• Friday, December 07, 1956

• Country:

  USA

• Language:

  English

• Runtime:

  99 min

1956

On 24 October 1955, the hard-work geologist of the Hadley Oil Company Mitch Wayne meets the executive secretary Lucy Moore in the office of her boss Bill Ryan in New York and invites her to go to a conference with the alcoholic playboy and son of a tycoon Kyle Hadley. On the way of the meeting, he confesses that they had traveled from Houston to New York to satisfy the wish of the reckless Kyle, who is his best friend since their childhood, of eating a sandwich from club 21 and the meeting was just a pretext to Kyle's father Jasper Hadley.

Mitch and Kyle immediately fall in love for Lucy, and Kyle unsuccessfully uses his money to impress Lucy; then he opens his heart and proposes Lucy. They get married and travel to Acapulco and the insecure Kyle stops drinking. Meanwhile, Kyle's sister Marylee is an easy woman and has a non-corresponded crush on Mitch that sees her as a sister. One year later, Kyle discovers that he has a problem and might be sterile and starts drinking again. The jealous Marylee poisons Kyle telling that his wife and Mitch are having a love affair. When Lucy finds that she is pregnant, Kyle believes that the baby belongs to Mitch and his mistrust leads to a tragedy.

Goofs

• Revealing mistakes: Although set in Texas, all cars in the film have clearly visible California plates.
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Mitch Wayne (Rock Hudson) takes a phone call in front of Kyle Hadley (Robert Stack) but says nothing about its contents. Kyle immediately jumps up and reacts to the contents of a call he did not hear, even repeating part of the call, saying, "He said 'the Hadley girl', didn't he? Well, I'm the Hadley boy."
• Crew or equipment visible: In a few shots over the shoulders of Jasper and Lucy Hadley in Jasper's office we can see out the windows the little smudge pots making the smoke in the "oilfields" outside.

Taglines

• This woman in his arms was now the wife of the man he called his best friend!
• Mitch...the woman in his arms was now the wife of the man he called his best friend!
• Lucy...faithful to her husband's name, even if she couldn't be to his love!
• The story of a decent love...that fought to live against the vice and immorality of an oil baron's wastrel family...and of the ugly secret that thrust their privates lives into public view!
• Kyle...who hid his secret behind a bottle and a hundred million dollars!
• Marylee...even a woman will find it hard to understand why she did the things she did!
• The Story of the Year - WOW
• The story of a family's ugly secret and the stark moment that thrust their private lives into public view!

Trivias

• Title song is sung by The Four Aces. The song is featured very prominently, and the group is fully credited.
• The movie was rumored to be based on the death of tobacco heir Zachary "Smith" Reynolds. The youngest son of tobacco magnate R.J. Reynolds, the 20-year-old playboy had a complete disinterest in the family business, an inexhaustible allowance and a volatile temper. Smith owned a plane and literally stalked Broadway musical comedy star Libby Holman until the 27-year-old singer married him in 1931. Their marriage was a clash of wills and, during an alcohol-fueled July 4th holiday party in 1932 at the family's estate, Libby announced she was pregnant. Stories differ, but there was reportedly a tense confrontation, a gunshot and the young Smith was dead. Libby and Ab Walker, a close friend of Smith's who was whispered to be her lover, were indicted for murder. Fearing scandal over their son's activities, the intensely secretive Reynolds family "persuaqded" authorities to drop the charges. The death was officially ruled a suicide.
• Due to the Hay's Code, Kyle Hadley's homosexuality could not be mentioned directly in the movie.
• Humphrey Bogart was unimpressed by the film and advised his wife Lauren Bacall not to make another like it.
• One of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's favorite films; he referenced it frequently in his own work.

Awards

1. Oscar
   Event: Academy Awards, USA
   Result: Nominated
   Category: Best Actor in a Supporting Role
   Recipient(s): Robert Stack
2. Oscar
   Event: Academy Awards, USA
   Result: Won
   Category: Best Actress in a Supporting Role
   Recipient(s): Dorothy Malone