Welcome back friends, readers, and C&C fanatics! It’s nearing the end of the month and I couldn’t let it pass by without sharing a little something with all of you. I would never forgive myself. Bad new year juju. But, I’ll admit it. I was struggling a bit with what to put out. The inspiration just wasn’t there.
Until a friend asked me if I could get a hold of Delbert Mann’s The Bachelor Party for him. I knew it was a sign. Because, as fate should have it, I’m going to a bachelor party — today in fact! But being the sweet innocent boy I am, I’m unfamiliar with the rituals and hazing that goes on at these testosterone filled events. Will this finally be the weekend I become a man? A weekend overflowing with male camaraderie and masculine love? I figured this would be a great way to find out what kind of shenanigans I’d be getting into. Little did I know a bachelor party was the catalyst for serious existential crisis…
The Quick Gist
Husband and soon-to-be-father Charlie joins his friends for an evening bachelor party, but rather than a night of fun and celebration, the men let their insecurities and depression get the best of them.
The Bachelor Party
The Bachelor party is another collab between Delbert Mann and Paddy Chayefsky, both having seen recent success with their previous Oscar winning flick, Marty (1955), an adaptation of their own Philco Playhouse TV film of the same name.
Here, Don Murray plays Charlie, a husband who’s recently learned his wife is going to have a baby. It’s news that shakes him. Is he ready for that kind of commitment? He’s already working full time and going to night school, barely holding it together. Noticing how despondent he is, his wife encourages him to go to his friend’s bachelor party so he can blow off some steam. It’s a choice that proves to be nearly disastrous for both.
Chayefsky’s script is full of insecure, lonely men, whose bravado and egos quickly fade away when filled with a few drinks. They’re all fakers and phonies. Misogynistic men who think they’re missing out, having lost the best years of their youth. Men who got married too early, or men who aren’t sure they even want to marry the women they’re supposed to marry. Like the bachelor in question. He’s marrying his 10th cousin, and admits after a few drinks that he doesn’t actually want to marry her. He’s a sad little virgin. She’s a widow with some experience. He begs his friends to convince him that she’s attractive and that the whole ordeal is worth it. Is it? Who knows? Here, have another drink…
The night at the bar quickly turns into a sad pathetic bout of watching Super 8 stag films in one of the guys’ living room, cigar smoke filling the air, followed by more trips to the bar, pathetically trying to flirt with girls along the way. Slowly, as they get drunker and drunker, their disillusionment with their 9-5 lives grows and their angst gets the best of them. Especially Charlie, who doesn’t see the point of his routine life anymore.
Back home, The Wife, for that’s all she’s known as, meets with her sister-in-law, played by a young Nancy Marchand, Tony Soprano’s acerbic mother. She too finds married life depressing, dominated by kids and an unfaithful husband. She mentions that if she could do it all over again, she would. She would have “gotten rid of it” — the baby she means. She’d rather have a passionate husband than a child. For this is still the era of the Production Code, and saying abortion was a no-no. In fact, even using the word “pregnant” was unusual. And this film definitely skirts the edges of what was allowed or seen as decent at the time.
All this puts worries into The Wife’s (Patricia Smith) head. Is Charlie out galavanting with other girls? Well, he kind of is. During his desperate night about town, he meets The Existentialist, a sharp blasé city girl who doesn’t mind messing around with any guy, as long as they tell her they love her. She seems like the ultimate catch. But she’s just as sad as the rest of them.
The Bachelor Party is a good little flick, with a story that’s much darker and depressing than you’d expect. And it’s a surprisingly insightful look into the lonely male’s psyche, for better or worse. But remember, this is 1957, so the Production Code reigns supreme. By the end, you might be left underwhelmed. So often you’ll find tacked on, appease-the-censor endings that do a disservice to the movie. But still, it’s worth a watch!
And if you’d like a little intro to the movie, then enjoy this classic TCM opening! With that, enjoy!
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