Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Actress 1969

The Contenders:

Genevieve Bujold: Anne of the Thousand Days
Jean Simmons: The Happy Ending
Maggie Smith: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (winner)
Liza Minnelli: The Sterile Cuckoo
Jane Fonda: They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?

Pity Party

Film: The Happy Ending
Format: Turner Classic Movies on rockin’ flatscreen.

Not that long ago, I watched Shirley Valentine, a film in which a housewife decides she wants more out of life, leaves her husband for Greece, has an affair, and discovers herself. I enjoyed the hell out of it. I found it surprising, heartfelt, and entertaining. Today I watched The Happy Ending, a film in which a housewife decides she wants more out of life, leaves her husband for the Bahamas, has an affair, and discovers herself. And it’s one of the most cynical, hateful movie experiences I’ve had this decade.

Here’s the quick and dirty: A young woman named Mary (Jean Simmons) leaves college a semester before graduating to marry Fred Wilson (John Forsythe). After 15 or so years of marriage, the two have a daughter (Kathy Fields) and Mary has developed a problem with booze and pills. Based on no real evidence she is convinced her husband is having a series of affairs (later confirmed at least in the singular). After all, a number of the clients for his tax business are attractive divorcees. After a possible suicide attempt and hidden bottles of vodka, Mary decides that she wants out. So, on their anniversary, she pawns a bunch of her jewelry and heads off to the Bahamas.