Sightlines · reception

How What a Way to Go! was received

1964 · J. Lee Thompson · What a Way to Go! on Sightlines

The arc

Critics in 1964 largely shrugged at it as an overstuffed star parade, but audiences made it a solid hit — and it's since been reclaimed as a glorious camp time capsule, catnip for anyone who loves Edith Head costumes and mid-60s Hollywood excess.

What’s debated

The perennial fan debate: is it a sharp satire of Hollywood and the American success myth, or just a lavish, shapeless excuse to parade Shirley MacLaine through a closet full of couture?

Its footprint

It endures as a fashion-cinema touchstone — the Edith Head wardrobe (with a price tag legendary in its own right) gets cited constantly in costume-design retrospectives, and its movie-style parody sequences are a favorite talking point among classic-Hollywood fans.

Where it stands

A cult favorite rather than canon — the 'how did they get THAT cast in one movie' curio (Newman, Mitchum, Martin, Kelly, Van Dyke) that camp-loving Letterboxd users keep gleefully rediscovering.

Did you know? The film was originally developed as a vehicle for Marilyn Monroe; after her death in 1962, the role went to Shirley MacLaine.