A Fine Madness is a 1966 American Technicolor comedy-drama film directed by Irvin Kershner, based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Elliott Baker.

It stars Sean Connery (in the midst of his James Bond roles), Joanne Woodward, Jean Seberg, Patrick O'Neal and Clive Revill.

Poet Samson Shillitoe lives in Greenwich Village with his wife Rhoda, a waitress who supports him through all his troubles.

Samson loses his job as an office cleaner for intimate relations with a secretary but earns $200 for a recital of his poetry to a women's group that ends in disaster.

West arranges a stay for Samson in an upstate sanitarium in order to escape the chaotic city.

Dr. Menken, a doctor at the sanitarium, wishes to experiment on Samson with a new surgical technique that might quell his violent temper.

Rhoda prevents him from pummeling the process server, and Lydia appears and pays the amount owed.

[5] The first draft of the script was completed by screenwriter Elliott Baker in August 1964, with production scheduled to begin in the fall, although it would be delayed.

[9][10] Jackie Coogan was granted a leave of absence from the television series The Addams Family to appear in the film.

As black comedy or theater of the absurd, it is not far out enough; and since the screen is so real, so larger-than-life, most of its violence comes over not as funny but as shocking, even a little horrifying.