The Man Who Understood Women (1959) User Reviews

The Men Who Did Not Understand Comedy

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 12 October 2009]

The Man Who Understood Women was created by noted screenwriter Nunnally Johnson who had worked with Henry Fonda going back to Jesse James. On the basis of respect for his talent and his friendship with Johnson, Fonda got cast in the part of Hollywood wunderkind Willie Bauche, a man who it turned out did not understand women in the slightest or at least the woman whom he married and was responsible for her stardom, Leslie Caron.

Willie Bauche needed an actor with the flair of a John Barrymore to carry it off. In fact Fonda's character of Willie Bauche is a second cousin to Oscar Jaffe from Twentieth Century. Now Henry Fonda has been successful in comedy, but the fellow who utilized him best, Preston Sturges in The Lady Eve did not tamper with Fonda's basic All American serious character, he played Barbara Stanwyck and the rest of the cast off against it. What Barrymore or Orson Welles on whom the lead is allegedly based could have done we'll never know.

Speaking of Welles the character of Max Buda whom he played in The VIPs was exactly like what Fonda was trying to achieve in The Man Who Understood Women.

Fonda is a Welles like character who discovers young hopeful Leslie Caron, makes her a star and marries her. But he's all about himself and Caron's eyes start wandering and land on young army officer Cesare Danova while she and Fonda are on the French Riviera. Of course Fonda gets jealous and begins scheming all kinds of things that you have to watch The Man Who Understood Women to find out.

Leslie Caron was very hot at that point in her career having just come off the best film of 1958, Gigi. Still even I can't understand why she rated billing over Hollywood veteran Henry Fonda. I'm betting Fonda wasn't to thrilled with that either.

Besides working with Nunnally Johnson, Fonda got to work with Myron McCormick with whom he had gone to Princeton with and was part of the famous Triangle Players during their college days. McCormick plays his number two guy who tries to instill a little reality into Fonda's life, but is unable to.

The film actually begins quite promisingly. Nunnally Johnson who knew Hollywood as good as anyone has a great beginning with Fonda alerting producer Conrad Nagel to a new discovery in Caron, but doing it in such a way that Nagel thinks it's all his idea and that he's stealing someone from Fonda whom he can't stand, but who Fonda knows he can't stand. That was all very well done, if the film had kept up that quality it would be a classic today.

The Citadel film series book The Films Of Henry Fonda also says that there are a lot of inside Hollywood jokes, but said to say they stayed inside. One reason I looked forward to seeing it was that after some 50 years of tell all memoirs and second hand accounts, I figured that things a 1959 audience might not have gotten I would have. Well frankly I didn't so Nunnally's inside stuff stays inside.

After this one, Fonda stayed off the screen for three years coming back in a part in Advise And Consent that he was believable in. Far more than The Man Who Understood Women where he was probably the most miscast in his career.

So consistently terrible, it takes on a peculiar fascination...

[moonspinner55 · 4/10 · 13 October 2009]

Henry Fonda nearly quit the movies after getting a look at this thing, a backstage-Hollywood comedy-drama by Nunnally Johnson, loosely adapted from Romain Gary's novel "The Colors of the Day". Johnson also produced and directed the picture, and therefore deserves most of the blame for what's on the screen. Famous actor-director Fonda becomes smitten with struggling actress Leslie Caron after watching her do a screen-test and quickly turns her into a formidable star. It's at this point in the film where we see fake movie titles zig-zagging across the screen ("Between Heaven and Hell", "Mademoiselle X"), signifying success, and later get a preposterous scene of Fonda shouting down Caron's agents for their lack of direction (isn't he running the whole show?). Fonda compares his lovely discovery to Greta Garbo and Ingrid Bergman, but we just don't see it. Leslie Caron is attractive here, but sullen and with a deep, monotonous voice. When she supposedly wins an Academy Award, we don't see that triumph either (the statue is super-imposed over a starry background--along with MORE zig-zagging movie titles!). Johnson obviously knows the world of show-biz inside-out, but here he gives us the outer-workings of the movie-making world without any of the inner-workings. Caron and Fonda wed, but she quickly tires of his one-track mind--she wants to be a newlywed forever--and runs off with an Air Force Major while in France. Fonda wants the handsome home wrecker dead and orders a hit on him, but changes his mind when he thinks his wife might be killed too, and so chases after the Mutt and Jeff team he's in-cahoots with while dressed as a harlequin clown. It's too silly for words. *1/2 from ****

Goes nowhere - does nothing

[blanche-2 · 5/10 · 24 January 2012]

What the heck was this? The Bad and the Beautiful Goes on the Twentieth Century, I guess. Based on a novel by Romain Gary, Fonda plays Willie Bauche, a triple threat in the Orson Welles tradition whose films don't make any money, so he soon finds himself kicked out of the studio. While observing a screen test, he becomes interested in the actress doing the test, Ann Garantier (Leslie Caron) and decides to make her the biggest thing since Greta Garbo, manipulating his old boss at the studio to sign her. Ann and Willie fall in love and marry. On their wedding night, Willie becomes involved in some movie business and leaves the hotel. This turns Ann off, and the implication is that she doesn't sleep with him - and six months later, apparently, she's still not sleeping with him. His work always takes precedence over her, and she doesn't like it.

While on a trip to Paris, Ann meets a soldier, played by Cesare Danova, and runs away with him. He applies for discharge from his regiment and tells her that he's supposed to leave at the end of the week, but he's not going.

I've actually described the plot of this film in a much more exciting way than it was filmed. All I'll say is that Leslie Caron looked beautiful and had some beautiful clothes. Everyone is very low key and says their lines as if they're on their deathbed. Except for Fonda, they all sort of moan.

The lead role, Willie, is indeed a Welles type or the kind of producer played by Barrymore in Twentieth Century. Fonda was in comedies, but he was usually the straight man. This role called for a flamboyant, meglomaniacal performance. Fonda was a very internalized actor - I can't imagine anyone worse for this role. It's like having Cary Grant play Mahatma Gandhi.

A complete waste of time - your time, my time, and the actors' time.

And the Man Who Once Understood How to Make Movies

[boblipton · 1/10 · 12 October 2009]

Nunnally Johnson, one of the great talents of the movie business in the 1930s and 1940s eased up for several years, and then came back to write and direct this immobile lump of a motion picture..... not helped in the least, by the way, by the fact that the color has faded on the print shown this evening on Turner Classics Movie, going all pink.

Into this mess, he injected some very talented performers, particularly Henry Fonda, but then seems apparently to have directed everyone in a monotone, from megalomaniac Henry Fonda, who plays Leslie Caron's starmaker husband, to Myron McCormick, who plays his platitude-spouting assistant, to Cesare Danova, who plays her seducer. Caron gets to weep and screech a bit, but that's about the limit of emotions on display. Everyone speaks in long speeches all the time.

A thorough-going stinker. Avoid this one.

Challenge: Is there a worse film about movie-making?

[Irie212 · 3/10 · 14 October 2009]

How could an insider like Nunnally Johnson make a movie about Hollywood that's this boring and just plain bad?

Clearly Johnson knows movies, yet he manages to do just about everything wrong with "The Man Who Understood Women," starting with that title. Henry Fonda is disastrously miscast as a maverick, manipulative director, and Cesare Danova could have been replaced by his likeness in granite. Leslie Caron is adorable and she works hard, but "Ann Garantier" is an idea, not a character. As for the telescoped plot, I believe Aaron Spelling himself would have rejected it as too simplistic. There is the occasional witty line-- Johnson's forte is writing, after all-- but there's way too much dialog. Movies are a visual medium, not a verbose one, but Johnson's characters talk incessantly.

As it happens, a number of big films circa 1960 were about movie-making. This is by far the worst. Godard's half-baked "Contempt" is at least cinematic. "Two Weeks In Another Town" has energy, largely thanks to Edward G. Robinson and Claire Trevor. And then there's "8 1/2." Fellini's masterpiece and Johnson's dud are similarly long-- 135-140 minutes. But "8 ½" is exhilarating, revelatory, inventive, visually rich, and memorable; "The Man Who Understood Women" fails on all counts.

Johnson had a hand in writing more than 70 movies, producing more than 40, and directing 8. After seeing this and "Black Widow," I can only conclude that 8 was at least 2 too many.

The Man Who Understood Women: really dreadful

[awillis-557-765466 · 1/10 · 16 October 2009]

Amen to all the negative comments above: really dreadful. I have seen a reference to an original 135-minute running time for this film, which seems to have been reduced to 105 minutes soon after release. I also note that TCM showed a pan-and-scan version on Monday, October 12, without any mention of that by Robert Osborne. Does anyone know more about that matter? Anyway, as someone who has enjoyed almost every other performance by Henry Fonda (especially Young Mr. Lincoln, The Grapes of Wrath, The Lady Eve, The Ox Bow Incident, Advise and Consent)and Leslie Caron (Lili, Gigi, Fanny) I deeply regret that they found themselves involved in this disaster.

Not a comedy

[riccibilotta-167-829847 · 5/10 · 21 June 2020]

I don't give this movie as low a rating that many had. It was an ok movie. It's listed as a comedy, that's the reason I wanted to watch it. But it's not a funny movie at all. If you want laughs from a movie, watch something else, this is not for you.

The Worst Film Of Henry Fonda's Career

[januszlvii · 1/10 · 25 April 2020]

The best thing I can say about The Man Who Understood Women is it is not the worst comedy I ever saw: Machete, Jewel Robbery, Candy ( 1968), and Damsels In Distress ( all on my 10 worst films list) nor the worst movie I ever saw about Show Business (No Time For Comedy says hi). But It is the worst film of Henry Fonda's career and I despised the movie. The worst part? Fonda in clown makeup which is more cringe worthy ( and longer) then Octopussy with James Bond in clown makeup. On to Leslie Caron. I must admit I never got what other people saw in Leslie Caron: There are Frenchwomen so much more beautiful and better actresses ( Sophie Marceau, Catherine Deneuve, Denise Darcel and Julie Delpy to name a few), but here she is at her worst. Why? Her constant crying throughout this movie is sickening, which is why I had to fast forward through half the movie. Did I forget to mention, there is not one character ( especially Fonda and Caron) that you can like ( or even care about)? While it is not the worst movie I ever saw ( the ones I mentioned earlier plus Reality Bites and Walk On The Wild Side are worse, it it still makes my 10 worst films list and although I cannot rate it as no stars ( the minimum is 1), it still deserves 0 stars. 0/10 stars.

Better Than You Think

[hagan_family · 18 June 2020]

When this film began, it looked like one of those films the stars and directors made simply to fulfill their contractual obligations.

However, despite Henry Fonda's occasional forays into sleepwalking his role (especially in his romantic scenes), the overall film was amusing, funny in places and occasionally clever.

It's light entertainment and clearly NEVER intended to rise above that threshold. The warm flame that illumined the production was Leslie Caron. This was a better performance in some ways (IMO) than "American In Paris." It was far more "real" and emotionally intimate than other ones she's done, and without it, this picture would have been a genuine yawner.

H Fonda in odd one.

[ksf-2 · 6/10 · 11 July 2020]

At the start, we seem to be going into a flashback where the wife (Leslie Caron) is talking about what happened to her husband, and what led to the breakup of their marriage. at the very beginning, we see Willie trying to get his wife into show biz and make her a big star, but Fonda's acting is just so cardboard in this. i guess he's trying to show how cold he's being to his own wife in the romance department, but there's just no fun, no magic, no anything in this. it's flourid and over-written. Henry Fonda spends all his time sputtering and hiring detectives to watch his wife, instead of just paying attention to her. so of course she meets a soldier and runs off with him. Willie says he understands, but.... Film directed by Nunnally Johnson. he made FOUR films with Fonda. it's okay. it seems to be like they didn't really know how to end it. or maybe this was really someone's (unlikely) story ? i guess its possible, but i can clearly see a room full of writers sitting around, thinking "How do we end this??"

Nothing good about this film

[munzkay · 1/10 · 1 March 2020]

We have all seen "bad" movies but I think this is the worst I have ever watched. I don't get the title at all. Watched it a second time to see what I missed but still don't understand it. The actors are all stiff and annoying. No wonder Henry Fonda didn't make another movie for three years after this one.

Well, some of the dialog is okay

[ekeby · 2/10 · 17 May 2020]

But that's about it. It's the reason I came here, to see who wrote the script. The tone of the dialog sounded vaguely familiar. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that there were other unnamed doctors who tried to breathe life into this script. I also began to wonder if this was some cockamamie remake of A Star Is Born. It isn't, not that I think it would be better if that had been the case.

I'm also somewhat gratified to see that I'm not the only person who never saw the appeal of Leslie Caron. She's always just Leslie Caron; it doesn't matter what the role is.

My fellow reviewers are right. Don't bother with this. It's a European production/film trying to be American, and as a consequence, it's neither one nor the other. It's a disaster of a hybrid.

When the movies flop writing about their own industry, it's quite the irony.

[mark.waltz · 2/10 · 24 May 2022]

Perhaps it's the title that indicates that this is going to be a lousy film, but maybe it's also a metaphor or a case of irony because the movie actor and writer and director that Henry Fonda plays knows nothing about women and treats them like a character in one of his movies, particularly starlett Leslie Carone whom he makes one of the greatest stars in the world and marries. A star is not born in this fiasco from 20th Century Fox, a pretentious and phony story of life behind the scenes, dealing with characters that the audience doesn't like from the start. Fonda and Caron has absolutely no spark, and she lacks the charisma that made her so charming in "An American in Paris", "Lilli" and "Gigi". It is absolutely not her fault. That belongs to Nunnally Johnson who forces her down the fewer throats, and gives them no choice but to try to swallow her.

The character that Henry Fonda plays certainly is no matinee idol, and I would call this his absolute worst performance and film. The only thing of interest is that he mentions Katharine Hepburn whom he would apparently not meet in real life for another 20 years when they made "On Golden Pond". Cesare Danova plays a French lothario who romances Caron while she is on the outs with her husband, and once again, there is no sparkle. The film is overly produced and egocentric in many ways, giving the impression that the people behind the scenes had far more confidence in this then what would end up being presented on the screen. It's one of those big films that just lays there like a big huge blob, like a big French dessert that looks good on the surface but unsettles the stomach. The only things that the characters in this film understand how to do is how to bore the audience.