SimonJack The plot for "Good Neighbor Sam" is quite simple and very funny. Sam Bissell (Jack Lemmon) just has to pose as Howard Ebbets (Mike Connors). "Howie" is the recently divorced husband of Janet (Romy Schneider). Janet is the girlhood best friend of Sam's wife, Minerva (Dorothy Provine). The ruse is just to be for a few days to fool a private detective (Louis Nye) that Janet's cousins Jack (Charles Lane) and Irene (Anne Seymour) have hired to spy on the Ebbets. The cousins have greed in their minds, because if Janet isn't happily married to her hubby, she forfeits the $15 million inheritance she is to receive from her uncle's will. The cousins would be next in line to get the dough. The ID switch is concocted after Janet flies into San Francisco from Paris to settle her uncle's estate. She hasn't seen "Minny" since "Min" and Sam were married several years before. Sam and Min have a couple of daughters who have just gone off to camp for a week. This is plain enough and would be sufficient for a good comedy by itself. But more complications enter with Sam's job in an advertising agency when his false marriage comes into play. The agency's new big client, Simon Nurdlinger (Edward G. Robinson) is looking for the perfect wholesome, clean and happily married family for a big ad campaign that Sam dreamed up in the first place. And, the agency photographer snaps the make-believe couple as Janet drops Sam off at work. The real Howard comes looking for his recently divorced wife in hopes of a reunion. Now the ruse involves a foursome. This confuses the neighbors, the milkman, the mailman and any number of others when the switched couples leave their next door homes in the morning. But the humor reaches a crescendo when Sam's neighbor and coworker, Earl (Robert Q. Lewis) points out the new billboards around the city that have Sam and Janet's picture as Mr. and Mrs. Bissell who endorse Nurdlinger milk. If the detective the cousins hired sees that Sam is not Howard Ebbets, Janet's $15 million will go down the drain. The detective has cornered Sam and for $500 he will give him the photos he took of Sam sneaking over from his house (Janet's) at night for a rendezvous with the neighbor's wife (Min, his real wife and home). That's before Howie appears on the scene, whom the detective thinks is Mr. Bissell. Sam will gladly pay the detective the $500 rather than have him learn about the ruse and earn a big chunk for getting the $15 million for his clients, Janet's cousins. Oh, yes. Janet is going to give Min and Sam $1 million of her inheritance for being such good friends and helping her carry off the ruse. What follows next is some of the best action comedy ever filmed. Sam is giving the detective a ride home when Sam spots the first billboard. He does a quick turn so the detective won't see it. Sam's car is a convertible, and the two go on a continuous zigzag speeding course reminiscent of Keystone Kops scenes from an old silent film. After dropping off the disheveled detective, Sam arrives at home and loads ladders, paint buckets, brushes, pails and coveralls in his car. They have to paint over the faces on a dozen major billboards around the city at night – before the next morning. Min and Howie have had enough. The money doesn't mean that much to them. But Sam and Janet tear off on a jaunt that just keeps the laughter rolling. They paint funny faces, Frankenstein monsters and weird and hilarious faces on the billboards. Watching this, I realized that Columbia Pictures actually had such billboards made and put up somewhere, and that they shot at different locations as the two performers painted the very funny faces. There are some other surprise twists in this as well. Even though this description gives the plot away, it won't detract from one's enjoyment of this film. The comedy is mostly in the situations and action. What a great laugh vehicle this film is. It's a wonderful comedy to have in any film collection. The kids should enjoy the running around, face painting, car scenes and Sam's gizmo in his backyard.

MartinHafer I noticed that this was called a 'sex romp' or 'adult comedy', however, the film really is pretty wholesome and not the sensual film you might imagine.The film is a merry mix-up film starring Jack Lemmon, Dorothy Provine and Romy Schneider. Lemmon and Provine are happily married and he has a lower-level job working for an advertising firm. However, his hum-drum life is about to be turned upside down when some seemingly harmless lies begin to snowball. First, when his wife's friend (Schneider) is about to inherit $15,000,000 dollars, there's a problem--because it's stipulated that she can only have the money if she's happily married. But, she's separated from her husband (Mike Connors)--and Lemmon agrees to pretend to be the husband. At the same time, Lemmon has a VERY old fashioned client (Edward G. Robinson) and Robinson prizes Lemmon for being a decent family man. However, the 'wife' he sees Lemmon with is Schneider--and to keep this account, they must continue to pretend to be married. Plus, some of Schneider's cousins now have hired private detectives to prove the two are not happily married--and there's even more reason for them to pretend to be married. It all gets pretty crazy and the lie continues to snowball even more. How far it goes and how it all ends is something you'll just need to see for yourself.Aside from people THINKING there is hanky-panky going on, this is a pretty chaste and rather funny comedy. In many ways, it's reminiscent of an old-time Hollywood screwball comedy and I enjoyed it very much. My only quibble, and it's a minor one, is that Schneider was miscast. Her Austrian accent was not adequately explained away in the plot and although very beautiful she just wasn't right for the part because of this inexplicable accent. However, Lemmon was terrific and the film was quite clever.

vfx3 The film begins well with its depiction of 1960s suburbia, the introduction of the Bissell family (including the ducks), the amusing jibes at the advertising industry (including the inaccurate but hilarious depiction of the filming of a Hertz car rental commercial), provides some great performances from all the principals, and from a great supporting cast, such as Edward Andrews, R.Q. Jones, and Neil Hamilton. It has a smart, yet affectionate quality to it. But as the film chugs along, it seems to run out of steam, as the gags keep repeating themselves, and it begins to seem more like a less successful imitation of the popular Doris Day/Rock Hudson romantic comedies of the time, and one can begin to understand why Lemmon didn't put this one in the top drawer of his memories.

Bob-45 "Good Neighbor Sam" bombed big time when it was released in 1964. At the time I thought, "What a shame. This is Jack Lemmon's best comedic acting in years, and this is a pleasant movie."Looking at it now, I understand why "Good Neighbor Sam" was a failure. For one thing, it's way overplotted (there's enough subplots for THREE sparkling comedies). It's played at the sitcom level and runs over two hours. The "domestic violence" subplot is disturbing, even for the times. However, it is still funny, beautifully cast (especially Lemmon, Dorothy Provine, Romy Schneider and Edward G. Robinson) and mostly gentle satire (the Hertz commercial retakes are a hoot). Best of all, the "billboard defacing," which happens near the end of the movie is the funniest sequence of all, meaning "Good Neighbor Sam" NEVER lets up.Special note should be taken of Frank DeVol's music (the recurring theme is a classic). I recommend this one highly