The Marrying Kind

In the chambers of a divorce court, a couple re-play their creaking marriage blow-for-blow: the sun-dappled meeting in Central Park; the speedy marriage; the first home; the afternoon picnic that veers unexpectedly into tragedy; the difficulty coping; the petty resentments; the drifting apart. With its pitch-perfect performances by Judy Holliday and Aldo Ray, its fine screenplay by regular Cukor collaborators Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, its vivid New York locations, and its bold tonal shifts from light comedy to sober drama, The Marrying Kind is that rarest of films: a wise, mature, conflicted onscreen portrait of married life, from a director at the height of his powers.