<p>A last-minute post before my family heads to Philadelphia for twelve days….</p>
<p>My all-time favorite movie is *Good Neighbor Sam<a href=“1964”>/i</a>, based on Jack Finney’s 1963 novel, and directed and co-written by David Swift. It stars Jack Lemmon (reported to have “detested” the film), Romy Schneider (her first of just several Hollywood films), Dorothy Provine, and Mike Connors, with Edward G. Robinson and Louis Nye, and a supporting cast of familiar but hard-to-place-the-name faces.</p>
<p>Briefly: Hours after his two young daughters leave for week-long summer camp, mild-mannered San Francisco advertising agency employee Sam Bissell (Lemmon) is abruptly promoted from graphic arts drone to account executive, to meet ethically upright VIP client Simon Nurdlinger’s (Robinson) demand that his dairy farm’s advertising campaign be headed by “a clean-living family man.” Sam rushes home to tell his wife Min (Provine) the good news, and learns that she has good news, as well. Her best friend, Janet Lagerlof Ebbets (Schneider), has just flown in from Paris to settle her late grandfather’s estate, and has decided to temporarily rent the house next door. Early the following morning, as Sam and Min are helping Janet get settled in her rented house, an attorney drops by with more good news: Janet’s reclusive late grandfather has bequeathed her his secret fifteen million dollar fortune, but only if her marriage “is sound and effective.” Unfortunately, Janet is in the midst of divorcing her husband, from whom she has been separated for a number of months. The attorney warns Janet that her two older cousins have already inquired about their late uncle’s Will, and might have grounds to contest the Will if they can prove that Janet and her husband are not living together. Shortly after the attorney departs, the cousins descend. Janet promptly introduces bathrobe-clad Sam as “my husband, Howard.” The miffed cousins return to their parked car where they wait to watch “Howard” leave for work. Janet and Min implore Sam to keep up the charade long enough to fool the cousins, and he reluctantly agrees to do so. Janet drives Sam to work, with the cousins trailing behind. Upon reaching the ad agency building, Janet insists on giving Sam a sensual goodbye kiss in full view of the cousins. However, the curbside kiss is also witnessed by Sam’s boss, several fellow account executives, and client Nurdlinger, who delightedly introduces himself to “Mrs. Bissell.” Nurdlinger invites Sam and his “lovely wife” to dinner that evening; Janet–out of regard for Sam’s professional reputation–quickly accepts the invitation. Late that night, when Sam and Janet return from dinner and enter their respective houses, each is convinced that life has finally returned to better-than-normal. Not so. Hours later, an hysterical Janet barges into the Bissells’ bedroom to inform them that a suspicious-looking work truck is parked on the street directly in front of their houses. Janet is convinced that the truck (bearing the name of a non-existent vacuum cleaner company) belongs to a private investigator hired by her cousins. Sam thinks the investigator might be working for Nurdlinger, known to routinely investigate the people with whom he does business. The charade resumes, now complicated by Howard Ebbets’ (Connors) unexpected arrival, sleazy private investigator Reinhold Shiffner’s (Nye) misguided move to blackmail Sam, Janet’s cousins’ attempt to contest their late uncle’s Will, and Min’s growing frustration with the escalating turmoil in her household. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Sam, the still in-development Nurdlinger Farms ad campaign has taken an astonishingly wrong turn.</p>
<p>I first saw Good Neighbor Sam with my mother at the drive-in (remember those?) when I was eleven years old. She and I enjoyed the movie so much that we stayed to watch it a second time, returning home well after midnight. One of the reasons Good Neighbor Sam is special to me is because I associate it with a rare happy childhood memory I have of spending time with my mother. (My bad childhood–and adult–memories of my mother far outnumber the good.) </p>
<p>Good Neighbor Sam is also special to me because it has “grown” with me. When I was a child, Good Neighbor Sam was simply a funny movie about a man who makes fantastic sculptures out of everyday junk, drives like a maniac, and forgets to wear socks to work. As a teen, I became aware of the film’s sexual subtext. As a young adult, I grasped the film’s cynical take on corporate culture. As an older adult, I understand that the film is about honesty, integrity, and Doing The Right Thing. As a child, I thought Simon Nurdlinger was a mean-spirited, self-righteous old coot; today, I wish there were more businesspeople (and politicians) like him.</p>
<p>Good Neighbor Sam is most special to me because in the race to succeed, Sam Bissell, the quintessential Mr. Nice Guy, finishes first. To me, that classifies Good Neighbor Sam as a fantasy.</p>
<p>Well, I’m soon off to Philly. My family is flying. I hate flying. Every time I fly, I’m convinced that I have a 50-50 chance of dying. (Either the plane will crash or it won’t.) So, if I don’t post in two weeks or so, check the news. Watch Good Neighbor Sam, and laugh for me. Bye.</p>