shirley maclaine what a way to go
Meta description:
A quick, friendly deep-dive into What a Way to Go! (1964), Shirley
MacLaine’s wild black comedy about love, money, and absurdly unlucky husbands,
plus how it’s talked about today in reviews and forums.
Shirley MacLaine – What a Way to Go!
Quick Scoop
What is “What a Way to Go!”?
- It’s a 1964 American black comedy film directed by J. Lee Thompson.
- Shirley MacLaine stars as Louisa May Foster, opposite a jaw‑dropping lineup: Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum, Dean Martin, Gene Kelly, Dick Van Dyke, and Bob Cummings.
- The tone mixes glossy Technicolor glamour with morbid, cartoonish death scenes, making it a cult favorite among classic‑movie fans today.
Plot in a Nutshell
Louisa starts the film trying to donate over 200 million dollars to the IRS, which lands her with a psychiatrist because everyone assumes she’s lost her mind.
Through flashbacks, she explains her “curse”:
- Edgar Hopper (Dick Van Dyke)
- A poor, idealistic shopkeeper who believes in simple living, inspired by Thoreau.
* Mocked by rich businessman Leonard Crawley, he obsessively builds a business empire, becomes rich, and literally works himself to death.
- Larry Flint (Paul Newman)
- A broke avant‑garde artist in Paris.
* Invents a machine that turns sound into paint, becomes a sensation, and is eventually killed by his own temperamental painting cranes.
- Rod Anderson Jr. (Robert Mitchum)
- A powerful tycoon who marries Louisa after offering her a ride on his private jet.
* Retires with her to a simple farm, only to die in a barn mishap after drunkenly trying to milk a bull.
- Pinky Benson (Gene Kelly)
- A clownish nightclub performer who is deliberately unnoticeable so customers keep eating and drinking.
* Louisa talks him into going onstage without clown makeup; his talent suddenly makes him a huge Hollywood star, he becomes unbearably vain, paints his mansion pink, and is trampled to death by frenzied fans at a premiere.
After all that, Louisa is ultra‑rich and completely miserable, convinced that wealth is literally killing the men she loves.
Eventually, she reconnects with Leonard Crawley, who has lost everything and now lives a quiet, simple life.
They marry, move to a farm, nearly think they’ve struck oil, then learn he has only punctured a pipeline—so they end up still poor but genuinely happy.
Cast & Characters (Quick Reference)
| Actor | Character | Role in Louisa’s Life |
|---|---|---|
| Shirley MacLaine | Louisa May Foster | Romantic heroine who keeps ending up rich and widowed. | [3][1][5]
| Dick Van Dyke | Edgar Hopper | Idealistic shopkeeper turned overworked tycoon. | [3][1][5]
| Paul Newman | Larry Flint | Bohemian artist killed by his own art machines. | [1][5]
| Robert Mitchum | Rod Anderson Jr. | Billionaire executive turned unlucky farmer. | [3][5][1]
| Dean Martin | Leonard Crawley | Rich suitor turned humble janitor and final husband. | [10][5][1]
| Gene Kelly | Pinky Benson | Clown performer turned obsessive Hollywood star. | [5][1]
| Bob Cummings | Dr. Stephanson | Louisa’s psychiatrist who tries to marry her. | [3][1][5]
Style, Themes & Why It Still Pops Up Online
Visual style & comedy
- The film is famous for its over‑the‑top sets, costumes, and each marriage being staged like a parody of a different movie genre (silent comedy, bohemian art film, corporate melodrama, Hollywood musical, etc.).
- Shirley MacLaine’s wardrobe alone—lavish gowns, wild colors, and especially all that pink—gets a lot of love in modern retrospectives and social posts.
Themes people still talk about
- Money vs. happiness : Louisa never wants wealth; she wants simple love, but capitalism and ambition keep twisting her life into tragedy played for laughs.
- Satire of success culture : Each husband is killed by the very thing that made him successful—overwork, reckless innovation, macho risk‑taking, fame.
- Gender and fantasy : Modern viewers sometimes comment on how Louisa’s “curse” mirrors the pressure on women to be both inspiration and scapegoat for male ambition.
Latest Buzz, Reviews & Forum‑Style Reactions
Even though the movie came out in 1964, it still circulates on streaming, YouTube, and classic‑film channels, so it pops up periodically in fan discussions and comment sections.
Common modern reactions include:
- Cult‑favorite status
- Viewers praise it as a weird, glossy, underrated gem of 60s Hollywood, especially for MacLaine’s performance and comedic timing.
* People often discover it through star‑specific deep dives (Paul Newman, Gene Kelly, Dean Martin) and then stay for the sheer absurdity of the plot.
- Mixed critical reception
- Contemporary and later critics tend to agree it’s messy but visually spectacular and amusing, more a star vehicle and costume parade than a tight script.
* Audience scores and user reviews lean kinder, treating it as stylized satire rather than straightforward narrative.
- Quote‑and‑scene culture
- Specific death scenes (the bull, the art cranes, the fan stampede) are frequently clipped and shared as examples of bizarre classic‑film humor.
A typical fan‑style reaction might look like:
“Came for Paul Newman, stayed for Shirley MacLaine changing husbands and outfits every 15 minutes. It’s chaotic, morbid, and absolutely gorgeous to look at.”
SEO‑Friendly Quick Facts
To hit your keyword needs around “shirley maclaine what a way to go” , here are tight, fact‑based bullets:
- What a Way to Go! is a 1964 black comedy starring Shirley MacLaine as Louisa May Foster, a woman whose husbands keep becoming rich and dying in bizarre ways.
- The film features major stars of the era: Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum, Dean Martin, Gene Kelly, Dick Van Dyke, and Bob Cummings.
- The story is framed as Louisa explaining to a psychiatrist why she wants to give over 200 million dollars to the IRS, convinced her wealth is a curse.
- Modern forum and comment‑section discussions highlight the movie’s extravagant costumes, genre‑spoof structure, and its satirical take on wealth and success.
- The film regularly resurfaces on classic‑movie channels and video platforms, keeping “shirley maclaine what a way to go” a recurring search and trending nostalgia topic.
TL;DR
Shirley MacLaine’s What a Way to Go! is a lavish 1964 black comedy where she plays a woman whose husbands keep getting rich and dying in outlandish accidents, skewering money, fame, and success in a candy‑colored, star‑studded package that still fuels lively online nostalgia and forum chatter today.
Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.