Summaries

After the death of a common friend, three married men leave their lives together, seeking pleasure and freedom and ultimately leaving for London.

A common friend's sudden death brings three men, married with children, to reconsider their lives and ultimately leave together. But mindless enthusiasm for regained freedom will be short-lived.—Fabrizio Sabidussi

Approaching middle age, Archie, Gus, Harry and Stuart are suburban New Yorkers, white collar professionals, husbands, fathers, and best friends. Stuart dies suddenly of a heart attack. Immediately following the funeral, Archie, Gus and Harry feel the need to spend time together not so much to mourn Stuart's death, but rather mourn their collective lost sense of immortality. After a two day binge of trying to recapture the sense of their youth in various ways, the three know that they have to return to the realities of life, meaning returning to family and work. However, an incident that occurs between Harry and his wife - which is a culmination of previous such incidents - leads to Harry deciding to extend his time away from reality, this escape both literally and figuratively, which Archie and Gus happily oblige. Following this extension, the three will individually have to figure out what their immediate future holds based on the events since the funeral in combination with their adults lives up to this point. Those decisions may or may not reflect what is truly in their hearts.—Huggo

Details

Keywords
  • written and directed by cast member
  • chinese woman
  • midlife crisis
  • peter pan complex
  • basketball game
Genres
  • Comedy
  • Drama
Release date Dec 7, 1970
Motion Picture Rating (MPA) PG-13
Countries of origin United States
Language English Cantonese Italian French
Filming locations London, England, UK
Production companies Faces Music

Box office

Budget $1000000
Gross worldwide $2735

Tech specs

Runtime 2h 34m
Color Color
Sound mix Mono
Aspect ratio 1.85 : 1

Synopsis

Three friends, Harry, Archie and Gus, (Ben Gazzara, Peter Falk and John Cassavetes) embark on a cleansing weekend of the soul after the sudden death of their friend and contempary Stuart. On a whim these middle-aged New Yorkers decide to flee to London to gamble, party and test the boundaries of life. A beautifully observed and outrageously unsentimental study of sentiment, "Husbands" explores the desires, loves and losses of a generation constantly running away from their lives through three men who actually do it.

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