Release CalendarDVD & Blu-ray ReleasesTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsIn TheatersComing SoonMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersEmmysLGBTQ+ Pride MonthSTARmeter AwardsSan Diego Comic-ConNew York Comic-ConSundance Film FestivalToronto Int'l Film FestivalAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

The Bachelor Party

  • 19571957
  • ApprovedApproved
  • 1h 32m
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
745
YOUR RATING
The Bachelor Party (1957)
  • Drama
Five office friends meet up for a night on the town to celebrate the forthcoming marriage of one of them. As the night wears on and the drink starts to tell, they become more confidential in... Read allFive office friends meet up for a night on the town to celebrate the forthcoming marriage of one of them. As the night wears on and the drink starts to tell, they become more confidential in expressing their concerns and hopes.Five office friends meet up for a night on the town to celebrate the forthcoming marriage of one of them. As the night wears on and the drink starts to tell, they become more confidential in expressing their concerns and hopes.
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
745
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Delbert Mann
  • Writer
    • Paddy Chayefsky(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Don Murray
    • E.G. Marshall
    • Nancy Marchand
Top credits
  • Director
    • Delbert Mann
  • Writer
    • Paddy Chayefsky(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Don Murray
    • E.G. Marshall
    • Nancy Marchand
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 29User reviews
    • 11Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 Oscar
      • 1 win & 3 nominations total

    Photos8

    The Bachelor Party (1957)
    Philip Abbott and Jack Warden in The Bachelor Party (1957)
    Frank J. Calabria in The Bachelor Party (1957)
    Joseph LaShelle and Frank J. Calabria in The Bachelor Party (1957)
    The Bachelor Party (1957)
    Don Murray in The Bachelor Party (1957)
    Carolyn Jones and Don Murray in The Bachelor Party (1957)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Don Murray
    Don Murray
    • Charlieas Charlie
    E.G. Marshall
    E.G. Marshall
    • Walteras Walter
    Nancy Marchand
    Nancy Marchand
    • The Sister-in-lawas The Sister-in-law
    Carolyn Jones
    Carolyn Jones
    • The Existentialistas The Existentialist
    Patricia Smith
    Patricia Smith
    • The Wifeas The Wife
    Larry Blyden
    Larry Blyden
    • Kenas Ken
    Philip Abbott
    Philip Abbott
    • The Groomas The Groom
    Jack Warden
    Jack Warden
    • The Bacheloras The Bachelor
    Barbara Ames
    • Girl on Stoopas Girl on Stoop
    • (uncredited)
    Al Bain
    Al Bain
    • Restaurant Patronas Restaurant Patron
    • (uncredited)
    Benjie Bancroft
    • Greenwich Village Party Guestas Greenwich Village Party Guest
    • (uncredited)
    George Calliga
    George Calliga
    • Restaurant Patronas Restaurant Patron
    • (uncredited)
    Norma Arden Campbell
    • Stripteaseras Stripteaser
    • (uncredited)
    Dan Dowling
    • Restaurant Patronas Restaurant Patron
    • (uncredited)
    Paul Kruger
    Paul Kruger
    • Greenwich Village Party Guestas Greenwich Village Party Guest
    • (uncredited)
    Judith Malina
    Judith Malina
    • Long-hair Village intellectualas Long-hair Village intellectual
    • (uncredited)
    John Marlin
    • Waiteras Waiter
    • (uncredited)
    Sol Murgi
    Sol Murgi
    • Restaurant Patronas Restaurant Patron
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Delbert Mann
    • Writer
      • Paddy Chayefsky(screenplay) (story "The Bachelor Party")
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

    More like this

    A Hatful of Rain
    7.2
    A Hatful of Rain
    Crime in the Streets
    6.6
    Crime in the Streets
    Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
    7.0
    Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
    Middle of the Night
    7.2
    Middle of the Night
    Johnny Belinda
    7.7
    Johnny Belinda
    The Silencers
    5.9
    The Silencers
    Theodora Goes Wild
    7.1
    Theodora Goes Wild
    Till the End of Time
    6.7
    Till the End of Time
    Edge of the City
    7.2
    Edge of the City
    The Goddess
    6.6
    The Goddess
    The Snake Pit
    7.6
    The Snake Pit
    Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte
    7.5
    Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Carolyn Jones nearly quit the film due to difficulties with the script. After some unsuccessful rehearsals she approached screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky and said, "You're going to have to get another actress because I don't know how to play this part. I don't know a girl who would say lines like these". Surprisingly, the headstrong Chayefsky agreed to rewrite the part for her. When Jones read her new dialogue - including the classic line "Just say you love me, you don't have to mean it" - she thought, "Now *that* girl I understand". Her performance, clocking in at just over six minutes, earned Jones an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.
    • Goofs
      In the subway scene, the moving image through the window behind the actors is not synchronized with the images seen through the windows further down the train.
    • Quotes

      [Charlie is trying to kiss a girl he just met]

      The Existentialist: Just say you love me.

      Charlie Samson: [confused] What?

      The Existentialist: Just say you love me. You don't have to mean it.

      [Charlie tries to kiss her, but she fights him off]

      Charlie Samson: What's the matter?

      The Existentialist: Say you love me.

      Charlie Samson: Oh, come on.

      The Existentialist: Say you love me.

      Charlie Samson: Come on.

      The Existentialist: No!

      Charlie Samson: I love you, I love you!

      [they madly embrace and kiss passionately]

    • Connections
      Featured in Playboy: The Story of X (1998)
    • Soundtracks
      Saturday Night Mambo
      (uncredited)

      from Marty (1955)

      Music by Roy Webb

    User reviews29

    Review
    Top review
    Worth Looking Into
    Despite the reassuring conventional ending, this is one of the few 50's films to catch the decade's growing unease. It's a post-war period of fast rising prosperity and "settling down" into a comfortable life style denied to the Depression and war years. Migration to suburbs turns into a stampede as more and more folks can afford a piece of real estate. The movie's setting, however, is Manhattan, but the prevailing atmosphere of job, marriage and kids carries over.

    The movie follows five office co-workers on-the-town, celebrating one of the buddies' engagement (Arnold's). Anxiously uncertain Arnold is about to settle into the prevailing life style, which seems like a cause to celebrate. But as the movie progresses, layers of convention begin to peel away exposing a core of self-doubt and degrees of unhappiness among the married men (Blyden, Marshall, and Murray), and one that soon turns into full-blown angst over ordinary middle-class norms. Each party-goer reacts in an individual way as he begins to face a hidden personal truth. As a result, the party turns from a celebration into what amounts to a trial by fire, at the same time we glimpse some of the underlying tensions of the time.

    Those tensions revolve around two core issues—sexuality and freedom. Settling down means security and the consolations of family and friends. But it also means a loss of freedom to explore new life styles and relationships. Murray, in particular, feels the conflict as the roving party opens up tempting new worlds and a sense of adventure, especially with Carolyn Jones' exotic seductress. It's really Murray's character who is pivotal as the less spirited Blyden and Marshall retreat from the temptations that urban nightlife offers. On the other hand, Murray's married man is stimulated, making his outcome emblematic of the film's outcome.

    The movie is really more effective in opening these issues than in dealing with them. Warden, the bachelor, whom the others envy for his single-man freedom, is later shown as leading an empty and compulsive life, not to be envied. Similarly, Jones' sexual cravings are shown to be empty and unrewarding. Thus the deck is ultimately stacked against an unmarried life style, thereby reinforcing the conventions of then and perhaps now. I don't know if that was writer Chayefski's choice or whether the conformism was mandated by nervous producers, but the slant remains, nevertheless .

    Two well-executed scenes expose tensions on the woman's side. Murray's sweet, pregnant wife Smith is visited by her older sister-in-law Marchand. The talk quickly becomes a heart- to-heart, where Marchand reveals the angst of a settled marriage, in which her doctor husband has pursued a number of affairs, leaving her with the kids and a comfortable life- style she'll stay with, even though she conveys an air of frustration and emptiness. When Smith objects that her husband, Murray, is not like that, Marchand tells her to just wait until they too have been married eleven years. What's more, she advises Smith to get rid of the pregnancy so that Murray will have a chance to finish accounting school and "fulfill himself". The implication is that marriage and family can become a trap leaving both partners unhappy. Needless to say, Smith's young wife is left deeply apprehensive, but hopeful that she and her husband are different. These are two very well written and well-acted scenes.

    Taking an historical step back from the film-- the tensions on display here break into the open during the free-love counter-cultural movement of the 1960's, when a new generation not chastened by the hardships of the 30's and 40's arrives on the scene. Stripped of political context, their rebellion can be viewed as a more self-indulgent reaction to the confines of the job-marriage-family norm that Bachelor Party deals with and that their parents settled for. The issue of why the rebellion faded away in favor of a return to those more traditional norms remains an interesting question, but poses a context different from the one in the film.

    The movie itself is well paced by director Mann, who manages to keep things moving despite all the dialogue. It's also a powerhouse cast with such familiar faces of the time as Warden, Marshall, Murray and Jones. Murray especially is an attractive player who managed to combine a sense of boyish enthusiasm with an adult-level of sincerity. As a young husband, he's perfect. Sure, the movie looks dated as fashions, styles, and technology change. But the underlying issues that the movie deals with remain as relevant now as then, as national divorce statistics, for one, testify. For a look at how similar themes were handled during the same period in a suburban rather than a city setting, check out No Down Payment (1957, Martin Ritt). Nonetheless, Bachelor Party remains a worthwhile look back in time for its perceptive exploration of conventions that in most ways are still with us.
    helpful•17
    0
    • dougdoepke
    • Dec 6, 2008

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • April 10, 1957 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Die Junggesellenparty
    • Filming locations
      • Stuyvesant Town, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
    • Production companies
      • Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions
      • Norma Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 32 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    The Bachelor Party (1957)
    Top Gap
    What is the English language plot outline for The Bachelor Party (1957)?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    View list
    List
    The Best Movies Coming This Summer
    See the full list
    View list
    List
    The Best Movies and Shows to Watch in June
    See the full list

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    • Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • IMDb Developer
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Interest-Based Ads
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2022 by IMDb.com, Inc.