| Plot Synopsis |
by Hal Erickson |
Jayne Mansfield recreated her starmaking stage role in this film adaptation of George Axelrod's Broadway comedy. Mansfield plays a Monroe-like movie queen whom adman Tony Randall hopes to sign for a product endorsement. Through a fluke, the press believes that Randall is having an affair with Mansfield; she eagerly pounces on the attendant publicity, much to the dismay of her body-builder beau (Mickey Hargitay, then married to Mansfield). At the behest of his ad agency, Randall is forced to propose to Mansfield on a coast-to-coast TV show, which breaks the heart of his true love (Betsy Drake). Both Randall and Mansfield are saved from a marriage neither one wants by the last-minute arrival of Mansfield's hometown boy friend (Groucho Marx). Director Frank Tashlin uses Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter as an excuse to take satirical potshots at everything from TV commercials to the unwieldiness of CinemaScope. |
| Similar Works |
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How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
(1967, David Swift)
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The Apartment
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Bye Bye Birdie
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Crazy People
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How to Get Ahead in Advertising
(1989, Bruce Robinson)
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The Hudsucker Proxy
(1994, Joel Coen)
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So Fine
(1981, Andrew Bergman)
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It's Always Fair Weather
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The Producers
(2005, Susan Stroman)
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Pot O' Gold
(1941, George Marshall)
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