For Pete's Sake (film)

For Pete's Sake is a 1974 American screwball comedy film directed by Peter Yates. The screenplay by Stanley Shapiro and Maurice Richlin chronicles the misadventures of a Brooklyn housewife. In 1977 it was remade in India as the Hindi film Aap Ki Khatir.

Plot synopsis
Henrietta and Pete Robbins are a young couple struggling to get by on the income he earns as a cab driver. His pompous sister-in-law Helen delights in reminding them that an early marriage robbed him of a college education and how much better off she and her husband Fred are. When Pete gets an inside tip on pork belly futures, Henrietta borrows $3,000 from a Mafia loan shark to purchase the commodity. Unfortunately, its value doesn't increase as rapidly as she anticipated. When she's unable to pay her debt, her contract is sold to Mrs. Cherry, a grandmotherly-type who operates a prostitution ring. When Henrietta's initial attempts at entertaining clients prove to be less than successful, her contract is sold yet again ... and again, as Henrietta fails to fulfill the requirements of each new individual to whom she becomes indebted — each time for more money — and tries to keep her new enterprises (bomber, then cattle rustler) secret from her unsuspecting husband.

Principal cast

 * Barbra Streisand ..... Henrietta Robbins
 * Michael Sarrazin ..... Pete Robbins
 * Estelle Parsons ..... Helen Robbins
 * William Redfield ..... Fred Robbins
 * Molly Picon ..... Mrs. Cherry
 * Louis Zorich .....Nick Kasabian
 * Heywood Hale Broun ..... Judge Hiller
 * Joseph Maher ..... Mr. Coates

Production notes
The title tune, "For Pete's Sake (Don't Let Him Down)," was written by Artie Butler and Mark Lindsay, former lead singer of Paul Revere & the Raiders.

The movie was filmed on location in Brooklyn, New York and Los Angeles.

Critical reception
In his review in The New York Times, Vincent Canby called the film "an often boisterously funny old-time farce" and added, "The movie may not hold together as any kind of larger comic statement, but the laughs are self-sustaining throughout . . . Miss Streisand's comedy range is narrow, like a cartoon character's, but For Pete's Sakeoperates almost entirely within that range. She's at her best in this kind of farce."[2]

Time Out London says, "Yates sure is an erratic talent . . . Here he's adrift in a sea of poor performances and bad comic timing."[3]