The Happy Ending (1969)

A middle-aged woman walks out on her husband and family in an desperate attempt to find herself.

Director:

Richard Brooks

Writer:

Richard Brooks

Stars:

Jean Simmons, John Forsythe, Shirley Jones

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jean Simmons	...	Mary Wilson
John Forsythe	...	Fred Wilson
Shirley Jones	...	Flo Harrigan
Lloyd Bridges	...	Sam
Teresa Wright	...	Mrs. Spencer
Dick Shawn	...	Harry Bricker
Nanette Fabray	...	Agnes
Bobby Darin	...	Franco (as Robert Darin)
Tina Louise	...	Helen Bricker
Kathy Fields	...	Marge Wilson
Karen Steele	...	Divorcee
Gail Hensley	...	Betty
Eve Brent	...	Ethel
William O'Connell	...	Minister (as Wm. O'Connell)
Barry Cahill	...	Handsome Man

Storyline

The triumphs and failures of middle age as seen through the eyes of runaway American housewife Mary Wilson (Jean Simmons), a woman who believes that ultimate reality exists above and beyond the routine procedures of conscious, uninspired, everyday life. She feels cheated by an older generation that taught her to settle for nothing less than storybook finales, people who are disillusioned and restless and don't know why, people for whom life holds no easy answers. Great supporting cast includes John Forsythe, Teresa Wright, Lloyd Bridges, Shirley Jones, Bobby Darin, Tina Louise, Dick Shawn, and Nanette Fabray.

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Plot Keywords:

wedding anniversary | housewife | marriage | alcohol | drive in theatre | 

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Taglines:

Marriage is a 30 billion dollar business! And that's just to get married.

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

M

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 September 1970 (Finland)

Also Known As:

Amar Sem Amor

Filming Locations:

City Park, Downtown, Colfax Avenue, Denver, Colorado, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pax Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

During opening credit sequence, many late model 1960's cars can be seen in flashback scene supposedly set 15 years earlier.

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Quotes

Flo: Some girls work their way through college selling magazines. I sold *me*.
Sam: I don't want to hear it.
Flo: It's a success story with a bang finish. Lucky my mother hated breast-feeding, or I'd been alcoholic before I could walk. Finally killed her. Every Sunday, drunk or sober, she'd give me the same lecture: "Girl, ya' gotta' go to college. Because without an education, you either end up a big-mouthed housewife, or a big-assed whore." My freshman year, she dropped dead - smack in the middle of praying...

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Connections

Features Susan Lenox <Her Fall and Rise> (1931)

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Soundtracks

"Something for Everybody"
Music by Michel Legrand
Lyrics by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman
Performed by Bill Eaton

User Reviews

One of the best movies on the problems of the marriage!

Unfortunately, it's a movie that a few number of people watch. Many lost its intelligence and perspicacity in portraying the emptiness of a married woman's life, played beautifully by Jean Simmons. The direction and the screenplay belongs to Richard Brooks, author of other great works as "CAT IN A HOT TIN ROOF" e "SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH". In this film, he presents more one of its unforgettable characters, just as Elizabeth Taylor as Maggie. Jean Simmons has the fragility and the necessary beauty for the role. Not the two was indicated to the Academy Award. It's a shame that the screenplay has not also been indicated, since it is an excellence of great observations about the life for two. The great moments of the film are the flash-backs grafted along the narrative, that put the history of the characters in a bitter tone, and explains its attitudes in the future. An adult, feminist, intelligent, deep, romantic but realistic movie, recommended to all the married people, mainly the women.