LUV is fun ... try and make it!


Three friends play a game of musical chairs with their relationships in this quirky comedy based on the hit play by Murray Schisgal. Harry Berlin (Jack Lemmon) is a deeply depressed man who is convinced his life is going nowhere -- so much so that he has decided to kill himself by jumping off a bridge. Just before he makes his big leap, Harry is interrupted by Milt Manville (Peter Falk), an old friend in high school who has struck it rich as a combination stock broker and salvage dealer. Milt is not-very-happily married to wildly neurotic Ellen (Elaine May), and is having an affair on the side with Linda (Nina Wayne), a buxom gym teacher. Milt fixes Harry up with Ellen, hoping they'll hit it off and Ellen will leave him so he can marry Linda. The ruse works, in part -- Harry and Ellen decide to tie the knot, but in the divorce settlement Ellen gets all the money, and Milt decides marriage to Linda is not all he imagined. Harry and Ellen's happiness proves to be short lived, and she begins to wonder if its too late to give Milt another chance. Jazz great Gerry Mulligan composed the film's musical score; keep an eye peeled for a bit part by a young Harrison Ford.

Luv is a 1967 romantic slapstick comedy film starring Jack Lemmon, Peter Falk, Elaine May and Nina Wayne. [2] It is based on the original Broadway production of Luv by Murray Schisgal, which opened at the Booth Theater in New York on 11 November 1964. It ran for 901 performances and was nominated for the 1965 Tony Award for Best Play.

The film was generally not received well by critics when it was released in 1967.

Variety wrote: "Clive Donner's direction fits the frantic overtones of unfoldment, but in this buildup occasionally goes overboard for effect. Jack Lemmon appears to over-characterize his role, a difficult one for exact shading. Peter Falk as a bright-eyed schemer scores decisively in a restrained comedy enactment for what may be regarded as the picture's top performance."

The New York Times (by Bosley Crowther) was particularly critical, ending the review with: "It goes around in circles—but maybe going around in circles is your whim. If it is, "Luv" is the picture to make you dizzy doing so."

About to jump from New York's Manhattan Bridge, Harry Berlin is interrupted by former college classmate Milt Manville, now a Wall Street broker by day and a junk dealer by night. In return for this unsolicited favor, Milt asks Harry to rid him of his wife, Ellen, a disgruntled intellectual, so that he might marry Linda, a voluptuous gym teacher. Although at first indifferent to one another, Harry and Ellen fall in love and a divorce is quickly effected. Linda's union with Milt, however, is unsatisfactory. Having granted Ellen all his worldly possessions in his haste to have Linda, Milt finds himself the impoverished tenant of a bare apartment, his sole diversion watching Linda grow fatter and fatter. Ellen is similarly disenchanted with Harry, whose indifference to her allure surpasses that of Milt. Discovering that they are still in love, Milt and Ellen conspire to rid themselves of their new partners by introducing Harry to Linda. Having already met, neither party is impressed. Armed with Harry's old suicide note, Milt and Ellen plan his murder. While attempting to toss him from the Manhattan Bridge, Milt falls into the river, where he is joined shortly thereafter by Ellen and Harry. Passing by, Linda joins in the mutual rescue effort. As their bodies touch, Linda and Harry are magnetically attracted.

Release Date: July 22, 1967

Distrib: Columbia Pictures