The Arrangement

The Arrangement is a 1969 American drama film directed by Elia Kazan, based upon his 1967 novel of the same title. It tells the story of Evangelos Topouzoglou, a successful Los Angeles-area advertising executive of Greek-American extraction who goes by the professional name "Eddie Anderson” (his second pseudonym). Eddie/Evangelos is portrayed by Kirk Douglas. Eddie is suicidal and slowly having a psychotic breakdown. He is miserable at home in his marriage to his wife, Florence, played by Deborah Kerr, and with his career. He is engaged in a torrid affair with his mistress and co-worker Gwen (Faye Dunaway), and is forced to re-evaluate his life and its priorities while dealing with his willful and aging father (Richard Boone). Plot Wealthy ad man Eddie Anderson attempts suicide by swerving his sportscar underneath a tractor trailer. Throughout the film, flashbacks—some memories, some hallucinations—reveal his contempt for his life and its "arrangements.” His contentious relationship with his Greek father, Sam Arness—a once-successful importer who despises Eddie for further Anglicizing his name, going to college and refusing to follow the family business—is made worse by Sam's accelerating brain damage from arteriosclerosis. Eddie's long marriage to Florence is now devoid of passion on his part and full of frustration on hers. Arthur, the family lawyer, advises her, to Eddie's disadvantage. Florence's psychoanalyst, Dr. Leibman, also weighs in. Eddie and Gwen, a research assistant at his advertising agency, have been lovers.