Fine Madness, A (1966)

Sean Connery plays an Irish poet with the highly improbable alliterative name of Samson Shillitoe. He is a two-fisted, hard-drinking, oft-wenching cross between Dylan Thomas and Brendan Behan.

The muse has left him, he is pursued by process servers, behind in his alimony payments and beset by women starved for you-know-what who attack him almost anywhere, even in a whirlpool bath.

Interspersed amongst all this are some excellent bits of satire, including a hilarious women’s club meeting and some very good supporting characterisations. Joanne Woodward, in particular, plays a fine and uncharacteristic role as the poet’s wife.

There are marvellous bit parts, such as Ayllene Gibbons as a man-eating clubwoman, Werner Peters as a prototype Freudian analyst and Clive Revill as the overeager lobotomist who uses his new technique of psychosurgery on Samson’s brain with disastrous results.

All this is laced together with technical excellence, lively direction, deft editing, abundant sight gags and sophisticated dialogue and excellent photography.

The result is a forgettable but enjoyable bit of nonsense.

Samson Shillitoe
Sean Connery
Rhoda Shillitoe
Joanne Woodward
Lydia West
Jean Seberg
Dr Oliver West
Patrick O’Neal
Dr Vera Kropotkin
Colleen Dewhurst
Dr Menken
Clive Revill
Dr Freddie Vorbeck
Werner Peters
Daniel K. Papp
John Fiedler
Mrs Fish
Kay Medford
Mr Fitzgerald
Jackie Coogan
Evelyn Tupperman
Zohra Lampert
Leonard Tupperman
Sorrell Booke
Miss Walnicki
Sue Ane Langdon
Mrs Fitzgerald
Bibi Osterwald