Hoci Mini: Created page with "{{Short description|1969 film by Gene Saks}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2021}} {{Infobox film | name = Cactus Flower | image = Cactus_Flower_1969.jpg | capti..."

2021-08-25T14:45:23Z

Created page with "{{Short description|1969 film by Gene Saks}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2021}} {{Infobox film | name = Cactus Flower | image = Cactus_Flower_1969.jpg | capti..."

New page

{{Short description|1969 film by Gene Saks}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Cactus Flower
| image = Cactus_Flower_1969.jpg
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = [[Gene Saks]]
| producer = [[Mike Frankovich|M. J. Frankovich]]
| screenplay = [[I. A. L. Diamond]]
| based_on = {{based on|''[[Cactus Flower (play)|Cactus Flower]]''|[[Abe Burrows]]}}
| starring = {{Plainlist|
* [[Walter Matthau]]
* [[Ingrid Bergman]]
* [[Goldie Hawn]]
}}
| music = [[Quincy Jones]]
| cinematography = [[Charles Lang]]
| editing = Maury Winetrobe
| studio = Frankovich Productions
| distributor = [[Columbia Pictures]]
| released = {{Film date|1969|12|16|United States}}
| runtime = 103 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget = $3 million
| gross = $25.8 million<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/1969/0CAFL.php|website=The Numbers|title=Box Office Information for ''Cactus Flower''|access-date=February 26, 2012}}</ref>
}}
'''''Cactus Flower''''' is a 1969 American [[comedy film]] directed by [[Gene Saks]] and starring [[Walter Matthau]], [[Ingrid Bergman]], and [[Goldie Hawn]], who won an [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress|Academy Award]] for her performance.

The screenplay was adapted by [[I. A. L. Diamond]] from the 1965 [[Cactus Flower (play)|Broadway play of the same name]] written by [[Abe Burrows]], which in turn was based upon the French play ''Fleur de cactus'' by [[Pierre Barillet]] and {{Ill|Jean-Pierre Gredy|fr}}. ''Cactus Flower'' was the [[1969 in film|ninth highest-grossing film of 1969]].

==Plot==
Twenty-one-year-old Toni Simmons attempts to commit suicide by inhaling gas from her stove. Toni's neighbor, Igor Sullivan, smells the gas and rescues her by using [[mouth-to-mouth resuscitation]], which evolves into a kiss after Toni regains consciousness.

Toni's suicide attempt came after being stood up by her lover, dentist Julian Winston. Julian had told Toni from the beginning of their relationship that he had a wife and three children. Unbeknownst to Toni, Julian is not married; and Toni hates lying above all other transgressions. Impressed that Toni had been willing to die over him, Julian decides to marry Toni. However, she is concerned for his wife's well-being, and insists on meeting her to ensure that she has agreed to divorce him and will be taken care of. Julian asks Stephanie Dickinson, his longtime nurse, to pose as his wife. At first unwilling, she ultimately relents, since she has long been in love with her employer.

When Toni and Dickinson meet, Toni senses Miss Dickinson's feelings for Julian and asks Julian to help Miss Dickinson find another man. Julian lies again, telling her that his wife already has a boyfriend. Toni immediately insists on meeting him, and Julian's friend Harvey is enlisted in the role of Miss Dickinson's boyfriend. After a "coincidental" encounter with Miss Dickinson and Harvey at a club, Harvey is swiftly chased off by Julian after his real girlfriend runs into the foursome and humiliates his supposed girlfriend.

Embracing her newfound confidence, Dickinson finally accepts the overtures of Julian's patient Señor Arturo Sánchez. After attending a ball with him, she invites him to the club from the earlier night, where Toni, Julian, and Igor have also returned. Miss Dickinson and Igor quickly hit it off, to the dismay and jealousy of both Julian and Toni.

After a fight with Julian the following morning, Miss Dickinson quits. She then visits Toni's apartment to come clean to her, telling her that she is actually Julian's nurse, and he has never been married. After she leaves, Julian arrives to tell Toni that his wife refuses to divorce him, but that he and Toni can continue their relationship. Toni is exasperated with his dishonesty, and decides to do a little lying of her own. She leaves him for Igor, but fools Julian into believing that she and Igor have been seeing each other all along.

Julian storms off and encounters Dickinson at the office the next morning. She has returned to pick up the cactus she keeps on her desk, which has flowered, like her. Julian tells her that he and Toni have split up and although he was initially devastated, he realized he was relieved he would not have to marry Toni. Dickinson is overjoyed and embraces him, just as he confesses he has fallen in love with her. They kiss.

==Cast==
* [[Walter Matthau]] as Julian Winston, a dentist
* [[Ingrid Bergman]] as Stephanie Dickinson, Winston's assistant
* [[Goldie Hawn]] as Toni Simmons, Winston's girlfriend
* [[Jack Weston]] as Harvey Greenfield, Winston's patient and friend
* [[Rick Lenz]] as Igor Sullivan, Toni's neighbor, a writer
* [[Vito Scotti]] as Señor Arturo Sánchez, a diplomat and patient of Winston
* [[Irene Hervey]] as Mrs. Durant, a patient of Winston
* Eve Bruce as Georgia, Harvey Greenfield's date
* Irwin Charone as Toni's employer, a record store manager
* Matthew Saks as Mrs. Dickinson's nephew

==Release==
The film premiered at two locations in New York City, the [[Paris Theater (Manhattan)|Paris Theater]] and [[Astor Theatre (New York City)|Astor Theatre]], on Monday, December 15, 1969.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=October 15, 1969|page=2|title=2 Col Pix and 'Dolly' Spark 5 Benefits; Toots Shor Also On the Celery Circuit|last=Green|first=Abel|author-link=Abel Green}}</ref>

==Reception==
The film was a box office success, becoming the [[1969 in film|ninth highest-grossing film of 1969]]. [[Howard Thompson (film critic)|Howard Thompson]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' stated that "both the expansive scenario of [[I. A. L. Diamond]] and the flexible direction of Gene Saks open up and even ventilate the story".<ref>{{cite news |first=Howard |last=Thompson |author-link=Howard Thompson (film critic) |title='Cactus Flower' Blooms |url=http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?res=9B03E7D6123CEE34BC4F52DFB4678382679EDE |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=1969-12-17 |access-date=2007-03-23 }}{{Dead link|date=June 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> [[Roger Ebert]] gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and declared that "the chemistry works" and "the movie is better than the play".<ref>{{cite news |first=Roger |last=Ebert |author-link=Roger Ebert |title=Cactus Flower |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19691229/REVIEWS/912290301/1023 |newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |date=1969-12-29 |access-date=2007-03-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071201175907/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F19691229%2FREVIEWS%2F912290301%2F1023 |archive-date=2007-12-01 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Gene Siskel]] gave the film two stars out of four, writing, "This is a film in the old style, but not in the good old style. The lines are neither current nor witty."<ref>{{cite news|last=Siskel|first=Gene|author-link=Gene Siskel|date=December 30, 1969|title=Cactus Flower|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|page=3, Section 2}}</ref> ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' wrote that the names of the stars "should pack some boxoffice punch. The film, however, drags, which is probably the [worst] thing that can be said of a light comedy. It's due to sloppy direction by Gene Saks and the miscasting of Matthau opposite Miss Bergman."<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Film Reviews: Cactus Flower|magazine=Variety|date=September 3, 1969|page=19}}</ref> [[Charles Champlin]] of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' wrote, "''Cactus Flower'' was a successful Broadway comedy and it translates to the screen quite nicely ... It is a craftily contrived piece of silliness enacted by competent and attractive people: ''[[Laugh In]]''{{'s}} Goldie Hawn, Walter Matthau and Ingrid Bergman in that order of laudability."<ref>{{cite news|last=Champlin|first=Charles|author-link=Charles Champlin|date=December 16, 1969|title='Cactus Flower' Makes Smooth Trip to Screen|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|page=1, Part IV}}</ref>

In her first major film role, Goldie Hawn, once described by ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' as the "dizzy cream puff who is constantly blowing her lines [on ''Laugh-In'']",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901660,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071201182454/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901660,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 1, 2007 |title=Laugh-In Dropouts |access-date=2007-03-23 |magazine=Time | date=1969-12-05 }}</ref> was praised in that same magazine for being "a natural reactress; her timing is so canny that even her tears run amusingly".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,941757,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071201182459/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,941757,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 1, 2007 |title=Late Bloomer |access-date=2007-03-23 |magazine=Time | date=1969-12-19 }}</ref> Hawn's performance in ''Cactus Flower'' won her the [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress]].

On [[Rotten Tomatoes]] the film has an approval rating of 88% based on 17 reviews, with an average grade of 7 out of 10.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cactus_flower/ |title=Cactus Flower |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date=December 15, 2018 }}</ref>

==Awards and nominations==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Award
! Category
! Subject
! Result
|-
| [[42nd Academy Awards|Academy Awards]]
| [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]]
| rowspan="2"| [[Goldie Hawn]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[24th British Academy Film Awards|British Academy Film Awards]]
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role|Best Actress in a Leading Role]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| rowspan="3"| [[27th Golden Globe Awards|Golden Globe Awards]]
| colspan="2"| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy|Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical|Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy]]
| [[Ingrid Bergman]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture|Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture]]
| Goldie Hawn
| {{won}}
|-
| [[22nd Writers Guild of America Awards|Writers Guild of America Awards]]
| [[Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium]]
| [[I. A. L. Diamond]]
| {{nom}}
|}

==Music==
{{Anchor|Music|Score|Soundtrack}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Cactus Flower
| type = Soundtrack
| artist = [[Quincy Jones]]
| cover =
| caption =
| alt =
| released = 1969
| recorded = 1969
| venue =
| studio =
| genre = [[Film score]]
| length = 32:35
| label = [[Bell Records|Bell]]<br /><small>Bell 1201</small>
| producer = Quincy Jones
| chronology = [[Quincy Jones]]
| prev_title = [[Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice#Musical score and soundtrack|Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice]]
| prev_year = 1969
| next_title = [[John and Mary (film)#Musical score and soundtrack|John and Mary]]
| next_year = 1970
}}
The [[film score]] was composed, arranged and conducted by [[Quincy Jones]] and featured vocalists [[Sarah Vaughan]] and Johnny Wesley and the [[soundtrack album]] was released on the [[Bell Records|Bell]] label in 1969.<ref>[http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/title/21932/Cactus+Flower Soundtrack Collector: album entry] accessed January 30, 2018</ref><ref>Edwards, D. & Callahan, M. [http://www.bsnpubs.com/bell/bell.html Bell Album Discography, Part 2], accessed January 30, 2018</ref>
[[The Vinyl Factory]] stated, "The music Jones supplied for this trippy film is Quincy's nod to psychedelia and sunshine pop – covering the Monkees' 'I'm a Believer', and 'I Wonder What She's Doin' Tonight', which was penned by Boyce and Hart, also of Monkees fame. Sarah Vaughan adds some gravity with 'The Time for Love Is Anytime', and there's even a groovy version of 'To Sir, With Love'. A sweet cocktail."<ref>[https://thevinylfactory.com/features/10-definitive-quincy-jones-soundtracks-from-the-60s-and-70s/ 10 definitive Quincy Jones soundtracks from the '60s and '70s], The Vinyl Factory, accessed January 30, 2018</ref> The score also contains a second Monkees cover, "She Hangs Out", written by [[Jeff Barry]], another artist who had worked with the Monkees.

===Track listing===
All compositions by [[Cynthia Weil]] and Quincy Jones except where noted
# "The Time for Love Is Anytime ("Cactus Flower" Theme)" − 2:48
# "[[To Sir with Love (song)|To Sir with Love]]" ([[Mark London]], [[Don Black (lyricist)|Don Black]]) − 3:30
# "I Needs to Be Bee'd With" (Quincy Jones, Ernie Shelby) − 2:35
# "[[I'm a Believer]]" ([[Neil Diamond]]) − 3:00
# "The Time for Love Is Anytime ("Cactus Flower" Theme)" − 3:25
# "The Time for Love Is Anytime ("Cactus Flower" Theme) [Piano Version]" − 3:25
# "She Hangs Out (Doin' the Dentist)" (Jeff Barry) − 3:45
# "The Spell You Spin" (Quincy Jones, [[Dave Grusin]], [[Bob Russell (songwriter)|Bob Russell]]) − 3:48
# "[[I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight|I Wonder What She's Doin' Tonight]]" ([[Boyce and Hart|Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart]]) − 3:00
# "The Time for Love Is Anytime ("Cactus Flower" Theme) [Organ Version]" − 3:17

===Personnel===
* Unidentified orchestra [[arrangement|arranged]] and [[conducting|conducted]] by Quincy Jones
* [[Sarah Vaughan]] (track 1), Johnny Wesley (track 3) − [[vocals]]
* Jimmy Haskell − arranger (tracks 1, 5, 6 & 10)

==Influence==
The film has been remade several times. An unauthorized Hindi version titled ''[[Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya?]]'', starring [[Salman Khan]], [[Sushmita Sen]] and [[Katrina Kaif]], was released in 2005. In 2007, it was remade in Kannada as ''[[Sathyavan Savithri]],'' starring [[Ramesh Aravind]]. An English language remake, ''[[Just Go With It]],'' starring [[Adam Sandler]] and [[Jennifer Aniston]], was released in 2011. An Egyptian version titled ''Nos Sa'a Gawaz'' (Half-Hour Marriage), starring [[Rushdy Abaza]], [[Shadia]] and [[Adel Imam]], was released in 1969.

Also, the film is recognized by [[American Film Institute]] in this list:
* 2002: [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions]] – Nominated<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/passions400.pdf |title=AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions Nominees |access-date=2016-08-18}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|64117|Cactus Flower}}
* {{AllMovie title|7790|Cactus Flower}}
* {{TCMDb title|12485|Cactus Flower}}

{{Gene Saks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cactus Flower (Film)}}
[[Category:1969 films]]
[[Category:1969 comedy films]]
[[Category:American comedy films]]
[[Category:American films]]
[[Category:American films based on plays]]
[[Category:Columbia Pictures films]]
[[Category:English-language films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Gene Saks]]
[[Category:Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award-winning performance]]
[[Category:Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe-winning performance]]
[[Category:Films scored by Quincy Jones]]
[[Category:Films set in New York City]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by I. A. L. Diamond]]

Cactus Flower (film) - Revision history

Hoci Mini: Created page with "{{Short description|1969 film by Gene Saks}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2021}} {{Infobox film | name = Cactus Flower | image = Cactus_Flower_1969.jpg | capti..."