It Happened to Jane presents Doris Day as a woman on a mission. She's inherited a lobster business from her late husband and due to some cost cutting on the railroad that President Ernie Kovacs has put through, her lobsters were dead on arrival at their destination.
I'd be burned up as well and Doris and lawyer Jack Lemmon sue the railroad. They win a nominal sum, but that ain't good enough. They both carry on the fight and she becomes a media star. Kind of like a Fifties version of Erin Brockovich.
Of course all of this is done at the incredible stupidity and abominable sense of public relations that Ernie Kovacs has. His character is yet another version of Al Capp's General Bullmoose. And that character was a satire on Eisenhower's first Defense Secretary Charles E. Wilson. Wilson at his confirmation hearings uttered that never to be forgotten phrase that he had always operated on the principle that what was good for General Motors was good for the USA. Wilson was a fatuous sort of gent, just like Ernie Kovacs here. I'd have to say Kovacs was having a whale of a good time in this part.
The movie had some nice location shooting which definitely helped. And I completely agree with the previous reviewer who said that Lemmon and Day meshed nicely together as a team. It is a pity they weren't ever teamed again.
A favorite character part in the film for me is Russ Brown who plays Day's uncle and a former railroad engineer, a fact that comes in handy during the climax of the film.
It's a nice family film, but it also gets in a few good satirical shots at American business types.
I'd be burned up as well and Doris and lawyer Jack Lemmon sue the railroad. They win a nominal sum, but that ain't good enough. They both carry on the fight and she becomes a media star. Kind of like a Fifties version of Erin Brockovich.
Of course all of this is done at the incredible stupidity and abominable sense of public relations that Ernie Kovacs has. His character is yet another version of Al Capp's General Bullmoose. And that character was a satire on Eisenhower's first Defense Secretary Charles E. Wilson. Wilson at his confirmation hearings uttered that never to be forgotten phrase that he had always operated on the principle that what was good for General Motors was good for the USA. Wilson was a fatuous sort of gent, just like Ernie Kovacs here. I'd have to say Kovacs was having a whale of a good time in this part.
The movie had some nice location shooting which definitely helped. And I completely agree with the previous reviewer who said that Lemmon and Day meshed nicely together as a team. It is a pity they weren't ever teamed again.
A favorite character part in the film for me is Russ Brown who plays Day's uncle and a former railroad engineer, a fact that comes in handy during the climax of the film.
It's a nice family film, but it also gets in a few good satirical shots at American business types.