Arrivederci, Baby! (1966) Poster

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6/10
Dreary, mean film with fabulous bits...
JonathanWalford4 February 2017
Its really hard to get through this film because the main character, played by Tony Curtis, is despicable -- he is a serial killer! However, this is a comedy and there are scenes in the film that are truly funny. In one of the funniest bits is Zsa Zsa Gabor playing his first wife. She didn't act in much, but this role was perfect for her and is hilarious to watch. Even better is a scene with Tony's character reflecting upon his youth and his adoptive aunt, played by Anna Quayle (a hugely under-appreciated comic actress who appeared in a good handful of films in the late 1960s). The scenes with Quayle are worth watching just by themselves, the rest of the film isn't...
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5/10
Mildly amusing . . . but troubling
bensonmum24 January 2018
Tony Curtis is Nick Johnson, a man who uses his irresistible charm to use women to his personal, financial gain. He goes through a string of women whose untimely deaths give Johnson more wealth than he could earn on his own (at least with the same, minimal effort). He meets his match in wealthy, young, beautiful, fabulously gorgeous widow Francesca di Rienzi (Rosanna Schiaffino). The problem is he actually finds himself falling in love with her.

My 5/10 rating should indicate that I found Arrivederci, Baby! mildly amusing. I wasn't rolling in the floor laughing, but most of the movie is at least passable entertainment at its worst. The final act where Curtis and Schiaffino go toe-to-toe is the film's highlight. They're on equal footing. With most of the other women, Curtis has the upper-hand before they realize they're being had. It's not fair. I think my favorite bits might have been either the croquet match or dance floor fight scenes - really good stuff. Other than the creepy bits where Curtis tries to play a "boy", he's good. I didn't care for the instances where he breaks the fourth wall, but that's not his fault. Schiaffino is in fine form. What a woman! After I watched her in The Witch, I wrote, "I don't know where these Italian producers found these incredible women. It's not a stretch of the imagination to believe Schiaffino could force any man to fall for her." I could say exactly the same after watching this film.

I've already mentioned my problem with Curtis as a "boy", but I had other issues with his NIck Johnson. I get the feeling that Arrivederci, Baby! was meant to be a light-hearted romp. But there's a really dark undercurrent that I found troubling. Johnson isn't just a typical, loveable con-artist stealing money from rich women. He's also a murderer and a rapist. Not the characteristics you find in most rom-coms.

A couple of final points: 1. The European locations are to die for in this movie. And here, they're presented in all their 60s glory. What visions! 2. The supporting cast is especially strong. Lionel Jeffries, Zsa Zsa Gabor (yes, even Zsa Zsa), Nancy Kwan, and especially Anna Quayle add a lot of flavor and variety to the film.
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5/10
The Ladykiller
TheLittleSongbird10 September 2018
Saw 'Drop Dead Darling' as part of my Tony Curtis completest quest after being recommended many of his films here in the recommended for you section. It was not something that was intended initially but actually it has proven to be a generally worthwhile experience, even with a couple of missteps.

While there were and are better actors about and he didn't always look comfortable in his early films, Curtis was always immensely likeable and had a charming charisma with many good and more performances under his belt. The cover and premise (haven't admittedly read the source material) were great and the cast is a talented one, have always liked Lionel Jeffries in particular.

'Drop Dead Darling' turned out to be watchable with enough strengths to keep it afloat, but it did disappoint and could have been much better.

The cast is its main selling point and the best thing about it. Curtis exudes both charm and creepiness in a despicable "Bluebeard" sort of role, with enough to him to make it easy to see what others see in him, one doesn't associate with him. Rosanna Schiaffino is an alluring presence and is no slouch in the acting stakes. Jeffries could have had more to do but makes much of what he has. Zsa Zsa Gabor, in briefly but one of her better performances actually, and Anna Quayle bring some welcome very funny light-heartedness, especially Quayle.

Other than those two's scenes, the other highlight is the tense chemistry between Curtis and Schiaffino, followed by the croquet match. There are enough moments of amusement, especially in the first half. 'Drop Dead Darling' looks good, with beauty and atmosphere in the way it's shot.

However, 'Drop Dead Darling' fares less good in the darker elements, where there is not enough tension or suspense let alone creepiness or surprises. It feels bland and sometimes tasteless, and some of the final act is aimless. Tonally the film feels muddled, mixing light hearted comedy with a dark undercurrent that jars too much and makes it all rather mean-spirited. The comedic scenes fare better but are similarly uneven and could have been more. While the cast are more than game, Nancy Kwan has practically nothing to do and makes no impression at all.

Found the script weak in spots, with some clumsy attempts at breaking the fourth wall. The direction is workmanlike at best with no real distinction or inspiration. The music does its job alright on its own, but it's also somewhat forgettable and didn't seem to fit particularly well or be harmonious with the film's tone. The pace can be dreary in the latter stages.

In summation, not bad but nothing special. The cast and some good scenes make it watchable, it's just let down by most of everything else. 5/10 Bethany Cox
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Spoiler inside. Beware.
plainpatrick5 August 2008
Warning: Spoilers
I saw this film on TV when i was 10. I remember the actress Rosanna had married a very old man and was rushing him to the wedding bed, taking off her stockings and clothing, and the poor old man was cutting his clothes off he was so anxious. And then his heart failed. Thus began the evil plots of two young lovers Rosanna and Tony Curtis. He kills all of his wives to inherit their money, and she does the same with men. He secretly pretends to be a gardener and sleeps with her one night. Then she thinks he is rich and sleeps with him and moments after they are in bed behind the curtain, you hear her voice say "You!!" It is an hilarious romp with the two of them, and she is dressed perfectly, the spoiled girl. But the plan is to kill each other but they end up in bed together.
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5/10
Better if it were a little less cartoony.
planktonrules3 June 2019
Tony Curtis is Nick Johnson, a man who's made his living marrying rich women. His first two wives conveniently ended up getting killed and now he's looking for rich wife number three. However, this Italian beauty might be a problem...she's been doing the same! Now, you aren't sure who is going to survive...if either of them! And, if this isn't enough....Nick has a jealous girlfriend (Nancy Kwan) who shows up the day of his third wedding!

Much of the story is told through flashback scenes...some of which work very well and some of which make you cringe because they are so cheesy and kooky. It seems the filmmakers didn't quite strike the proper balance between story and silly interludes...something which worked out perfectly in one of Curtis' other films of the era, "The Great Race" (1965). Now I am not saying that "Arrivederci, Baby" is a bad film....just that it had some serious flaws which prevented it from being a lot better. In its final form, it's modestly interesting but also occasionally annoying...and still worth seeing if you can handle these moments.
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7/10
Fenella
billhaldenby29 January 2015
I remember seeing this movie on afternoon on TV in the early 80's. It took a while to figure out what was going on as the plot goes from present to past.

I must admit as much as the movie was light hearted and had it's funny moments, I found it quite disturbing as the main character goes around killing beautiful woman for no better reason then to get their money.

The most disturbing to me was the demise of Lady Fenella. She did nothing annoying to her new spouse, outside of being an active woman. As she would come on to her new man He seemed to become more and more annoyed and angry until his plot to kill her.

A few good lines in the movie were from Zsa Zsa, actually one of her best roles as she made fun of herself. She was asked why she divorced her last husband for which she replied "I needed the closet space" and the other one, after her constant talking said, "if you don't get me out of her I'll never speak to you again"

So all in all not a bad pic, but still disturbing
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3/10
Stink bomb.
valstone522 January 2022
Really appreciate was Tony Curtis so vain he tried to play a sixteen year old. Never saw the appeal for him. Can't really act just, a face and that's not so fantastic. I wouldn't even say he was a hunk. Potted meat maybe.
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6/10
To the moon, Zsa Zsa!
mark.waltz17 April 2021
Warning: Spoilers
It was Zsa Zsa Gabor who said that she was a fabulous housekeeper, that after every divorce, she got the house. That's not the case here as her husband Tony Curtis is the one who gets everything, and it's a nice twist in this black comedy that has to be seen to be believed. Rosanna Schiaffino is the nominal female star as one of the wealthiest widows in the world whom Curtis sets his sight on after increasing his own estate, having been an orphan until adopted by wealthy Anna Quayle, and going on to marry a series of wealthy women whom he disposes of in delightful ways.

It's funny to see Curtis trying to look like a teenager when Quayle adopts him, and even living in the lap of her luxury, he's bored being tied down and arranges a series of accidents for from then on, finding ingenious ways to become a quick widower. When he meets Gabor, he finds that she never shuts up after recovering from about of laryngitis on their wedding day, and Ralph Kramden would certainly be proud of him with a plot that only a rocket scientist could think of. Fenella Fielding, as the second wife, gets an exit that brought to mind Mother Burnside's line from "Auntie Mame": "Goodbye Yankee gal!"

Quayle is an absolute eccentric delight, reminding me of Billie Burke from the 1930's and Christine Ebersole in anything on stage. She certainly would have been excellent as the society hostess in "Dinner at Eight" which both of those actresses played. Director Ken Hughes would later use Quayle and Lionel Jeffries in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", and gets delightful performances out of them here.

This film is not going to be for all tastes because it is definitely of the dark comic variety, but it is better than the similar "How to Murder Your Wife" because this is filled with a tongue-in-cheek attitude, and up until he meets Schiaffino, the women are a bit too much. So there are lots of surprises and great sets and fashions, and that 60's op art style that needs to be seen at its most vivid. Schiaffino is especially funny in the very first scene when she prepares for her wedding night with her very elderly wealthy husband, one that you know she knows will not occur.
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3/10
Really too silly
HotToastyRag19 April 2022
My goodness, this movie is silly! I sat through it because I was hoping to see Nancy Kwan given a decent role, and I thought the premise had a neat twist to it. But the script didn't really live up to the "what if" in the screenwriters' boardroom, and the ninety minutes it took to unfold the thin plot made me roll my eyes more than laugh. Still, if you're a Tony Curtis fan and want to see him in something lighthearted before he goes against type in The Boston Strangler, you can check it out.

Tony plays a womanizing con artist, go figure. I guess he never got past the typecast of Some Like It Hot, poor guy. In this movie, he and his faithful sidekick, Lionel Jeffries, scheme up ways to marry rich women and then kill them to inherit their fortunes. So while Tony has a steady girl, Nancy Kwan, he leaves her side on a moment's notice to pursue a rich widow, Rosanna Schiaffino, in Italy. Some of the gags are funny, like when Lionel creates a croquet explosive ball for Rosanna to hit, and he and Tony cower in fear when Rosanna starts tossing the ball around. But most of it is pretty silly and drags on a little too long. The beginning has some ridiculous flashback sequences that are very tongue-in-cheek, as an adult Tony pretends to be a child in an orphanage. These also go on too long, so watch with these warnings in mind.
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4/10
Funny, but with a bad aftertaste, dass 'beware'!
mellindaowen7 May 2021
As a boy, he got from an orphanage to an extraordinary adoptive mother and lived from there on an happy life. But then his peace is desturbed by an elderly captain, who wants to Marty and live from the rich widows money too. This competitor has to leave the scene fast, he knows and so he did.

The boy becomes a man and is rich now, but keeps its habits of 'loosing' his wifes. Of course, he used to check the wealth before marriage!
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9/10
The train and the harp
richard.fuller18 July 2005
Warning: Spoilers
My brothers and sisters recalled a movie they saw when they were little.

Tony Curtis, Zsa Zsa in a rocket and the electric train hooked up to the harp.

I hadn't a clue what they were referring to.

Then I saw Arrivedercci, Baby, with Curtis, Gabor, Lionel Jeffries, Nancy Kwan, Rosanna Schiaffono and the astonishing Anna Quayle.

Yes, the movie changes gears. What was it after? It begins with Curtis as bluebeard, loving and killing women, but it seemed to want to say he met his match in Schiaffono, and Kwan is a big question mark. Why was she there? Quayle is the first woman in Curtis' life, as she adopts him from the orphanage. Too funny.

It would be a big spoiler to tell what happened to Quayle, but it involves an electric train being hooked up to her harp while she is unhappy.

Quayle is funny throughout her scenes, from an early harp song, which gets a startled expression from Curtis, to her final moment.

In between, a drunken Quayle looks Curtis right in the face "and I am left ALL ALONE!" Quayle is perhaps better known as the equally sensational Baroness to Gert Kobe in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang".

Gabor's moment, if you can believe it, is just as funny.

"Nicky! Nicky! Dah-ling, my voice is all better now, dah-ling!" If you can manage to listen to what she is saying, that alone is a worthy chuckle or two.

Big spoiler: When she is locked in the rocket ship, she is pounding on the other side of the door. "Nicky, if you don't open this door, I'm never speaking to you again." I originally thought that was a promise, then I realized it was a threat.

" . . . . dah-ling . . . . dah-ling . . . . . dah-ling . . . . dah-ling . . . . ." The exploding croquet ball follwed by "sounds like we're in for a storm" always made me laugh too, and I do like the ending with Jeffries.
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Half-hearted black comedy with some good moments.
mensa317 April 2000
I know nothing of the history of this movie, but I suspected it started out with this pitch: "Let's do 'How to Murder Your Wife' but with Tony Curtis.'" While there was no actual murder in the aforementioned movie (made a year earlier), there are several in this one. Curtis has a fine time playing his dark side in the first half of the movie and mostly getting away with it. The last half of the movie goes nowhere, though, and Nancy Kwan really has nothing to do in the movie, even if she is on the video box cover nowadays. However, Zsa Zsa Gabor has her one perfect, if brief, role of her otherwise inexplicable career in the first part of the movie.
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Very Funny Farcical View of Marriagr
aramis-112-80488011 January 2024
Tony Curtis marries women for their money then kills them. But then he marries a beautiful Italian woman who does the same for her husband. Who will wind up on top?

Most negative reviews focus on how the man kills his wives but neglect the culpability of the woman. Figures. It's the sort of sexual discrimination we've been fighting all these years. Ignore the bigots who have one standard for men and another for women and have a blast.

The movie is actually hilarious. And Curtis has no shame. Early on, describing his life, he plays a little boy in short trousers. He's a delight.

His victims include Anna Quayle and Fenella Fielding, both known for their comedy work; and Zsa Zsa Gabor, who is eventually the funniest.

The primary scene-stealer, of course, as usual, is Curtis's manservant, played by Lionel Jeffries.

Lots of taboo subjects were being explored at the time this movie was made, particularly respect for death. "The Assassination Bureau" with Oliver Reed and Diana Rigg, and Sid Caesar's "The Busy Body" also fall into this territory. And, what may be my favorite movie of all time, "The Wrong Box" with Michael Caine.

The fact is, for the open-minded, who can laugh heartily at death, this movie is hilarious right up to the final scene, which leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Every time I watch it I skip that part

It's one of Tony Curtis' most successful comedies, counting laughs per capita.
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A comedy that will never get old (despite the presence of Zsa Zsa Gabor)
RodrigAndrisan14 June 2016
I think that Zsa Zsa Gabor looked old even when she was a teenager. Next year, in 2017, she will be 100 years old and nobody can call her a spinster, having to her credit only...nine marriages. About her talent as an actress, let us not pronounce, never. It's good that she went into the orbit with that rocket, at least in this film... The fact is that she landed in 77 productions, including this. Tony Curtis is more seductive and charming than ever. Rosanna Schiaffino, the beauty from "Simón Bolívar"(1969) and "The Long Ships"(1964), is beautiful here too. The subject? Well, I was thinking myself to marry a very old and filthy rich woman, ideally an Englishwoman, the kind which does not know anything except to say: "You're rude!" This film is absolutely delicious. The scene when Zsa Zsa Gabor(Gigi) is nagging Tony Curtis (Nick Johnson) under the sea is enchanting, and the same is the one in which Fenella Fielding(also Fenella in the film)is jumping with the horse into the abyss. Excellent!
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