Something's Got to Give
Something's Got to Give
| 04 August 1962 (USA)
Something's Got to Give Trailers

Unfinished remake of "My Favorite Wife", due to the firing of Marilyn Monroe from the film. She was eventually re-hired, but died in August, 1962. Film was never completed.

Reviews
Executscan Expected more
Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
nneprevilo Doris Day made "Move Over Darling" as big favor to 20th Century Fox and as a chance to finish her contractual commitment with the company. 20th was in financial trouble with Elizabeth Taylor holding up production of "Cleopatra" in Rome and practically breaking the studio financially with delays, illness, etc. Meanwhile, in Hollywood, Marilyn Monroe couldn't get it together to film "Somethin's Gotta Give." She was late, couldn't remember lines, wasn't showing up for work...a real mess. After Monroe's death, Doris was asked to step in. She was box office bonanza and DEPENDABLE. Plus, she was the #1 ranked star in films.I didn't like Irene Dunne's version, I certainly thought that Marilyn Monroe's was inept and Doris Day's version was overblown.Among the three actresses/stars, Doris Day, of course was the best performer, but she was directed haphazardly in "Move Over Darling." If you compare her performance to Monroe's, you'll see a stark difference. Whereas Marilyn looked and acted drugged, Day was alert but following bad direction by Michael Gordon. On the DVD release of MOD, there is an extra feature "Doris vs Marilyn." Day wins.Tony Randall ("Let's Make Love") was once asked about appearing with both Marilyn and Doris. On Marilyn he said, "she had no talent at all! If you were standing off camera watching her do a scene, you'd shake your head and say, 'no, she'll never get by. But, the next day when you saw the rushes -- MAGIC on the screen! There was something she had going on with the camera. Hard to explain." On Doris Day ("Pillow Talk" "Lover Come Back" "Send Me No Flowers"): "Brilliant! One of the best actresses on the screen. She, herself, doesn't know how great she is. A natural." To me, it was painful watching Monroe in this role. I saw the outtakes and it was obvious that the rumors were true. Marilyn couldn't remember her lines, she was nervous and unsure...a total disaster. The only time she looked comfortable was when she was nude, swimming in the pool. In contrast, Day was the total professional. She showed up on time, knew her lines and finished the picture on time. "Move Over Darling" was a huge hit at the box office because all of Doris' pictures were at the time. I didn't like all of the picture, only parts. I thought Day was wonderful in the department store scene with Don Knotts and great with the slapstick through the car wash. She was also good in her scenes with Thelma Ritter. The rest was garbage.Monroe was even bad in the department store scene with Wally Cox. You could see how Cox was struggling...she was giving him NOTHING. Actors need feedback. If they don't get it from the other actor, their performance suffers. It must have been HELL acting with Monroe.
gnb Marilyn Monroe. Two words that sum up all that is bright, shining and glamorous about 50s Hollywood. No other actress in the history of cinema has the iconic status of Norma Jean Baker and it's doubtful anyone else will.Something's Got to Give was Marilyn's final film effort, an incomplete bedroom comedy in the vein that Doris Day would later make famous. The fact that Marilyn died part way through production makes the footage here extremely interesting for Monroe fans. In fact, from what is left of the film we get a good idea of what the finished product might have been like and had it not been for the untimely death of its lead, it is doubtful whether it would have been of much interest. What does exist leads one to believe that this would have been a rather weak, lifeless 'comedy' made on the cheap and intended to cash in on Monroe's box office clout to make Fox a buck or two at a time when the studio was in financial dire straits.However, it is open to conjecture what SGTG would have been had it been completed. What does exist is some of the most exquisite footage of Monroe we have. After looking somewhat bloated and tired in her previous couple of movies, here Monroe is svelte, her figure is gorgeous and her hair and make-up are a dream. Again, Monroe was breaking new ground by ditching the curvy, hour glass look of the 50s and paving the way for the sleek, slim line figure of the 60s which Audrey Hepburn popularised.However, Monroe was not to finish the movie and so what we are left with are some rather pretty snap shots of her in her final months of life. Although it was a terrible waste that she died, Monroe to me typifies the 50s and therefore the 60s weren't really her territory. Although how she may have redefined the era is anyone's guess. Something did give and unfortunately it was Monroe herself.
tday-1 This brief glimpse of Marilyn's last work is very interesting.She was trying a new look that actually made her look younger than her fiftie's image. It's strange everyone was talking about her age and an older Doris Day eventually played the part with a bleached white Marilyn do!It's well known Cukor hated the assignment and was determined to use his own script. Marilyn didn't have script approval and had to face Cukor's resentment every day. At least her bouffant sidesweep hair style swept the country,giving Marilyn one last hurrah.Cukor's attitude soured Marilyn on the project.She was anxious to leave Fox and get into better movie deals. Dean Martin and Cyd Charisse made good costars. It's one of those films I wish they had finished.Despite the ugly rumors Marilyn was staggering around in a drugged state,she looks wonderful. If they had to fire anybody it should have been Cukor.
yikes7todd I voted 10 on what they could put together with the last pieces of film of Marilyn Monroe. The opportunity to see her one more time is reason enough for high scoring this film/collection a 10.At times she does look a bit "out of it", but a lot of that may have been due to her own lack of genuine "enthusiasm" for this script. I don't know if this vidio shows the early wardrobe test, but that wardrobe test along with the swimming pool scene does show that Marilyn Monroe still had all of her talent and beauty nipped in a bud. "Enthusiasm" was one of the keys to Marilyn Monroe's spirit and talent, which she would have held during this films beginning with the wardrobe test, as well I am sure that she couldn't help but to have had enthusiasm with the freedom of filming the swimming pool scene. Regarding such, one can recall what Patricia Ryan/Whittier High School Teacher once stated back in 1937, that being.....Thus to you I say: never lose your enthusiasm - merely direct it - and that same enthusiasm will take you "where you want to go." Madame Ryan would later marry Richard M. Nixon. Perhaps the reasons and facts regarding the life and death of Marilyn Monroe may never be uncovered, but I always have found joy in watching her on screen and in the reading of her life, or in just looking at a candid snap shot photograph of her. She had incredible talent as an actress. She had an incredible spirit that moved off the screen and touched many people's hearts. And she was just as pretty as a pretty person can be and then even prettier.Dean Martin deserves mention here, as it has often been reported that it was due to his insistence (and contract right) that the movie continue with Marilyn Monroe and no one else, after she was dismissed from the film. This then forced the studio to hire her back. For the record and to Marilyn Monroe's credit, she was hired back at a more deserving salary.