Send Me No Flowers (1964)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Don't listen to the negative reviews

A Brilliant Conflict

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Not easy to make comedy about the imminent death of one of the main characters but Send Me No Flowers succeeds wonderfully. In no small measure due to stars' rapport that comes right through the screen. OK, so Doris' part becomes a bit tedious as she becomes the victim of a misunderstanding (when she sees another woman kissing Rock) but Rock's misunderstanding (after he hears his doctor on the phone) has led him into a close friendship with neighbour Tony Randall and THAT partnership is the real comedy duo of the film. Doris is almost supplanted by Tony as Rock backs out of his marriage in order to find a new partner for her. And because Tony's wife and child are never seen, the field is left wide open for him to develop his relationship with Rock. I didn't realise Rock was such a giant until you see him beside his male co-star. And he is a delight playing comedy, as he proved in Pillow Talk. There isn't a weak member of this beautiful ensemble, though Clint Walker (who is even bigger than Rock!) doesn't get much of a look in. It is he this time who does Rock's "trick" from Pillow Talk, unraveling himself as he emerges from a cramped sports car. Perhaps all the loose ends could have been tied up 10 minutes sooner. Is this the first Hollywood movie to show a married couple sharing the same bed? What is more interesting is showing Rock and Tony sharing the same bed! I loved the gay overtones to their relationship, especially as we know Rock was gay in real life.

Rock Hudson plays a hypochondriac who jumps to the conclusion that he has two weeks too live. His wife, played by Doris Day, is comfortable with her husbands lunatic medical assessments and sits back as Hudson goes about finding a new husband for her. This is a comedy of errors with the likes of Paul Lynde and Tony Randall weighing in and confusing everything. Clint Walker, a really good TV Western star of the time, is the chosen paramour. With everything thinking something different and forging ahead (or not), it becomes a delightful romp. I was in high school in the sixties and found most comedy pretty lame, but I got a big kick out of this one. Of course, we all had a thing for Doris Day.

Three stars out of ten.There's some funny material here, but some actions are just plain arbitrary. Towards the climax, Doris Day is leaving Rock Hudson and goes to the train station, but changes her mind and decides not to buy a ticket. After arguing with her husband, she gets upset and goes home to pack! Huh? Why wouldn't she have brought her luggage with her when she was getting ready to leave??I really think the earlier scripts written by Stanley Shapiro were better stories.The opening scenes of advertisements for remedies playing while Rock Hudson turned in his sleep was funny enough.Every time Doris Day looks in the medicine cabinet or otherwise deals with his pills, there's a little sound effect that plays. I found it rather distracting, like something from an annoying children's movie.Tony Randall has the best jokes, especially while he's working on the eulogy.

After directing Doris Day in 1963's still-hilarious "The Thrill of It All!", Norman Jewison showed similar comic sensibilities with this screwball 1964 marital farce complemented by a sharp screenplay by longtime veteran Julius Epstein. This one represents something of a departure in that Day and Rock Hudson, in their third and last pairing, play a married couple from the outset. As George and Judy Kimball, they are a happily married suburban couple hamstrung by his persistent hypochondria. Convinced that he is dying after a regular check-up, George spends the rest of the story preparing for what he thinks will be his imminent death, including setting up Judy with her next husband, a former suitor whom they literally run into at their country club.Unlike the previous two films, Hudson actually dominates this movie, and he is in peak comic form with a dryly funny turn as George. With her glamour minimized in favor of her homespun likability, Day is relegated to the role of the confused wife here, though she has funny moments along the way. Randall steals practically all his scenes as devoted neighbor Arnold constantly in a drunken stupor in his premature bereavement over George's departure, and Paul Lynde has a riotous scene as an overly zealous memorial park director. This one may lack the will-she-won't-she dilemma of the first two films, 1959's "Pillow Talk" and 1961's "Lover Come Back" and is usually dismissed as a domestic comedy, but I think the set-up is genuinely clever and the laughs well-earned. The only extra on the 2005 DVD is the original theatrical trailer. For those interested in all three films, your best bet is to purchase the bargain-priced "Doris Day and Rock Hudson Comedy Collection".