What a Way to Go

Shirley MacClaine is one of the few female stars who was able to get top billing over her male leads. Seeming to flaunt it she appeared in several “vignette” films where she is romantically paired (sequentially) with a string of Hollywood’s top men.
bonus Edith Head Gallery after the jump:

MacClaine plays Louisa, a sort of accidental gold digger. Despite trying to live a simple life her husbands keep dying and leaving her an increasingly wealthy widow! Dean Martin is the rich boy who bores her. He drives her straight to Dick Van Dyke, a poor hick living in a shack — and Louisa’s dream come true — until he decides to become a ruthless bussinessman so he can buy her everything she never wanted.

Paul Newman is a sexy but self-centered artist who rejects the Bourgeoisie. His idea of artistic success is to be so avant garde that he’ll never be discovered! His paintings are angry and unsellable. Louisa’s sure she’ll be happy…, that is until her gentle nudging to make life simpler leads him to realize how easy (and profitable) making commercial art can be!

Gene Kelly is a sad slapstick clown ignored at an Italian eatery, until again her gentle meddling convinces him to skip the greasepaint and clown shoes just once since no one watches him anyway. Suddenly his self-depricating song is a poignant emotional performance, and “Pinky” is an overnight sensation! With an ego that matches his fame he paints everything (including MacClaine) pink, and Kelly was never funnier than here, lampooning his own schmaltzy musical image.

Robert Mitchum plays a billionaire industrialist who meets the sad widow and vows to give away every last penny until she loves him. Finally Louisa finds happiness in frivolously spending money — leading to the most extravagant montage of crystal chandeliers, Venitian draped curtains, barely-there gowns, and a champaign glass bathtub ever put on film — but her curse just makes him richer and richer.