Taglines: If your wife insists you see it together, be careful.
The Arrangement movie storyline. Los Angeles-based ad executive Eddie Anderson, born Evangelos Arness to Greek immigrant parents, has launched what is the latest in a string of successful ad campaigns, this one for Zephyr cigarettes, the campaign touting them as the “clean” choice, despite what are now the well known health risks of smoking.
One day as Eddie is driving to work, he is involved in a major car accident, which could have easily taken his life, but which lands him in hospital with non-life threatening injuries. What only his faithful wife, Florence Anderson, suspects is that Eddie himself caused the accident in an effort to commit suicide. She is only partly correct as Eddie subconsciously changed his mind at the last split second to avoid being killed in the accident. Eddie and Florence have a rather clinical relationship, Florence realizing that he is going through issues, about which he doesn’t talk.
One of the manifestations of those issues is that he embarked on an affair that Florence is well aware of with a younger woman named Gwen, who worked at the ad agency and who Florence refers to as the office tramp. Florence is not far off the mark as Gwen was hired primarily in that role for whatever purpose required. Gwen ultimately moved on without Eddie, after she realized that he was not going to leave Florence. Gwen now lives in New York.
Florence just wants to help Eddie deal with whatever issues he is facing so that they can move on with their lives together in a positive manner. During his physical and emotional recuperation, Eddie is called to New York to deal with his ailing abusive father, Sam Arness. Eddie’s relationship with Sam and the lure to see Gwen while in New York affect what happens in Eddie’s life in a holistic sense.
The Arrangement is a 1969 film drama film directed by Elia Kazan, based upon his 1967 novel of the same title. It tells the story of a successful Los Angeles-area advertising executive of Greek-American extraction, Evangelos Arness, who goes by the professional name “Eddie Anderson.” He is portrayed by Kirk Douglas.
Eddie is suicidal and slowly having a psychotic breakdown. He is miserable at home in his marriage to his wife, Florence, played by Deborah Kerr, and with his career. He is engaged in a torrid affair with his mistress and co-worker Gwen (Faye Dunaway), and is forced to re-evaluate his life and its priorities while dealing with his willful and aging father (Richard Boone).
About the Story
Wealthy ad man Eddie Anderson makes a suicide attempt in his car. He is contemptuous of life and its “arrangements.” His long marriage to Florence is now devoid of passion, and he has become the lover of Gwen, a research assistant at his Los Angeles advertising agency. He descends into a long depression and silence, often conjuring up memories or hallucinations of Gwen.
A psychiatrist, Dr. Leibman, eventually listens to stories of Eddie’s nightmares and general discontent with life. Eddie returns to work, where he insults a valued client. He pilots a small plane about L.A. and buzzes its skyscrapers recklessly, causing the police to be called. His mental stability is now seriously in doubt. His wife also sees compromising photographs of Eddie and Gwen.
Arthur, his lawyer, gives wife Florence power of attorney as Eddie travels to New York to visit Sam Arness, his ill father. The father is so sick that Eddie’s brother and sister-in-law want him placed in an institution. Gwen is also in New York now, living with a man named Charles and telling Eddie of many other affairs that she has had. She has a baby that she claims is not Eddie’s (but it is strongly implied she’s lying).
A delusional Eddie begins to have conversations with his alter ego. Arthur brings papers for him to sign, turning over all of his community property to Florence, but she tells him not to sign them, and it turns out he signed someone else’s name. Florence and Eddie have a long intense conversation, in which Eddie says he just wants to do nothing for a while—Florence simply can’t understand this, and says he’s insane. He sets fire to his father’s house and comes to Gwen’s apartment, where Charles shoots him—after this, Eddie is committed to a psychiatric hospital, but can release himself at any time, simply by proving he’s got a job and a home to go to.
The Arrangement (1969)
Directed by: Elia Kazan
Starring: Kirk Douglas, Faye Dunaway, Deborah Kerr, Richard Boone, Hume Cronyn, Michael Higgins, Carol Eve Rossen, William Hansen, Harold Gould, Michael Murphy, John Randolph Jones
Screenplay by: Elia Kazan
Production Design by: Gene Callahan
Cinematography by: Robert Surtees
Film Editing by: Stefan Arnsten
Costume Design by: Theadora Van Runkle
Set Decoration by: Audrey A. Blasdel
Art Direction by: Malcolm C. Bert
Music by: David Amram
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures, Seven Arts
Release Date: November 18, 1969
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