{{Short description|1960 American film}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Infobox film | name = Not Tonight Henry | image = Not_Tonight_Henry_film_Theatrical_release_poster_(1960).jpg | caption = Theatrical release poster | director = W. Merle Connell | story = | producer = {{Plain list| * Ted Paramore * Bob Heiderich }} | writer = {{Plain list| * Ted Paramore * Bob Heiderich }} | screenplay = | editing = William Brown | music = Hal Bourne | starring = Hank Henry | cinematography = W. Merle Connell | studio = Triumph Productions | distributor = | released = {{film date|df=y|1960}} | runtime = 70 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = }} '''''Not Tonight Henry''''' is a 1960 American comedy exploitation film directed by W. Merle Connell and starring Hank Henry.<ref name="AFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=Not Tonight Henry |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53236-NOT-TONIGHTHENRY |access-date=25 February 2026 |website=American Film Institute Catalog}}</ref><ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=Not Tonight Henry |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150242832 |access-date=25 February 2026 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> It was written and produced by Ted Paramore and Bob Heiderich. It was one of the first American "nudie cutie" films.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Schumach |first=Murray |date=15 June 1961 |title=NUDITY FEATURED IN FILM 'QUICKIES'; Cheap, Plotless Pantomimes May Be Beginning Trend |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1961/06/15/archives/nudity-featured-in-film-quickies-cheap-plotless-pantomimes-may-be.html |access-date=25 February 2026 |website=The New York Times}}</ref>
== Scenario == "Mr X", a typical married man, visits his local bar and daydreams a series of comedic dramatic vignettes each of which features scantily-clad or topless young women.
== Cast ==
* Hank Henry as Mr X * John Herbert as narrator * Larry Burrell as narrator * Joni Day * Babe McDonald * Margie Welling * Doreen Dare * Brandy Long * Betty Blue * Joan Burgess * Genii Young * Sue Woods * Lisa Drake * Valkyra * Little Jack Little
== Production == The film cost $71,000 to make and was filmed over nine days.<ref name=":0" />
== Release == ''Not Tonight Henry'' opened in Los Angeles on 30 Dec 1960 at the Monica International Theater, the previous night's showing having been stopped due to a police raid and the confiscation of the film.<ref name="AFIsearch" />
== Reception ==
=== Box office === According to ''Boxoffice,'' in 1961 the film "closed its 15th week at the Monica with a gross to date of $101,600, an alltime record in the 640-seat house."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=29 May 1961 |title=Not Tonight Henry |volume=79 |issue=6 |pages=W7. |id={{ProQuest|1475978174}} |magazine=Boxoffice}}</ref>
=== Critical === ''The Hollywood Reporter'' wrote: "There is no real plot to ''Not Tonight Henry'', only a thread or G-string of an idea whose sole function is to allow the photography of as much female nudity as possible. The film has nothing to recommend it except this nakedness, which is relentlessly presented, often in huge, screen filling closeups. There must be an underground that keeps patrons of this sort of thing alert, because at the opening matinee of ''Not Tonight Henry'', the Monica Theatre was almost filled by the time the first feature had wound "<ref>{{Cite journal|date=3 January 1961|title=Not Tonight Henry|id={{ProQuest|2338130746}}|magazine=The Hollywood Reporter|volume=163|issue=21|pages=3}}</ref>
''Variety'' wrote: "Old-fashioned 'adults only' burlesque peep show translated fo celluloid. Artistically zero, but should attract the bare-babe-oglers wherever theatres cater to such whims. ... The 'plot' is a poor, generally humorless excuse for regular displays of chest cleavage and bare derrierres, mostly in skinny-dipped Eastman color. Bulk of the activity is of the no-dialog variety, accompanied by a tedious narration stuffed with puns and plays-on-words."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=18 January 1961 |title=Not Tonight Henry |volume=221 |issue=8 |pages=6 |id={{ProQuest|962704477}} |magazine=Variety}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055239/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt ''Not Tonight Henry''] at IMDb *[https://web.archive.org/web/20170321162605/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/557856/Not-Tonight-Henry/ ''Not Tonight Henry''] at TCMDB *[https://archive.org/details/NotTonightHenry Complete film] at Internet Archive
Category:1960 films Category:1960 comedy films Category:American comedy films Category:1960 American films Category:American sexploitation films Category:1960s sex comedy films