''How Do I Love Thee?'' is a 1970 American comedy-drama film directed by Michael Gordon. It stars

Jackie Gleason John Herbert Gleason (February 26, 1916June 24, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, writer, composer, and conductor known affectionately as "The Great One." Developing a style and characters from growing up in Brooklyn, New York, he was know ...

and Maureen O'Hara and is based on Peter De Vries's 1965 novel ''Let Me Count the Ways''.

Plot

Tom Waltz, a college professor, finds out that Stanley, his father, is in

Lourdes Lourdes (, also , ; oc, Lorda ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for the Châ ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. He quickly catches a flight there over his wife Marion's objections. Stanley is a furniture mover, happily married to Elsie but tempted by Lena, an artist. No actual affair takes place, but Lena does give him a poem as a parting gift that Stanley later enters in a contest. He wins a $10,000 prize and donates the money to Tom's department at the university. Tom is rewarded with a promotion over his rival, Littlefield. Trouble develops when the "original" poem is exposed as being one of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's sonnets. Littlefield gets the job and Tom's reputation is sullied. Stanley prays for divine intervention and Littlefield promptly dies. Stanley flies to Lourdes to atone and pray for forgiveness, but is relieved when Tom informs him that Littlefield's death occurred before his request for help from above.

Cast

as Stanley Waltz * Maureen O'Hara as Elsie Waltz *

Shelley Winters Shelley Winters (born Shirley Schrift; August 18, 1920 – January 14, 2006) was an American actress whose career spanned seven decades. She appeared in numerous films. She won Academy Awards for ''The Diary of Anne Frank'' (1959) and ''A Patch o ...

as Lena Mervin *

Rosemary Forsyth Rosemary Forsyth is a Canadian-born American actress most notable for her role as Bronwyn opposite Charlton Heston in '' The War Lord'' in 1965. Early years Forsyth was born in Montreal, Quebec. Her father, David Forsyth, was Scots-Canadian ...

as Marion Waltz * Rick Lenz as Tom Waltz * Jeffrey Orloff as University of Miami student wearing TKE shirt during campus demonstration

Production notes

Filming began in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

in June 1969. Maureen O'Hara, who accepted the role after a five year absence from the screen, later said she regretted making the film because the script was bad and there were numerous problems on the set.

Reception

''How Do I Love Thee?'' premiered in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

on October 1, 1970. It was a box office failure and recorded an overall loss of $2,425,000. It earned rentals of $150,000 in North America and $125,000 in other countries.

Home video

''How Do I Love Thee?'' was released to home video by Kino Lorber Studio Classics on May 15, 2018 as a Region 1 Blu-Ray.

References

External links

* * * {{Michael Gordon 1970 films 1970 comedy-drama films American comedy-drama films Films based on American novels Films directed by Michael Gordon Films shot in Florida Cinerama Releasing Corporation films 1970 comedy films 1970 drama films 1970s English-language films 1970s American films