Product Details

• Actors: Richard Benjamin, Frank Langella, Carrie Snodgress, Lorraine Cullen, Frannie Michel
• Directors: Frank Perry
• Writers: Eleanor Perry, Sue Kaufman
• Producers: Frank Perry, Ronald H. Gilbert
• Format: NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Goodtimes Home Video
• Run Time: 95 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00000F37T
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #112,781 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

From Wikipedia: Diary of a Mad Housewife is a 1970 drama film about a frustrated wife, portrayed by Carrie Snodgress, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won a Golden Globe award in the same category. The film was adapted by Eleanor Perry from the 1967 novel by Sue Kaufman and directed by Perry's then-husband, Frank Perry. The film co-starred Richard Benjamin and Frank Langella. Plot Tina Balser is in a loveless marriage with Jonathan, an insufferable, social-climbing lawyer in New York City. He treats her like a trophy, refuses to back her in disputes over the raising of their children and belittles her in public. Searching for relief, she has an affair with writer George Prager, but this only drives her deeper into despair. She then tries group therapy, but this also proves fruitless when she finds her male psychiatrist, Dr. Linstrom, is no more understanding than the other men in her life.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally got a copy! What a movie!, April 1, 2004

By 

L Goodman-Malamuth "Leslie Goodman-Malamuth" (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Diary of a Mad Housewife [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Sue Kaufman's black-comic novel has been a favorite of mine since long before I was a semi-mad housewife myself, but I never could find the video. Thanks to a fab Amazon dealer, I now have a copy, and it certainly was worth the wait.

I don't know either why Carrie Snodgress never became as widely seen as an actress as she deserved. (She's battling a deadly liver condition right now, poor gal!) Frank Langella is her hypnotically awful lover, the kind of self-absorbed writer who chews women up and spits them out. Richard Benjamin who plays her husband, Jonathan Balser, as a humorless prat who spends a fortune trying unsuccessfully to social-climb in Manhattan. Langella and Benjamin have had long careers--this film was a magnificent showcase for their talent, even as they abused poor Tina Balser. "Did you know that, girls?" says Mr. Balser to his daughters. "Your mother was Phi Beta Kappa at Smith, but she can't make a decent four-minute egg."

Snodgress' green-eyed silences, her little half-smiles, say more than any jabbery actress possibly could. Her Academy Award nomination for Best Actress was well-deserved.

I dug up Rex Reed's adoring review of "Diary," published in his collection, "Big Screen, Little Screen," that gives high praise to the cast, to the picture-perfect Manhattan setting, and to Frank Perry's sensitive direction. His review concludes, "Unless you've been to as many of those parties as I have, you can't imagine what those dreadful omelettes can do to wreck a New York marriage." Amen.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best films of all time, May 14, 2005

By 

Fredric A. Cooper "Hollies fan" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Diary of a Mad Housewife [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Why is this classic not on DVD? It is a crime that it is so hard to get now. There are two versions, too. One was for theatres (the long version, with the sex scenes and some other scenes not in the short version) and one was for television (with totally different scenes involving Tina's psychatrist who is photographed from Tina's view on his couch). Both versions should be on a deluxe edition DVD. This is truly a vastly underrated film, with outstanding performances including the Oscar-nominated Carrie Snodgress (now sadly deceased) with Frank Langella, Richard Benjamin, and the rest. A perceptive, funny, cutting, never boring (how many films can you say that about these days?) masterpiece of 1970s cinema.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Work Of Geniuses!, September 15, 2002

By 

ELdorado5 (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Diary of a Mad Housewife [VHS] (VHS Tape)

If you're looking for an intelligent, well-acted, perceptive, observant, EXTREMELY funny movie...look no further.

If they still made films like this I'd be a happier man.

EVERYONE'S excellent. EVERYTHING is excellent. I can't fault it in any way.

All I can do is applaud very loudly to the geniuses who were involved in creating this unforgettable masterpiece.

It's up there with all the great satrical comedies of the late '60's & '70's...The Graduate, Goodbye Girl, Heartbreak Kid, Annie Hall. If you dig any of them...GET THIS!