A murder satire from 1959. A writer, played by Glenn Ford, suffers through his latest TV production & the feeling doesn't end when he gets home where he gets a phone call illustrating why he's on edge. It turns out he was caught w/an under-dressed woman & photographed & is now being blackmailed. Things are getting to the point where something has to be done & after having a thinly veiled conversation w/his detective friend (Carl Reiner) he resolves to knock off his blackmailer & bury him under the new gazebo his wife (Debbie Reynolds) bought from an estate sale. Things get more interesting when a couple makes a sizable offer for the home (the house was at play since his funds for his payoffs were getting low) which he accepts but he doesn't know the new owner will move the gazebo to break ground for a new pool. Straddling the fine line between dark comedy & marital farce, this film is game but doesn't quite bring the ball across the line for a filmic touchdown. A shame since Hitchcock's name is bandied about by the writer (he's in line to write a project for him & even calls him up for some advice on his situation) & I would love to have seen what ol' Hitch would've brought to the table. Co-starring Martin Landau (who would work w/Hitch the same year on North by Northwest) who plays one of the blackmailing thugs & John McGiver as the contractor who installs the titular gazebo.
Review of The Gazebo
