Good story, Not enough for a whole film

As Good As It Gets

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

I saw this first when it was released. I was just a kid, and it was quite scary to me. I've remembered many of the details over the years, just having watched it again to refresh my memory on some details. First, it's visually spectacular, with many shots of the falls in the background in Technicolor. CinemaScope was just about ready to be introduced, obviating the long used awkward and expensive three strip Technicolor filming process. It has a very memorable suspenseful screenplay. In these attributes combined, it stands out among the film noire type of screenplays of this period.The plot is fairly simple, although the details are quite convoluted.Slutty wife is dissatisfied with psychologically-damaged hubby, who is 20 years older than wify. She has found a handsome young sport she hopes will replace hubby by knocking him into the lower part of the falls as an apparent suicide, compatible with his psychological problems. Unfortunately, hubby wins the tussle, as wify finds out when she gazes upon the corpse fished out of the river below the falls. She faints and is hospitalized, as she remains incoherent. Meanwhile, hubby has gone to their cabin, hoping wify is there, so that he can stab her with a kitchen knife. Unfortunately, she's still in the hospital, and he finds their neighbor, who has been moved into their cabin. Nobody believes her when she claims she saw hubby alive. Eventually, wify recovers enough to escape from the hospital(poor security). She hopes to escape from this area before hubby can find her, but there is a search of all vehicles leaving the Canadian side. So, she wants to try walking across the bridge, but hubby blocks her way, and gives chase. I leave the rest of the story for you to discover.There some details I wonder about: 1) Presumably, George(hubby) requested that the bell tower play the song("Kiss") that Rose's(wify) boyfriend was supposed to request to signal his success in sending George to his watery grave. How did George know about this arrangement? Presumably, he just guessed it might be so, knowing that that song seemed to have special meaning to Rose. This was an essential part of fooling the audience into thinking that George was the one who died, this in combination with the discovery of George's shoes left on the shoe racket at the falls(exchanged for boots).(George had put on boyfriend's shoes to add to the charade that he had died.) Later, he is seen submitting a paper to the song suggestion box, after which the same song is played again, to taunt Rose. 2) Why did George get in the elevator(with Rose's boyfriend, it turned out) for another close encounter with the falls? Did he guess they were planning to knock him into the falls and he wanted to duel with the boyfriend now, if possible. It would have been nice to have seen the fight. I think it could have been staged away from the falls. Obviously, you wouldn't want to do it at the falls.I think all the actors did an excellent job. Joseph Cotton probably had the most important role. He looked mighty sinister with his fedora on.1953 was a breakout year for Marilyn. She costarred in 3 of the most popular films that year, changing from a husband killer into a gold digger for "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", and "How to Marry a Millionaire"

As two couples are visiting Niagara Falls, tensions between one wife and her husband reach the level of murder.Marilyn Monroe was given first billing in "Niagara" which elevated her to star status. Her following two films of that year, "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", with Jane Russell, and "How to Marry a Millionaire", with Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall, were even bigger successes.Films like this are what I really wish Monroe was remembered for. She is more often than not seen as the "dumb blonde" of "Seven Year Itch" and other such films. But "Niagara" and "The Misfits", for example, show she was actually a rather good actress and not just an object.

Famous Film for the Falls and Marilyn Monroe. Director Henry Hathaway showed Periods of Brilliance in a Long Career, Highlighted by a String of Film-Noir's in the Mid-Forties. Here He shows No Restraint in Highlighting two of Nature's Natural Wonders.He spends Equal Enthusiasm showcasing the crashing waterfalls and the curvaceous Monroe in Close-Ups and Long Walking Shots. With both He succeeds in capturing the Undeniable Truth of the Spectacular.This is one of the few Film-Noir Filmed in Technicolor. The Cinematography of Joe MacDonald, no stranger to the Genre, makes it work. The sharp angles and the shadows have much more contrast in B&W but are here Displayed Distinctively and Effectively.The Weakness of the Film is in a rather Standard Script and a couple of Irritating Performances that are so Grating and Over-the-Top that One Wonders how the Director handled His Obligation to let it stand. Max Showalter as a White-Bread-Middle-Class Husband and Don Wilson in a Cartoonish Cringe-Inducement.But Marilyn and Niagara Falls will not be Denied Their Due as Natural Wonders. Joseph Cotton Hot Tempered as MM's Neurotic and Over the Hill Husband tries as He may to capture the attention of the Audience is a Futile Effort, Drowned by all the Gushing Water and Marilyn's Gushing, Overwhelming, Seductive Sensuality.Overall, Jean Peters is a Fabulous Fulcrum to the Film's Grander Elements, manages to impress with it's Calmness and Straight-Laced Appeal. Not much Complexity in the Characterizations or Plot, the Film is an Above Average Display of Two Things that are Anything but Average. Niagara Falls and Marilyn Monroe.

The Cutlers (Jean Peters, Max Showalter) are from Toledo, Ohio on their long awaited honeymoon in Niagara Falls, Canada. They arrive at the Rainbow Cabins to find their cabin still occupied by Rose Loomis (Marilyn Monroe). She's a former beer hall waitress in a volatile marriage to George Loomis (Joseph Cotten) who suffered battle fatigue in Korea. She contacts Ted Patrick for some nefarious reason. George goes missing and Rose is hospitalized from the shock. The Cutlers move into the cabin. George surprises a half-asleep Mrs. Cutler. Later at the bottom of the Falls, he tells her that he killed Ted in self-defense and now wants to disappear as a dead man.There are two stars in this movie. It's the power of Niagara Falls and the attraction of Marilyn Monroe. In another age, Monroe would have dined out as a noir femme fatale. She is magnetic on screen. She is convincing as a woman who could drive men crazy and Joesph Cotten embodies that madness. Every men turn their heads when she walks in and the camera focuses on her mercilessly. Jean Peters is a beauty in her own rights but she is downright plain Jane in her presence.