The Secret Life of an American Wife*** (1968, Walter Matthau, Anne Jackson, Patrick O’Neal) – Classic Movie Review 7746

Writer-director George Axelrod’s 1968 The Secret Life of an American Wife is a pleasing little satirical comedy-drama, sending up the middle-aged, middle-class American mores of the time.

Anne Jackson stars as frustrated housewife Victoria Layton, who is bored by her marriage to press agent Tom (Patrick O’Neal), so she has a fling at being a hooker, apparently to rekindle the spark in their marriage, though that is rather odd, to say the least. Her first call is to his boss, a lonely movie star (Walter Matthau). Needless to say, the movie star is a lot more interesting than the husband, if only because the star in played by the charismatic Matthau and the husband by the dull O’Neal.

Though The Secret Life of an American Wife does not push hard enough and catch fire, is it still amusing and appealing, and it is attractively played by the star pair. More laughs in Axelrod’s screenplay would have done the trick, but the likeable performances are spot on, and it works as a comedy-drama if not fully as a comedy.

Also in the cast are Edy Williams, Richard Bull, Paul Napier, Gary Brown [Christian Brando], Albert Carrier, Scott Avery, Todd Baron, Harry Stanton, George Strus, Carol Veazie, Preston Bradley, Joe Corey, Andy Jarrell, John Mackay, Monte Mansfield, Eric Matthews, Ralph Roberts, Hugh Franklin, Frenchie Guizon, Christie E Hall, Helen Honkamp, Harry Spear, Marie Wallace, H E West and Darrell Zwerling.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7746

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