Cactus Flower (1969)

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

just watch it!

Better Late Then Never

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

This movie is hardly perfect,but it is pretty good. Funny,silly,convoluted story of love and lies that plays out against a colorful background. The music is almost all really bad,think muzak monkees.Bergman is a treat .Mathau's crabby schtick was still fresh,Goldie is perky and funny.This could be viewed as a period piece but the story is a timeless comedy, Worth seeing.

Charming 1960s generational sex comedy is very much of it's time, but also timeless in it's humor around age and romance. Adapted from a Broadway play by Billy Wilder's longtime co-writer I. A. L. Diamond ("The Apartment," Some Like it Hot," "One, Two, Three," etc.), "Cactus Flower" tells the story of dentist Walter Matthau and his young girlfriend Goldie Hawn. Matthau has told Hawn he's a married man, even though he's really not, and when he tells her he wants to leave his wife, Hawn says she wants to meet Matthau's non-existent wife. Enter Matthau's 50-something spinster receptionist, Ingrid Bergman, who he convinces to pose as his wife so he can seal the deal with Hawn. The film has the same (for it's time) edgy sexy comedy humor that Wilder and Diamond films were known for (and by some reviled for), reminding me somewhat of "Kiss Me, Stupid," except that this film has a more liability factor than "Stupid," which although was funny also had a bit of a creep factor to it. Hawn won an Oscar for her portrayal of a cute young hippie chic, but for me it was Bergman who really shines. Her characters is introduced as a rather stern and austere character, but once she's pulled into Matthau's lies, Bergman's reserved 50-something characters comes to life. The scene where she cuts loose on the dance floor at a go-go club is a joy to watch as such exudes all of her charm and star power in a way that reminds you that not all actors are created equally and some have an innate ability to light up the screen. That scene was intended to create drama for Matthau's character to begin to be torn between the two women, and although Bergman was 54-years old at the time, she is probably one of only a few actresses who could manage to outshine a young Goldie Hawn. On the downside, I would say director Gene Saks has rather flat direction and lacks the sparkle of a Wilder picture, but Diamond's script and dialogue crackles, standing alongside the best of Wilder and Diamond's collaborations. Overall, "Cactus Flower" is a charming sex comedy that's a wonderful showcase for it's wonderful three lead actors and is a must see for film comedy fans.

A feather weight sitcom stretched out into a feature film. Walter Matthau is a womanizing dentist who throws his conquests off by claiming to be married. When he finds himself smitten with kooky Goldie Hawn, he recruits his spinsterish nurse (Ingrid Bergman) to play his "wife," in order to convince Hawn he's getting a divorce. Mayhem ensues. There's lots of wisecracks in what is essentially a filmed play (Abe Burrows wrote the play, I.A.L. Diamond did the screenplay). Most of the funniest lines come from Jack Weston, as one of Matthau's less savory patients. Bergman is fun and it's great to see her playing in a comedy. Matthau is Matthau and Hawn (who won an Oscar) brightens up a story that could have been pretty dull stuff. Quincy Jones did the score, but listen for a number of songs from other Columbia products (TO SIR WITH LOVE; THE MONKEES) playing in the discotheque scenes. Directed by Gene Saks.

Ingrid Bergman must have experienced a strong sense of deja vu when she shot this movie about a man who pretends to be married so that he doesn't have to fear any of his many girlfriends thinking altar; in Indiscreet a few years earlier she herself had been fooled by Cary Grant's use of this same ploy (which was also based on a stage play, Kind Sir, by Garson Kanin) and here she is persuaded by philanderer Walter Mattheau to pose as his wife so that his latest mistress, Goldie Hawn, to whom he has proposed marriage, can ask for the blessing of the soon-to-be discarded wife. This is one of those plots where you know from the moment the premise is stated exactly what will happen ninety minutes later so that the enjoyment is in the journey from A to Z. It's Bergman's movie all the way, Mattheau was never going to be either as polished as Grant or as hip as Sinatra who played similar roles in The Tender Trap and Come Blow Your Horn yet he's too good an actor not to accomplish ninety per cent of the part. Goldie Hawn is far too precious and OTT as the lovable kook but Jack Weston scores as the seedy friend/patient. Without Bergman it would be a lot less charming, with her it's a joy.