“Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” – An Appreciation of a Comic Gem
Was Jayne Mansfield a great actress? I have no idea. But I know that her performance in “Will Success Rock Hunter?” is absolute perfection. The problem is that she never had a film role even remotely as good. In fact, she only had one other movie that was even particularly good. If she had been given some of the same wonderful roles and directors as Marilyn Monroe, would she have been as good? Maybe not. But her performance in “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” is a masterpiece of comic acting.
“Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” – Â From Broadway to Hollywood
“Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” is based on a Broadway play of the same name by the underrated George Axelrod. However, the film’s writer/director, the brilliant Frank Tashlin, jettisoned the entire play, save for the character of Rita Marlowe and the title! The two versions are vastly different. Rock Hunter – Tony Randall in the film – is not even a character in the play! The play is about an agent who takes souls instead of percentages. Jayne Mansfield 
had drawn raves on Broadway in the play. It ran 444 performances. She played a satirized version of Marilyn Monroe. Tashlin had directed Mansfield in her only other really good film, “The Girl Can’t Help It.” He decided to junk the play and satirize advertising and television in a vehicle designed to showcase Jayne Mansfield.
“Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” – Â Brilliant Satire, Wickedly Funny
Tashlin is a film maker who deserves more respect. He started as an animator and in his best works the “hold nothing back” style of animation is fully evident. In a Tashlin film, clever, literate satire is quickly punctuated by moments of surreal lunacy. (Consider his wacky casting of Bob Hope and Roy Rogers in another film as evidence of his offbeat comic sense.) You never know what to expect. In some ways, he is a Preston Sturges of the 1950s. “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” manages to satirize TV, advertising, 
Marilyn Monroe, movie stars and the sexual mores of the 1950s. The 1950s are a complex decade – on the one hand they represent conformity, patiriotism and contentment. However, they were also the era of Civil Rights, teen rebellion and rock ‘n’ roll. What the film does so brilliantly and mercilessly is to bite the hand that feeds it and make it funny! The film is full of inside jokes about the movies and TV, about its stars and the expectations of the audience. It will probably seem especially funny if you are a fan of “Mad Men” as it endlessly skewers consumer driven fads. Rita Marlowe, an impossibly sexy but actually very brainy blonde bombshell turns an average Joe into an overnight heartthrob. Like the Roberto Begnini character in “To Rome, With Love,” an ordinary man becomes hunted by the paparazzi, idolized by women and internationally famous. Part of the reason the script works so well is that Rita (Jayne Mansfield) is in on the joke. She KNOWS she is a caricature of Monroe and uses it to her advantage. Jayne Mansfield’s performance is brilliant on every level.
Tony Randall and Jayne Mansfield
Like Amy Adams switching accents effortlessly in “American Hustle,” Mansfield shifts from over-the-top Rita to a smart, savvy manipulator of public taste in a heartbeat. Like Adams, she is convincing in both personas. (And where else will you find Jayne Mansfield compared with Amy Adams?) Tony Randall is superb doing what Tony Randall does, playing a schnook who realizes he is in over his head and yet can’t get enough of his media-made image. The supporting cast, especially Joan Blondell, are superb as well. The script is fast, funny and smart; the color scheme is almost a caricature of cinemascope and the over-saturated colors of MGM musicals. This is a fun and funny film filled with delights. Could Jayne Mansfield have been as good in another film? I don’t know. But I do know that her performance in this film is worthy of being ranked alongside those of other very beautiful comediennes including Carole Lombard and Marilyn Monroe. Â Â
