The Bachelor Party

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The Bachelor Party

Released Apr 10, 1957

1h 33m

Drama

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80%

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5 Reviews

53%

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100+ Ratings

Bookkeeper Charlie Samson (Don Murray) is attending night school to become an accountant when he finds out his wife, Helen (Patricia Smith), is pregnant. The news upsets Charlie because he believes a baby will prevent him from continuing his studies. His reservations come out during a wild and drunken bachelor party for his nervous work friend, Arnold (Philip Abbott). When single man Eddie (Jack Warden) steers the group to parties and strip clubs, Charlie becomes tempted to stray from his wife.

Bosley Crowther

New York Times

The one thing that makes the pathos of it all endurable is the cheerfulness of the writer and the director in facing up to the ironies. That and the excellent performances all the actors give.

Mar 25, 2006

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André Bazin

L'Éducation Nationale

Unfortunately, I do not have enough space here to analyze the numerous other sociological lessons offered by this extremely rich film, whose mise-en-scene is brilliant at the same time as it appears to be "neutral."

Dec 8, 2021

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Clyde Gilmour

Maclean's Magazine

Another TV luminary, Paddy Chayefsky, has written a worthy successor to his famous Marty, although it doesn't pack as much emotional appeal as its predecessor.

Oct 14, 2019

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Semi-effective effort of writer Chayefsky and director Delbert Mann to repeat the success of their Oscar winning Marty, this melodrama is verbose and pretentious, though acting by Don Murray and Carolyn Jones is good.

Rated: C+

Mar 23, 2012

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Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

This bachelor party is as much fun as riding the NYC subway late at night without a cop in sight.

Rated: C+

May 2, 2008

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Audience Member

This is an amazing movie as good as Marty!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/12/23

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steve d

Carolyn Jones's small role is all it has going for it but boy is she good.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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Audience Member

needs a tad more funny

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

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Audience Member

Selfish, reprehensible men do selfish, reprehensible things and the viewer is supposed to care. Good acting especially by Carolyn Jones in a standout part but impossible to warm up to. A lot of sound and fury adding up to absolutely zilch.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

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Audience Member

Good movie. Carolyn Jones deserved the Oscar.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

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Audience Member

I stumbled on this movie while flipping channels, and I was surprised by the quality of the screenwriting until I looked it up on imdb and found that it was written by Paddy Chayefsky... who wrote "Network" nineteen years later. It's a film in the superdramatic slice-of-life "Marty"esque style briefly popular in the late fifties, but considering its melodramatic genre, it has some genuinely touching moments, and mostly due to little touches of writing which was better than it had to be. Not everything in it works for me, and I shut it off about 10 minutes from the end because I knew where it was going (or at least I *thought* it was 10 minutes from the end and I knew where it was going). For some reason I really wanted to (unfairly) compare it to "Knocked Up"... and not in "Knocked Up"'s favor.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

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Delbert Mann

Director

Don Murray

Charlie Samson

E.G. Marshall

Walter

Jack Warden

Eddie Watkins

Patricia Smith

Helen Samson

Carolyn Jones

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Synopsis

Bookkeeper Charlie Samson (Don Murray) is attending night school to become an accountant when he finds out his wife, Helen (Patricia Smith), is pregnant. The news upsets Charlie because he believes a baby will prevent him from continuing his studies. His reservations come out during a wild and drunken bachelor party for his nervous work friend, Arnold (Philip Abbott). When single man Eddie (Jack Warden) steers the group to parties and strip clubs, Charlie becomes tempted to stray from his wife.

Director: Delbert Mann
Producer: Harold Hecht, James Hill, Burt Lancaster
Screenwriter: Paddy Chayefsky
Distributor: United Artists
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 10, 1957, Original
Runtime: 1h 33m