The War Between Men and Women

"The War Between Men and Women" is a film that is based on the life of the humorist, James Thurber. But instead of setting it during Thurber's lifetime and using his name, the story is set in 1972 and with different names for the various characters. It also takes liberties with Thurber's life story.

When the story begins, Peter (Jack Lemmon) is a bit of an old crank...a single, dog and child-hating bachelor and proud of it. However, when he meets Terry (Barbara Harris), his resolve to remain single vanishes...as well as his hatred of kids and dogs since Terry has both. The rest of the film is about his adapting to this change in lifestyle....as well as Peter dealing with Terry's ex- (Jason Robards Jr.).

As you'd expect with the actors, the acting is the best part of this film. As for the script, it's decent and entertaining. My only quibble is that I'd love to know how close this story is to Thurber's life. I mentioned some of the similarities above but am not sure how much of the story was 'Hollywoodized' and how much is true.

The drawings that Peter makes throughout the film are based on the art style of Thurber as is the character being legally blind and an old crank. Thurber himself could not have made the drawings or weird animated portion as he'd died in the early 1960s.