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Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Wealth Porn

Film: That Touch of Mink
Format: Retroplex on rockin’ flatscreen.

Yogi Berra passed away yesterday. By chance, I happened to have DVRed a movie in which he makes a cameo appearance, so it seemed like a natural choice for today. That it also happens to feature Doris Day, Cary Grant, Gig Young, Audrey Meadows, Dick Sargent, and John Astin is just a bonus. It was Yogi’s world and all of us just lived in it. So That Touch of Mink was on the docket for tonight, even though Yogi only has a single line.

Staggeringly wealthy Philip Shayne (Cary Grant) is on his way to work in his Rolls limo when his car splashes Cathy Timberlake (Doris Day) with a puddle. The car drives on and Philip goes to work, but is bothered by what happens. Meanwhile, Cathy has a depressing day at the unemployment office, particularly because she is the object of desire for Beasley (John Astin), who works behind the counter. Philip tells his assistant Roger (Gig Young) about what happened, and when he spots Cathy walking into an automat, he sends Roger to apologize for him.

Cathy decides to go back to the office with Roger so she can give Mr. Shayne a piece of her mind. However, upon meeting, the two are immediately smitten. Before you can say “doodly-doodly-doop,” Cathy is wearing an overcoat while her clothes are being cleaned and pressed. Philip is in the middle of a deal and he askes Cathy’s advice. It turns out her advice is good, so he takes her on a whirlwind trip around New England, ending with a Yankees game (he’s evidently a part owner since they watch the game from the bench) and an invitation to go with him to Bermuda.

None of this sits well with Connie (Audrey Meadows), Cathy’s roommate. But off Cathy goes, just starting to realize that Philip Shayne is played by Cary Grant, which means he’s a notorious playboy. It’s when she realizes that the hotel room has only a single bed that the fun happens. She breaks out in a nervous rash and returns home to New York. Convinced that she needs to make a better impression on Philip (he did, after all, buy all of the tickets on her flight so she could have the plane to herself), she returns to Bermuda and calls him. He returns to find her drunk, since she drank an entire fifth of whisky to build up her courage.

Of course, this all means love is in the air, which means that we’re going to need them both to figure this out. Roger comes to the rescue here, engineering a way for Cathy to make Philip jealous—which involves her accepting a date with the creepy Beasley. And, of course, it all works out well in the end. You knew that, right?

There are a few things at work here; some that help make the film entertaining and some that place it firmly in the 1960s. The unsung hero of the film is Gig Young’s Roger. Roger is a complete neurotic. A former academic, he was lured from his teaching job by Philip for the business world thanks to a massive salary. Roger is tormented by this, and both desperate to leave the business and unable to do so. A great deal is made of his sessions with his analyst (Alan Hewitt) and a misunderstanding between the two of them.

It also helps to have Doris Day and Cary Grant in a film together. This genuinely seems like it should have been another Rock Hudson/Doris Day movie (same director as Pillow Talk, after all), and I could have easily seen that happen. There’s a solid joke about two-thirds of the way through the film. Philip, wanting to take care of Cathy but wanting her out of his hair, suggests to Roger that they find her a husband. Philip nixes all of the proposed suitors including Rock Hudson. Anyway, both are easy to like on camera, and they make a film like this a pleasant experience.

A third bright spot is Audrey Meadows. Her entire role in the film is to be the wise-cracking friend of Cathy, and she gets a lot of good lines spoken as only Audrey Meadows could. She’s snarky and world-weary and a complete joy.

In a very real sense, though, this is money pornography through and through. Philip Shayne is wealthy in a way to make wealthy people piss themselves. The trip to Bermuda involves a complete new expensive wardrobe for Cathy, and as mentioned, he buys all of the seats on the plane so that she can have the flight to herself. There’s a real sense of the audience watching not just for the romance but also for the massive amount of wealth on screen.

There’s a part of me that’s a little disturbed seeing Doris Day in a role this overtly sexual as well. Watching her flirt is sort of like listening to your mother talk about sex.

Ultimately, That Touch of Mink is terribly dated. This movie hasn’t been relevant to anyone for several decades. There’s a charm here, but it’s a charm that requires the viewer put him- or herself into the early 1960s to enjoy. There are some genuinely good moments here but they’re partially buried in a script that is filled with that 1960s-style misogyny. Fun for lovers of the genre or the era, but this is not essential viewing.

Why to watch That Touch of Mink: How often do Cary Grant and Doris Day get upstaged by Gig Young and Audrey Meadows?
Why not to watch: It’s as dated as last year’s calendar.

20 comments:

  1. I really felt how dated this was, and so didn't enjoy it as much as I would have liked. Wealth porn is spot-on! I also thought Cary Grant (whom I love) looked a little tired. He was funny, but lacked the energy of some of his earlier film. Yes, he is older in 'Mink,' but it did show.

    I prefered Pillow Talk to this, which felt less dated.

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    1. I'll say this for Grant--tired or not, he looked good for his age. The scene where he runs out on the street wearing a towel? He does not look like a man pushing 60.

      But yes, I liked Pillow Talk a lot more than I did this.

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  2. Partway through your post I realized I was confusing this film for Day's movie The Glass Bottom Boat. Then I was thinking this was the Day movie where she was a country gal with a lobster pen in the water as sort of a sidelight, but couldn't come up with the movie name for that. I have That Touch of Mink marked as one I've seen, but now I'm not so sure. I've got multiple Day movies blending together on me. Was there a lobster pen scene in this movie - a male lobster keeps ending up in the pen with the female lobsters?

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    1. Nope--I'm thinking that's probably the other one.

      If it helps, this is one where Doris Day watches a Yankee game from the dugout with Mantle, Maris, and Berra.

      I would imagine that a lot of Doris Day movies might blend, sort of like Esther Williams movies might all seem the same after awhile. That said, I tend to like Doris Day.

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    2. Doris Day's best movie is Calamity Jane.

      Esther Williams's best movie is Million Dollar Mermaid.

      I love them both. I couldn't choose between them.

      I'm betting you've never seen Fiesta. You can't close the book on Esther Williams until you've seen Fiesta,

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    3. The movie with the lobsters is It Happened to Jane that co-stars Jack Lemmon and came out before the whole Pillow Talk/professional virgin business started up.

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    4. @joel65913 - Thanks. I've updated Letterboxd to say I've seen that one and that I have not seen That Touch of Mink.

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  3. I haven't seen this one. I love Doris Day SO MUCH but I think I'm done with her 1960s romantic comedies. The Glass-Bottom Boat has enough going on to make it interesting so I can give it a pass for being so horribly dated but I didn't like The Thrill of It All very much.

    And I love Cary Grant SO MUCH as well. But I'm starting to think I've seen all the good ones. I guess The Bishop's Wife was worth watching but it wasn't that great and I felt very underwhelmed by Talk of the Town,

    And yesterday I watched Dream Wife. It's also not very good, a very dated and silly and even somewhat offensive romantic comedy of the 1950s. I can overlook that sort of thing in old movies if the movie is at least entertaining. Deborah Kerr was very good. Cary Grant was a butthole with a fraction of his usual charm.

    I'm way off-topic. I've just been thinking about Cary Grant's lesser efforts for 24 hours and this post just seemed like the place to say something. I'm still trying to decide if Dream Wife is Grant's worst movie or if the prize still belongs to the previous placeholder The Pride and the Passion.

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    1. Actually, since this is from 1962, if you haven't seen this you aren't done with Doris Day's 1960s romantic comedies. From what I know of your sensibilities, this is one you'd be able to watch through the lens of the early 1960s, even if it is misogynist and backward in a lot of respects.

      There's a sense of the film being aware of her actual age here--she's almost always in soft focus even if it wasn't reallly necessary. As always, she's easy to like. Grant is is normal charming self here, sort of like Roger Thornhill with a lot more money. I find it difficult to dislike either of them in general, which is why I liked tihs despite its many problems.

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    2. Almost all great stars have a few disasters on their sheet and both Dream Wife and The Pride and the Passion are two of Grant's but I think his absolute worst is Once Upon a Time an idiotic story about a dancing caterpillar! Cary as if he realized how stupid the script was once he started it gives a remarkably arch performance. It was supposed to co-star Rita Hayworth but she wisely took a suspension instead of appearing in it.

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    3. When I said I was done with Doris Day's romantic comedies, I didn't mean I'd seen them all. I meant that I had seen enough!

      But That Touch of Mink was on TV (the Movies! channel) yesterday and I saw the last 20 minutes or so and now I kind of want to see it. It didn't really look very good from what I saw but - WOW! That cast! Doris Day, Cary Grant, Audrey Meadows, Gig Young, John Astin! Gomez Adams himself! Also, that mousy character actor - I think his name is John Fielder - was in it.

      Next time I come across it, I'll give it a chance.

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    4. Yeah, I forgot aobut John Fielder, who is immediately recognizable in face (12 Angry Men) and voice (he was Piglet for years for all of the Winnie the Pooh films/shows).

      That Touch of Mink isn't bad. It's just not great and really dated.

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  4. I can see all your points especially about Audrey Meadows and Gig Young but this is one of my lesser favorites from the lead pair. Part of it is that even though they make an attractive couple for whatever reason to me they seem ill matched. However for a chance to wallow in luxury and see Doris in one eye popping outfit after another only Pillow Talk can really compete, and that's a far better film.

    Have you ever seen the small indie comedy Touch of Pink in which Kyle MacLachlan plays the ghost of Cary Grant? Aside from the obvious play on the title the film references this movie frequently. It's not a great movie but a pleasant one with a wonderful performance by Suleka Mathew.

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    1. Oh, I agree this qualifies as a lesser film. It's cute and it's fun, but not much else, and it's hardly essential viewing for anyone.

      Not only have I not seen Touch of Pink, I've never heard of it.

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  5. I finally watched the whole thing and it has its moments - the Yankees game, most of John Astin's scenes, Doris Day's weird hallucinations about the bed - but it is so so stupid. I was especially annoyed by Gig Young's "you're so mean to pay me so much" speeches (I'll trade every boss I ever had for Philip Shayne!) and the contrast of patient, understanding Cary Grant with shrill, irrational virgin Doris Day, especially when she messed up the computer files! Notice she didn't to pay to fix THAT!
    Too stupid! But still not nearly as bad as Dream Wife.
    Also very dumb? The psychiatrist who had to go back to Vienna to learn how to cope with Gig Young because he thought he was gay!
    And remember the part where Audrey Meadows and the neighbor knocked Gig Young down two flights of stairs and then set a dog on him because bitches be crazy? It's funny because women are cynical, man-hating harpies who jump to conclusions because of their out-of-control hormones!

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    1. Yeah, it's pretty extreme, but I think it's pretty funny. I don't think it's really meant to be anything other than a farce, so it's pretty harmless.

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  6. You know how I feel about this movie, but I sure think about it a lot. At least it's never boring.
    It was on the MOVIES! channel again, so I DVRed it and watched it again today. Why do I do this to myself?
    I kept saying: "That is so stupid" about every minute or so. Because there's a lot here that is quite stupid.
    But I watched the whole thing and I don't feel like I wasted my time.
    I don't think I've ever reacted this to a movie. I'm kind of fascinated by it in a way that is unique to this movie. Maybe it's the idiotic psychiatrist who has to go back to Vienna to learn about homosexuality. Maybe it's gig Young's constant carping about how well treated he is at his place employment. Maybe it's the dismal view of what a bunch of evil, pver-reacting harpies all women are. Maybe it's Cary Grant trying to be patient and understanding but actually coming off as smug and condescending. Maybe it's the dismissive way the alpha males don't have to explain anything to John Fiedler because he's short and bald and meek and beneath their notice so it's OK to leave him with the wrong impression as long as they don't have to admit they made a mistake.
    I'll probably watch it again in a year or so.
    It's definitely a unique movie experience.

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    1. Everyone gets to have a guilty pleasure or two, right? I watch a horror movie documentary called Nightmares in Red, White and Blue at least once a year. Why? I don't know. I just do. Nothing wrong with that.

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    2. Except for the part with John Fiedler, I love the finale. Shayne running into the street in a towel, Miss Timberlake running off to Al's Motel in Asbury Park in a milk truck with Mr. Beasley, the TV dinners, stopping at every gas station in New Jersy (including the one that's right next to the motel, and then the very end, where the idiot psychiatrist thinks that Gig Young and Mr. Shayne have had a baby! Geez Louise! So so stupid!

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    3. It is, but there's room enough in life to enjoy things that are a little dumb. No worries, man--you enjoy what you enjoy.

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