Taglines: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways… Miranda, Audrey, Jessica, Marcy, Doria…
Such Good Friends movie storyline. Julie Messinger (Dyan Cannon) has it made. She is a New York housewife whose husband, Richard (Laurence Luckinbill), is an editor for a prominent photography magazine. They have a small circle of friends, including well-meaning, but inept Dr. Timothy (James Coco) Spector, photographer Cal Whiting (Ken Howard) and Cal’s live-in girlfriend Miranda (Jennifer O’Neill). Julie’s mother spends her days getting pedicures and manicures, applying make-up and fake eye-lashes and buying expensive clothes, all the while criticizing her daughter for her looks and behavior.
When Richard goes into the hospital for a minor mole-removal surgery, Julie gets more than she bargained for. Richard suffers from complications and goes into a coma, supposedly caused by a rare surgical factor, and she gathers friends and family together, culminating in a hilarious “quasi-cocktail-party” scene in the blood donation center of the hospital.
While dealing with red tape, hospital bureaucracy and clueless doctors, Julie discovers her husband’s “little black book,” which contains the names of her friends. She confirms that her husband had been sleeping around and proceeds to make a fool out of him by getting it on with his male friends. When the complications get more ominous, guilt opens the door to her liberation as a woman.
Such Good Friends is a 1971 American comedy-drama film directed by Otto Preminger and starring Dyan Cannon, James Coco, Jennifer O’Neill, Ken Howard, Nina Foch, Laurence Luckinbill, Louise Lasser, Burgess Meredith, Sam Levene, William Redfield, James Beard, Rita Gam, Elaine Joyce, Doris Roberts, Virginia Vestoff and Oscar Grossman. The screenplay by Esther Dale (a pseudonym for Elaine May) is based on the novel of the same title by Lois Gould.
about the Production
Through his son Erik, who was working as his story editor, producer Otto Preminger heard about a manuscript by Lois Gould that was rumored to be a hot property. He negotiated with the author and purchased the film rights for $200,000 in February 1970, three months before the book was published.
The novel, narrated in stream-of-consciousness mode by Julie Messinger, proved to be difficult to adapt for the screen. Joan Micklin Silver initially tackled the project, but Preminger found her to be too much of a feminist who was more psychologically attuned to the character than he thought was necessary. He then hired Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne and worked with them for several months. Finally, in early 1971, Elaine May, his original choice for screenwriter, became available. May worked on the script for ten weeks, although Preminger found it difficult to adjust to her method of writing.
The two would meet for a story conference, then May would disappear and remain incommunicado for two weeks or so, finally emerging with a substantial part of the screenplay completed. Preminger would give her notes and she would disappear again, and this routine continued until the script was finished. Not wanting her name attached to work started by others, May insisted she did not want screen credit and used the pseudonym Esther Dale, the name of a Hollywood character actress, instead of her own. Preminger later used May’s involvement in the film to help promote it, a move the screenwriter resented, as she felt he was “more honorable than that.”
Preminger and leading lady Dyan Cannon clashed throughout filming. She was constantly late, one of the director’s pet peeves, and the two disagreed about everything about her character, from how she should be portrayed to how she should be dressed. Uncomfortable with the director’s perception of Julie, the actress frequently tried to incorporate some of her own vision into her interpretation, resulting in loud on-set arguments that left Cannon feeling alone, self-conscious, and very vulnerable. Upon the film’s completion, the two vowed never to work with each other again.
Such Good Friends (1971)
Directed by: Otto Preminger
Starring: Dyan Cannon, James Coco, Jennifer O’Neill, Ken Howard, Nina Foch, Laurence Luckinbill, Louise Lasser, Burgess Meredith, Sam Levene, William Redfield, James Beard, Rita Gam, Elaine Joyce, Doris Roberts, Virginia Vestoff, Oscar Grossman
Screenplay by: Esther Dale
Production Design by: Rouben Ter-Arutunian
Cinematography by: Gayne Rescher
Film Editing by: Moe Howard
Costume Design by: Hope Bryce, Ron Talsky
Makeup Department: Colleen Callaghan, Saul Meth
Music by: Thomas Z. Shepard
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: December 21, 1971
Visits: 511