MovieChat Forums > What a Way to Go! (1964) Discussion > WaWtG was intended as a MM vehicle

WaWtG was intended as a MM vehicle

posted 10 years ago by GeorgeObliqueStrokeXR40
9 replies | jump to latest

Once you know that "What a Way to Go!" was intended as a star vehicle for Marilyn Monroe, one cannot help but imagine how it would have come off with Marilyn in the lead of a movie that comedically parallels her multiple marriages. I think this could have been a huge hit for her had she lived to make it.

"Somethings Got to Give" and "What a Way to Go!" could have opened the door to a whole new chapter of her career in the 1960s. But alas, it was never to be...

What do you think - would this film have been a bigger success with Marilyn Monroe in the lead? Or would that have had little impact on how this movie is remembered?

[–] heyuactor 9 years ago

I'm guessing it would have been a bigger hit. At least for sure I would have liked it more, being a major MM fan...

J. Robards sings:https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=xS7s6YkV KEI

[–] rpartrid-2 9 years ago

it might have been a bigger success but it would not have been as good - Marilyn as a simple down home girl? Marilyn dancing? shirley was perfect in the part

[–] singjohn 9 years ago

No way could Marilyn have pulled off that dance number with Gene Kelly. Sorry.

[–] DorianGray502 9 years ago

___Well, I give it to Shirley being a very disciplined dancer, but she wae no MM in the charisma department! Marilyn, being an ex model would have been second to no one in all those fashion changes. I think it would have been a smash with Monroe, and likely to be remembered as her Hollywood swan song. She would owe FOX no more films, and she would have washed her hands of FOX, possibly forever. There may have been a movie years later, but her career was likely in Eurooe after 1964. Somewhere along the line Hollywood would have welcomed her back to her hometown, and given her that Oscar she deserved, but grudgingly.

[–] liscarkat (16437) 7 months ago

MM was no SM in the charisma department, or acting. Besides, MM couldn't have helped playing the character dumb, which wouldn't have been right.

[–] Redsfan001 (5998) a year ago

A bigger hit sure, but a much less complicated dance number with Gene Kelly. I give credit for Ms. McLaine for her talent on the dance floor.

During the "Pinky" sequence a faux Marilyn Monroe can be seen at during a interview when his ego was running rampant.

Still MM in those outfits(and bathing suits!) would be some very potent eye candy!

[–] liscarkat (16437) 7 months ago

Shirley MacLaine in those outfits was some of the most potent eye candy I've ever seen on screen. MM wouldn't have come close.

[–] Redsfan001 (5998) 7 months ago

I wasn't too disappointed, MacLaine was rocking some seriously dangerous curves.

[–] liscarkat (16437) 7 months ago

"What a Way to Go!" was a big success--the seventh biggest box office hit of 1964, and one of MacLaine's top hits of her career, too. Sad that Monroe died so young, but she couldn't have touched MacLaine in this role--not in acting, not in charisma, not in beauty, and sure as hell not in dancing. MacLaine was perfect.