Sex and the Single Girl (film)
| Sex and the Single Girl | |
|---|---|
original theatrical poster
|
|
| Directed by | Richard Quine |
| Produced by | William T. Orr |
| Written by |
Joseph Heller Helen Gurley Brown (book) |
| Starring |
Tony Curtis Natalie Wood Henry Fonda Lauren Bacall Mel Ferrer |
| Music by | Neal Hefti |
| Cinematography | Charles Lang |
| Edited by | David Wages |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
110 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $4,000,000 (rentals) |
Sex and the Single Girl is a 1964 American comedy film directed by Richard Quine and starring Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Henry Fonda, Lauren Bacall, and Mel Ferrer.
The film was inspired by the title of the non-fiction book Sex and the Single Girl (1962) by Helen Gurley Brown.
Bob Weston (Tony Curtis) works for STOP, a scandal magazine whose owner and staff are proud of being regarded as the filthiest rag in America. One of Bob's colleagues has just written an article about Dr. Helen Gurley Brown (Natalie Wood), a young psychologist and author of the best-selling book Sex and the Single Girl, a self-help guide with advices to single women on how to deal with men. The article raises doubts on her experience with sex and relationships. Helen is very offended, having lost six appointments with patients due to the article discrediting her. Bob wants to follow up by interviewing her, but she refuses.
Bob's friend and neighbor, stocking manufacturer Frank Broderick (Henry Fonda), is having marriage issues with his strong-willed wife Sylvia (Lauren Bacall), but can't find the time to go to a counselor. Therefore, Bob decides to impersonate Frank and go to Helen as a patient, with the goal of getting close to her in order to gather more information. In exchange, he'll report back to Bob her advices. During their first couple of sessions, Bob acts shy and smitten, and tries to gently seduce Helen. She seems to respond to Bob's courteous advances, all while insisting it's a transfer and that she'll play the role of Sylvia to the benefit of his therapy. After he fakes a suicide attempt, the two of them end up making out in her apartment, with Bob realizing he's actually falling for Helen, which is the reason he still has not written anything about her, prompting an ultimatum from his boss.
Helen panics at the idea that she's in turn falling for a married man, and upon suggestion from her mother, she meets Sylvia and tells her to go back to work at Frank's office, where the two of them first met and could stand together against Frank's business rivals. Sylvia had initially rejected that suggestion coming from Frank (who had heard it from Bob), but she ultimately decides to follow the advice, thus reconciling with her husband.
...
Wikipedia