How Sweet It Is!

Synopsis

Grif Henderson, a professional photographer from suburban New York, is hired to accompany a group of American students touring France, and decides to take his wife Jenny and teenage son David along. Jenny books passage for them on an ocean liner, and a stay at a Riviera hotel, from Gilbert, a dishonest, shyster travel agent. On the ship, they are dismayed to be assigned bunk beds in separate, crowded rooms with many teenagers, and endure an emergency drill; there is little privacy.

On arrival in Paris, Jenny leaves her husband with the school tour group and travels alone to the bogus address shown as their Riviera hotel, hundreds of miles away. She is puzzled to find it is instead a private mansion owned by a wealthy lawyer, Phillipe Maspere, who is equally puzzled at her arrival. She is unable to contact the phony travel agent. Nevertheless, Phillipe, who is attracted to her, offers Jenny an extended stay there at a reasonable price with just him and his manservant/ butler. Phillipe turns out to be a notorious womanizer who tries to seduce Jenny at a wild poolside party, without success.

Grif, meanwhile, becomes friendly with an attractive chaperone with the American student group in Paris. When he indirectly learns of his wife Jenny's situation (through a picture in a newspaper), he panics and impulsively drives cross-country alone at night, on a stolen school bus and picks her up. However, they are stopped by Italian patrolmen and Jenny is placed in a jail cell with prostitutes, who are then all bailed out by their pimp and taken to a very fine hotel. Jenny is shocked to see her son partying at the same hotel. The family is eventually reunited and they return home.

Production and release

How Sweet It Is! was the first production for National General Pictures. The title is taken from a television catchphrase popularized in the 1950s by comedian Jackie Gleason.

Upon its release in August 1968, the film received a mixed response with critics and audiences. According to Howard Thompson of The New York Times, "This tired, aimlessly frisky comedy ... is about as sweet as a dill pickle."