the audience applauded

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Promises.... Promises! (1963) * 1/2 (out of 4)There's no question that the story, acting, directing and production is one of the worst ever made but are you really coming to this film for any of that? PROMISES....PROMISES! is a landmark movie because it was the first one in history to feature a major Hollywood star nude. That honor goes to Jayne Mansfield who right around the four minute mark shows off her breasts in a bubble bath and within minutes we're introduced to two other nude scenes. This is really a hard movie to judge because there's no question that it's poorly made, dreadfully dull and lifeless but at the same time it's still quite shocking to see an actress from this era appearing nude. It's not like this is some smut film featuring an unknown woman as these have been around since the earliest days of cinema. No, this here was a well-known star taking off her clothes and the first scene in the bath is actually quite sexual so God knows what people thought back when this was first released. From its historic stance, this here is a must see. Mansfield appears in three different nude scenes and these are replayed throughout the movie. What shocked me the most is that the producers didn't hold the nudity until later in the movie and instead we get our first glimpse at the four minute mark and two other scenes shortly after. Usually bad movies with "one" gimmick hold off on the prize but I give the filmmakers credit for not messing around and actually giving people what they wanted. The nude scenes serve no real purpose to the story but it's Mansfield. The performances by the four leads are all pretty bad and especially Tommy Noonan who plays Mansfield's husband. His performance as a drunk is one of the worst I've ever seen but Mickey Hargitay (Manfield's real husband) wasn't much better. Mansfield doesn't seem to be too happy during any of the scenes as she doesn't give much of a performance. PROMISES..... PROMISES! is a bad movie and there's no doubt about that but at the same time it's a must see.

This is an early mainstream sex comedy that stands out because it was the first to feature an actress naked (Jayne Mansfield). Had the nudity been necessary for the plot and not just used as a gimmick, this might have been a better movie. Instead, nude shots (often the same one again and again) were placed rather randomly in the film and it made the film seem a bit sloppy and exploitative. In addition, the plot itself is pretty smutty as well--making this a rather adult film. Despite all this, the film isn't as bad as you might guess and I think a few of the reviews were a bit too harsh. While it certainly isn't a great film and the actors are 2nd rate (at best), the film is a decent time-passer provided, of course, you don't let the kids watch.The plot involves an unlikely married couple on a worldwide cruise, nerdy Tommy Noonan and Jayne Mansfield. Noonan has serious sexual performance anxiety and sees the ship's doctor for help. The doctor realizes that there probably isn't anything anatomically wrong with Tommy and gives him a placebo to give him confidence. I guess most man can empathize--most men would have been intimidated (at least to a degree) by sexy nymphet Mansfield. Later, through some tough to believe coincidences, Noonan believes that his now-pregnant wife was NOT impregnated by him. In addition, a female friend becomes pregnant and it looks like Noonan could be the father.As you can tell by the description, this is a very adult film--particularly for 1963. The acting is only fair, the plot tough to believe but somehow the total effort comes off....well....okay. Not a great film and not a must-see, but still a film of historical significance.

Promises! Promises! is probably most famous these days for the legendary nude sequences of voluptuous Jayne Mansfield which were featured in a sell-out Playboy spread and resulted in the movie being banned in several US cities.However, there's much more to recommend the film than the brief glimpses we get of JM's famed knockers. And if you think this film is slapped together rubbish with nothing worth watching besides Mansfield writhing around in the bath...then you'd be wrong! Belying its B-movie roots, PP is actually very well put together with a nice little plot and a good cast who seem to be enjoying every minute of making the movie. Tommy Noonan, as usual, is pleasantly geeky, Marie McDonald manages to pull off sexy and sarcastic without coming over as a bitch and even Mr Jayne Mansfield, Mickey Hargitay, is convincing in his role as McDonald's husband.And then there is Jayne. Despite this being yet another "dumb blonde" role for Mansfield, she is very good in this movie. Once her now famous nude scenes are out of the way we can concentrate on her performance and she really is very good in this. And naturally, she looks so good you could eat her up. And, true to her nature, she even manages to poke fun at herself and her image by having her character, Sandy, do an impression of Jayne Mansfield with comedian T.C. Jones.This film has been re-released on remastered DVD and is well-worth a look. It's sexy, saucy and of course has the added bonus of showcasing ALL of Jayne Mansfield's "talents"...but there really is much more to enjoy here.Catch it if you can!

Jayne Mansfield generated some of the most heated publicity of her career (and that's saying a lot!) when she agreed to film nude scenes for the 1963 comedy, "Promises! Promises!" No American star of her magnitude had ever appeared undraped onscreen before, and the controversy led to the picture being banned, court hearings on obscenity, and Mansfield stoically bearing the bad press (and no doubt saving all the headline clippings). Watching the film is a sad, strange experience; the nude scenes have nothing to do with the plot, and were clearly filmed solely for sensation's sake. What it shows is a star badly on the wane, appearing in an extremely low budget production, and selling her body cheap for the resultant publicity. Jayne's two nude scenes come fairly early in the film, which means there's plenty of time left for highly strained, largely unfunny, mostly sex-less antics. The crux of the plot involves two married couples, Jayne/Tommy Noonan and Marie McDonald/Mickey Hargitay, on a cruise together. In a rather lewd plot device, both women end up pregnant, and because of some drunken revelry between the couples (never seen), no one is sure who the father is for which baby. One surreal scene has Jayne attending a shipboard party where female impersonator T.C. Jones does celebrity imitations, one of whom is Jayne Mansfield! In character as "Sandy," Jayne squeals with delight and does HER "imitation" of Jayne Mansfield. Unfortunately, it's the funniest moment in the film. On the brighter side, Jayne looks especially lovely and voluptuous, and, playing it relatively straight for once, doesn't rely too much on high-pitched ooohs and aahhhs. Micky Hargitay (Jayne's real-life husband) looks much too young to be marruied to former 40's pinup girl Marie McDonald, but displays a rather sweet, doltish charm as a Hungarian actor striving to lose his pronounced accent (it must've been a real stretch for him). For the die-hard Jayne Mansfield fan, this is basically a harmless, actionless, sexless sex comedy, and a chance to see the star rather perfunctorily topless. For everyone else, it's a historic curiosity, and nothing more.