Good Neighbor Sam

Good Neighbor Sam is a 1964 comedy film co-written and directed by David Swift and starring Jack Lemmon. It was based on the novel by Jack Finney. Other writers included James Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum.

Plot

Lemmon plays Sam Bissel, a hard-working family man, who is in advertising, with kids and a loving beautiful wife, Min (Provine). Two simeltaneous happenings occur to spark insanity in Sam's life and the people around him:

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• 1. An extremely important, and very old-fashioned, client (Robinson) of his company is considering taking his business elsewhere after it seems there are no "family men" working at Sam's company. The boss, Mr. Burke (Andrews), is told by Sam's neighbor and friend, Earl (Lewis) that Sam is just the man he is looking for. The client, Simon Nurdlinger, is delighted by Sam and agrees to do business with him and the company. Sam feels his career is now on the way up and he goes home to his wife, with champagne, to celebrate. There, he meets her friend, Janet (Schneider) and they all have dinner together to celebrate his promotion and Janet moving in next door.
• 2. Janet Lagerlof, best friend of Sam's wife Min, is a beautiful French woman, who recently divorced her husband, Howard (Connors) and is happier than ever. She is moving in next door to the Bissels and has also recently come into a large inheritance from her uncle, which she later finds out, along with Sam and Min, is 15 million dollars. She is informed that there is a requirement in her uncle's will, that says that the only way the money will go to her, is if she is still married to Howard. They inform her that in this state, divorce is not final until a year from when the papers are signed, and Janet got divorced only 6 months ago. Therefore, simply hiding the fact that she is separated from her husband, from benefactors of the clause (such as her cousins Irene (Seymour) and Jack (Lane)), will do the trick and get her the money.

Soon after Janet is informed about her uncle's will, her cousins show up. Sam, who was helping Janet move in, must pretend to be Janet's husband Howard. They are fairly convincing and the cousins leave the house, but wait in their car across the street, still suspicious. To make it look good, Janet offers to drive Sam to work. They explain everything to Min, and go along. With 15 millions dollars at stake, Irene and Jack won't quit and follow them. To make it look convincing, Sam and Janet kiss before he exits the car to go to work. Watching them, however, are Sam's boss and his new client, Mr. Nerdlinger. Not wanting Nerdlinger to think of him as a non-family man, Sam must pretend, to him too, that Janet is his beloved wife. From there mayhem ensues, when the cousins hire a PI (Nye), Janet's husband (Connors) comes back into the picture, and jealousy and lust erupts, with good neighbor Sam stuck right in the middle.

Related Topics:
Will - PI

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