The Facts of Life (film)

The Facts of Life
The Facts of Life
Directed by	Melvin Frank
Written by	Norman Panama; Melvin Frank
Produced by	Norman Panama
Starring	Bob Hope; Lucille Ball
Cinematography	Charles Lang
Edited by	Frank Bracht
Music by	Leigh Harline; Johnny Mercer
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	November 14, 1960;
Running time	103 minutes
Language	English
Box office	$3.2 million

The Facts of Life is a 1960 romantic comedy starring Bob Hope and Lucille Ball as married people who (almost) have an affair. Written, directed and produced by longtime Hope associates Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, the film is more serious than many other contemporary Hope vehicles. The film features an opening animated title sequence created by Saul Bass.

The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one for Best Costume Design (for Edith Head and Edward Stevenson). Lucille Ball was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress – Comedy.

Plot

As the yearly vacation of six neighbors, the Gilberts, Masons and Weavers, approaches, Kitty Weaver and Larry Gilbert find themselves frustrated with the predictable routine of their lives. When their spouses are kept away from the vacation and the Masons are bedridden with illness, Kitty and Larry find themselves alone in Acapulco. Spending time together, Kitty and Larry fall in love. However, when the vacation is over, they find it difficult to continue the romance. They cannot bear seeing each other at their usual social activities without being together. They try a visit to a local drive-in movie, but they are recognized and beat a hasty retreat, followed by a visit to a motel which also goes awry. They arrange a weekend together in Monterey when Larry will be there on business and Kitty's husband is away with their children, and a guilty-feeling Kitty leaves behind a note for her husband Jack telling him she is leaving him and wants a divorce. A heavy rainstorm causes problems with Larry and Kitty's hired car, and also with their cabin in the mountains which has a leaky roof. These cause tensions between them and bring a gradual realization that leaving their families involves many complications, including deciding that what they are doing is "wrong". The result is a race back home for Kitty to retrieve her breakup note before her husband reads it, but when she arrives he is already there. Jack tells her he has not yet read her note, and she asks him to burn it, which he does, but it has become clear that he had read it and has chosen to ignore it.

Cast

Bob Hope as Larry Gilbert
Lucille Ball as Kitty Weaver
Ruth Hussey as Mary Gilbert
Don DeFore as Jack Weaver
Louis Nye as Hamilton Busbee
Philip Ober as Doc Mason
Marianne Stewart as Connie Mason
Hollis Irving as Myrtle Busbee

Reception

In a positive contemporary review in The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther called the script "... a wonderfully good-humored estimation of an essentially pathetic state of affairs" and wrote: "It is a grandly good-natured picture, full of thoroughly sparkling repartee and word-gags and sight-gags that crackle with humor and sly intelligence."^[2]

In 1964, Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic wrote that the film "... was probably Bob Hope's best picture."^[3]

Awards and nominations

Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result
Academy Awards^[4]^[5]	Best Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen	Melvin Frank and Norman Panama	Nominated
	Best Art Direction – Black-and-White	Art Direction: Joseph McMillan Johnson and Kenneth A. Reid; Set Decoration: Ross Dowd	Nominated
	Best Cinematography – Black-and-White	Charles Lang	Nominated
	Best Costume Design – Black-and-White	Edith Head and Edward Stevenson	Won
	Best Song	"The Facts of Life" Music and Lyrics by Johnny Mercer	Nominated
Golden Globe Awards^[6]	Best Motion Picture – Comedy		Nominated
	Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy	Bob Hope	Nominated
	Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy	Lucille Ball	Nominated
Laurel Awards	Top Action Drama		Nominated
	Top Male Comedy Performance	Bob Hope	Nominated
	Top Female Comedy Performance	Lucille Ball	Nominated
Writers Guild of America Awards	Best Written American Comedy	Melvin Frank and Norman Panama	Nominated

References

^ "1961 Rentals and Potential". Variety. 10 Jan 1961. p. 13.
^ Crowther, Bosley (1961-02-11). "Screen: 'The Facts of Life' Opens". The New York Times. p. 27.
^ Kauffmann, Stanley (1974). Living Images Film Comment and Criticism. Harper & Row Publishers. p. 202.
^ "The 33rd Academy Awards (1961) Nominees and Winners", oscars.org, retrieved 2011-08-22
^ "NY Times: The Facts of Life". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-06-25. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
^ "The Facts of Life – Golden Globes". HFPA. Retrieved July 28, 2021.