The Bachelor Party is a 1957 drama film directed by

Delbert Mann Delbert Martin Mann Jr. (January 30, 1920 – November 11, 2007) was an American television and film director. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film '' Marty'' (1955), adapted from a 1953 teleplay which he had also directed. ...

, adapted by

Paddy Chayefsky Sidney Aaron "Paddy" Chayefsky (; January 29, 1923 – August 1, 1981) was an American playwright, screenwriter and novelist. He is the only person to have won three solo Academy Awards for writing both adapted and original screenplays. He w ...

from his 1953 teleplay.

Plot

Charlie Samson is a hard-working married bookkeeper in Manhattan, struggling to advance himself by attending night school to become an accountant. He has just learned his wife is pregnant with their first child, and worries whether he is ready for fatherhood. He and four co-workers throw a

bachelor party A bachelor party (in the United States), also known as a stag weekend, stag do or stag party (in the United Kingdom, Commonwealth countries, and Ireland), or a buck's night (in Australia and Canada), is a party held for or arranged by a man wh ...

for a fellow bookkeeper, Arnold Craig, who is about to get married. After watching explicit, short stag films at one member's apartment, they decide to go

bar-hopping A pub crawl (sometimes called a bar tour, bar crawl or bar-hopping) is the act of visiting multiple pubs or bars in a single session. Background Many European cities have public pub crawls that serve as social gatherings for local expatriates a ...

. Charlie is to be Arnold's best man. Colleagues attending the party include the older married man, Walter, who has recently been diagnosed with asthma, and Eddie, a happy-go-lucky bachelor. The night becomes a turning point for all five men. Charlie finds his loyalty to his wife tested during the evening, and he almost has an affair with a young woman he meets on the street heading to a Greenwich Village party. Charlie's young wife at home is also shocked to hear her visiting sister reveal her own husband's extra-marital affairs. Walter, in despair about his situation, wanders off during the evening. Arnold becomes drunk and ambivalent about getting married, and he breaks off the wedding. He changes his mind after he sobers up and Charlie gives him a lecture about the benefits of married life, despite Charlie's having regretted his own marriage as the story began, and having gone to the party with the serious intention of committing adultery. We last see Eddie at a bar, striking up a conversation with an older unattractive woman. In the end, Charlie decides that married life is the way to go, and that his struggle to build a home with his wife is worthwhile, and better than the empty and lonely existence of his friend Eddie, whom he used to envy.''The Collected Works of Paddy Chayefsky'' (1994), Applause Books, New York

Film adaptation

The 1957 film was directed by

, with Don Murray as Charlie, co-starring

E. G. Marshall E. G. Marshall (born Everett Eugene Grunz;Everett Eugene Grunz in Minnesota, U.S., Birth Index, 1900-1934, Ancestry.comEverett Eugene Grunz in the U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007, accessed via Ancestry.com June 18, ...

Jack Warden Jack Warden (born John Warden Lebzelter Jr.; September 18, 1920July 19, 2006) was an American actor who worked in film and television. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for ''Shampoo (film), Shampoo'' (1975) and '' ...

and

Carolyn Jones Carolyn Sue Jones (April 28, 1930 – August 3, 1983) was an American actress of television and film. She began her film career in the early 1950s, and by the end of the decade had achieved recognition with a nomination for an Academy Awa ...

. Jones was nominated for the 1958 Best Supporting Actress

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

for her portrayal of a party girl who is actually very lonely. Mary Grant designed the film's costumes.

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though some ...

wrote of the film, "Mr. Chayefsky in his writing and Delbert Mann in his direction of this film have made it delightfully amusing and compensating as it flows. For the most poignant revelations of emptiness and fear, they have provided hilarious explosions in the serio-comic vein."

Cast

* Don Murray as Charlie Samson *

as Walter *

as Eddie Watkins *

Philip Abbott Philip Abbott (March 20, 1924 – February 23, 1998) was an American character actor. He appeared in several films and numerous television series, including a lead role as Arthur Ward in the crime series '' The F.B.I.'' Early life A native o ...

as Arnold Craig, the Bachelor *

Larry Blyden Ivan Lawrence Blieden (June 23, 1925 – June 6, 1975), known professionally as Larry Blyden, was an American actor, stage producer and director, and game show host. He made his Broadway stage debut in 1948 and went on to appear in numerous ...

as Kenneth * Patricia Smith as Helen Samson *

as The Existentialist *

Nancy Marchand Nancy Lou Marchand (June 19, 1928 – June 18, 2000) was an American actress. She began her career in theater in 1951. She was most famous for portraying Margaret Pynchon on '' Lou Grant'' – for which she won 4 Emmy Awards – and Livia Sopra ...

as Mrs. Julie Samson

Awards

''The Bachelor Party'' was nominated for one

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

, one

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

award, and one award at the

1957 Cannes Film Festival The 10th Cannes Film Festival took place from 2 to 17 May 1957. French writer André Maurois served as jury president for the main competition, while Dolores del Río was the first female member of the jury for the official selection. The ''P ...

Chayefsky on ''The Bachelor Party''

Afterword to ''The Bachelor Party'':

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bachelor Party, The 1957 drama films 1957 films American drama films 1950s English-language films Films directed by Delbert Mann Films produced by Burt Lancaster Films produced by James Hill Films produced by Harold Hecht Films scored by Alex North Films with screenplays by Paddy Chayefsky Norma Productions films United Artists films 1950s American films