The Seven Year Itch (1955)

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1. 

   Siskoid

   So... The Seven Year Itch... Does anyone actually think this stuff happened? Tom Ewell is a shlub with too vivid an imagination (same as his kid), a real Walter Mitty type, so no, I don't believe ANYTHING after he crosses paths with a beautiful girl in the stairwell happens as shown, or at all. The principal clues are: Marilyn Munroe's character never gets a name, Ewell talks to himself constantly as if we were hearing his inner voice, Marilyn Munroe herself is REFERENCED... This is all one big fantasy built on the clues that have gone before (damn that Vegan waitress putting nudism in his head), and "The Girl" is merely a composite of the girl in the stairwell, a girl in a commercial, another in a saucy picture in a magazine, and movie star Marilyn Munroe. It's a fantasy in which both his dreams and his worst nightmare about infidelity appear to come true, and it's ridiculous on both ends, self-serving and anxious, and full of crazy coincidences that only really work if it takes place in his mind. If you remove that notion, you'd be right to find it sexist, with an underwritten heroine in service of a plot that barely redeems Ewell's nervous character. But I think Billy Wilder is too clever to leave it at that. I think this inception theory has to be right. Beyond that, there are some scenes that lack pacing (the first "date" for example), but I chuckled quite a lot too. Ewell is great at physical comedy, Marilyn has her bubble head shtick down pat, and those cutaways (fantasies within the fantasies) are hilarious. Better than its reputation, the more I think about it, the more I like it. 4 years 2 months ago
2. 

   the3rdman

   Just awful. This sad justification of the extramarital pursuits of a middle-aged man barely able to control his urges comes off as mostly pathetic, and Monroe's utterly implausible character seems to exist only to serve the overt male chauvinism of the narrative--although she executes it with as much charm and gusto as possible under the circumstances. To be fair, Ewell does his best with the material too but it's just not that strong, and his character comes off as creepy and self-serving rather than sympathetic. I'm generally a Wilder fan but this was not good in my books. 7 years 10 months ago
3. 

   iCheckFilms

   Enjoyed it well. Can't label it as the best Wilder movie or anything, but, it's a thoroughly enjoyable one nonetheless. The reference to "From here to Eternity" was very funny - considering I watched both the films on the same day!! :) 11 years 6 months ago

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