Customer Reviews

Sex and the Single Girl

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Natalie Wood reached the zenith of her career in the early 1960's and this is a perfect showcase for her at her absolute best in acting and beauty. _Sex and the Single Girl_ doesn't, of course, have much to do with the actual book, but it's pretty damned funny, reaching its peak of cheerful absurdity during the last 20 minutes with a chaotic chase up and down L.A.'s freeways. Tony Curtis, as also in _The Great Race_, provides a droll comic partner/romantic interest for Natalie, and Henry Fonda and Lauren Bacall are delicious as the battling couple who can't live with or without each other. Sparkling example of the early-'60's sex-comedy genre.

I've waited years for this movie in DVD format and am thrilled to see that it will finally be released on February 3. This is a fun, lighthearted movie that is perfect for a rainy Sunday afternoon. If you enjoy 60's comedies, this is a great movie to add to your collection.

As a youth living in the Windsor,Ontario, Canada area I enjoyed watching the selection of 60's and 70's movies that the old independent WDIV Detroit channel 50 used to broadcast. One of my fondest recollections was watching this perky, happy, comedy. A decade and a half later I decided to purchase the movie to see if it lived up to my memories...

There is excellent on-screen chemistry between Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood. Bacall and Fonda were also well cast in supporting roles. (Fonda, as a panyhouse salesman, must look at women's legs to keep on eye on the competition. Bacall, his wife and former panyhouse model is jealous because she thinks its for pleasure and not business)

Mel Ferrer is also cast in the movie. I remember seeing him portray King Arthur in the 50's(?) movie, "Knights of the Round Table".

What I really enjoyed about the movie (besides the character interactions) was the use of detail to poke fun at the burgeoning consumer/automated society of the time. The scene where the Stop Magazine CEO must insert coins to drink from the machine only to get a bare mouthful of water sets the stage for later humourous scenes. At lunch time, Tony Curtis and a co-worker insert coins into vending machines to get their coffee, food and dessert. Tony concludes the scene by saying "This one's on me" by placing the tip into another slot. In the bathrooms coins are also needed to use the facilities. They must rush to make full use of water and to make haste to comb their hair because the mirrors are on a timer.

The movie was an excellent 1960's piece in that it gives the viewer a glimpse into the values and style of that period. The scene with Fonda and Bacall dancing at their wedding anniversary was a real eye opener. I'm sure that that style of dancing was hip then, but today...

After telling my fiance about the movie, she watched it with me. She didn't like it as much as I did. The movie portrayed the secretary as the sexual plaything of the boss and the ending had Helen Brown setting aside her practice to get married and raise children. To my fiance's Y2K mind set, she found such notions outdated.

Despite these comments, I found the movie quite enjoyable. If you like 60's movies, then you will find that this is one of the best comedy's of that period.

This is an example of a delightful comedy that hearkens back to a time when the world seemed much more innocent than it is today. The book takes its title from the Helen Gurley Brown opus of the same name. In typical sixties fashion, there is nothing sexually lurid suggested in the movie. The movie teases rather than gratuitously depicts, suggests but does not lay bare, beckons its viewers but does not slam the door behind them.
The stars shine equally brightly in this one. Tony Curtis, ever suave and sophisticated, tempers his delivery with all the coyness of the office boy's slap. Natalie Wood, breathtakingly beautiful and all so sincere, acts as the perfect foil to Curtis. She is so innocent you cannot help but want to believe everything that she says.When she bats her eyes and pleads for forgiveness you know that both Curtis and the viewer cannot help but cave in to her.
The other principles are universally charming. Edward Everett Horton, Lauren Bacall, along with Mel Ferrer are all three the epitome of sixties cosmopolitan. The major surprise, though, is Henry Fonda. His deadpan delivery is right on, and he steals every scene he's in.
Sure, it's mostly a light confection, but this tasty treat goes down easily. There are even a few (dare I say it?)brilliantly staged scenes. For example, when Curtis is in the process of being interviewed by Wood, he needs to fabricate a description of his sex life as he goes along during the questioning. He does so quite skillfully, incorporating the various psychological states depicted by the artful renderings framed on the office walls, enabling him to finally state the nature of his problem and the reason for his visit. He's ashamed that he's "sexually inadequate". Natalie rejoices after Tony's admission, she knows she can help him with THAT problem!
The viewer of this movie is reminded that laughs do not necessarily have to be generated by obscenity or slapstick. There is an ever present gentle humor running throughout the movie that enlists witty dialogue and clever stagings. The movies is extremely sixties in its look, and the sixties never looked so good as they do in this film!

This film is great fun and Natalie never looked more lovlier but I'll purchase it when it is released on DVD.

Unmine this gem of a classic and you'll be happy you did! The sex farce at it's high point in the 60s, Sex and the Single Girl is non-stop laughter. Lauren Bacall, steals every scene she's in (where was her Supporting Actress nomination for this role?)as the jealous, shrew of a wife to Henry Fonda (alway top notch) as a maker of ladies nylon garmets, the two together are just magic. Sexy Nataline Wood and handsome Tony Curtis ignite the sparks and a supporting cast of zannies make this one of the funniest you'll see. Turn the sound off and just watch the laughs on one of the best freeway chase scenes of a all time. How about a DVD with the surviving cast members stories and any outtakes in the vaults?

The whole world is buzzing with Helen Gurley Brown's revolutionary new book "Sex and the Single Girl", but what if Helen's, shall we say, not as familiar with the practice as she is with theory? That's the idea that propells Stop Magazine's star writer Bob Weston (Tony Curtis) to pen an explosive article that could tear Helen's professional reputation to shreds.

Disguising himself as his neighbour, stocking manufacturer Frank Broderick (Henry Fonda), Bob pours out his heart and soul to sex therapist Helen (Natalie Wood), who concludes that "Frank" feels imasculated by domineering wife Sylvia (Lauren Bacall) and in turn sees her as a father figure. Pretty soon the sparks begin to fly, and demure Helen starts falling for her sympathetic client...

Arguably Natalie Wood's most adorable and accomplished comedy performance, SEX AND THE SINGLE GIRL is a candy-coloured romp with some of the most talented stars from the period. Lauren Bacall is delicious as the snide Sylvia with most of the choice one-liners. Singing star Fran Jeffries (who later married director Richard Quine) plays Bob's girlfriend and has no less than three great numbers with the swinging Count Basie orchestra. Also keep an eye out for lovely Leslie Parrish in a small but showy role as Bob's secretary. 1930s screwball character actor Edward Everett Horton is the editor of Stop Magazine and has some great scenes with Curtis.

Natalie Wood and Tony Curtis would be reunited the following year for Blake Edwards' epic comedy "The Great Race".

I actually find this scatterbrained 1964 comedy a surprisingly amusing screwball farce all these years later despite its titillating title. So apparently does director Peyton Reed since he based most of his 2004 comic pastiche, Down with Love, on the storyline of this movie and less so on any of the Doris Day/Rock Hudson romps of the same era. Regardless, they all have the same brew of conjugal misunderstandings, mistaken identities and leering though never explicit sexuality because those were the days when a woman's virtue would never be compromised for anyone but the right man. Directed by the heavy-handed Richard Quine (Paris When It Sizzles) and written by Joseph Heller (author of Catch-22) and David R. Schwartz, this ridiculous comedy benefits from a game cast headed by Tony Curtis still riding high from Some Like It Hot (which is referred to for easy laughs in the story) and Natalie Wood who shows her comedy chops with dexterity here.

Curtis plays Bob Weston, a sleazy writer for a men's magazine whose editors are intent on exposing Dr. Helen Gurley Brown as a fraudulent sex expert. Author of the best-selling Sex and The Single Girl, Brown is not at all the clench-jawed celebrity author who wrote the real book and appeared on "The Tonight Show" constantly. Instead, she is a gorgeous, intellectually prodigious 23-year-old who extols female empowerment in the bedroom. Showing off his moral depravity, Weston steals the marital woes of her next-door neighbors, pantyhose magnate Frank Broderick and his acerbic wife Sylvia, and comes to see Dr. Brown as a patient. The rest is predictable but still a good amount of fun. Curtis was still at the top of his game here showing how he can easily elicit laughs from such a vile manipulator, but it's Wood who surprises as Brown. Displaying a nervous but infectious energy that feeds nicely into the two sides of the doctor, she is funny and sexy in a way that she could never quite balance as well again in her career. Witness the hilariously conflicted drunken scene in her apartment for evidence of her talent.

Quine was smart to cast three sharp stars in the key supporting roles - Henry Fonda as the put-upon Frank browbeaten into a sad man by Lauren Bacall pulling all the stops as the shrewish basket case Sylvia is, and Mel Ferrer as Brown's somewhat ambiguous colleague. Add a sultry Fran Jeffries (The Pink Panther) who performs two numbers (including the title tune) for no apparent reason except to sell records, an even sexier Leslie Parrish (The Manchurian Candidate) as Weston's secretary, and a genuinely funny extended car chase scene, and you have the makings of an underappreciated sex comedy. The 2009 DVD, part of the six-disc Natalie Wood Collection, includes a Warner Brothers cartoon ("Nelly's Folly") and the original theatrical trailer.

Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood had great on-screen chemistry. Natalie was such a wonderful comedienne. And Lauren Bacall was perfectly cast as the jealous, suspicious wife of Frank Broderick (Henry Fonda). Some of the most original, funny dialogue is in this movie.

This is a fun adult comedy where "adult" means appealing to non-children and not for obscene content. Natalie Wood and Tony Curtis are good together but Henry Fonda and Lauren Bacall steal the show as Tony's bickering married neighbors. Natalie is gorgeous here and any fan should buy this movie for that. For the rest of us, just sit back and watch some funny situations grow to out-of-hand laugh riots.

Some of the dialog and attitudes are clearly out-of-date but really, for a movie over 40 years old, it isn't that far from today's outlooks. In short, you should be entertained by the jokes and situations anyway. Recommended