Matthau), and Tom drops everything to insure that, while in New York, his client is surrounded by beautiful women, even at $100 a pop. Victoria wonders if she has lost her youthful beauty, and when a delivery boy fails to notice Victoria is naked in her kitchen, she is determined to find out if men still find her appealing. She travels to the hotel of the movie star, where she is assured by the virile star that she indeed still has what it takes. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
Paul Napier - Herb Steinberg; Gary Brown - Jimmy; Albert Carrier - Jean-Claude; Todd Baron - Peter Layton; Christy Hall - Susan Layton
Credit
Ed Graves - Art Director, Jack Martin Smith - Art Director, William Travilla - Costume Designer, Hank Moonjean - First Assistant Director, George Axelrod - Director, Harry Gerstad - Editor, Billy May - Composer (Music Score), Dan Striepeke - Makeup, Leon Shamroy - Cinematographer, George Axelrod - Producer, Hank Moonjean - Producer, Raphael Bretton - Set Designer, Walter Scott - Set Designer, L.B. Abbott - Special Effects, Art Cruickshank - Special Effects, David Dockendorf - Sound/Sound Designer, Bernard Freericks - Sound/Sound Designer, George Axelrod - Screenwriter
The Secret Life of an American Wife is a 1968comedy film written and directed by George Axelrod. The film was released by 20th Century Fox in 1968, and was considered a box-office failure. It features a music score by Billy May. Edy Williams has a supporting role in the film as the Layton's blonde bombshell neighbor.
Plot
The film stars Anne Jackson as Victoria Layton, a suburban housewife who is dissatisfied with her marriage and fears that her sex appeal is fading. Her husband (Patrick O'Neal) works as a press agent, and his only client is a movie star who is known as an international sex symbol (Walter Matthau). Upon hearing that The Movie Star (the character is not given a name, and Matthau is credited as "The Movie Star" in the closing credits) indulges in the services of prostitutes, Victoria decides to pose surreptitiously as a prostitute in order to prove to herself that she is still sexually attractive.
