Strangers When We Meet (1960)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Richard Quine

Writers:

Evan Hunter (screenplay)
Evan Hunter (novel)

Release Date:

6 October 1960 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

"I LOVE YOU BABY, BUT MY WIFE JUST REFUSES TO UNDERSTAND!"

Plot:

Architect Larry Coe has a wife and family, but becomes embroiled in an affair with beautiful Maggie Gault...

Plot Keywords:

Neighbor | Architect | Affair | Beautiful Woman | Bus Stop

Cast

Kirk Douglas	...	Larry Coe
Kim Novak	...	Margaret 'Maggie' Gault
Ernie Kovacs	...	Roger Altar
Barbara Rush	...	Eve Coe
Walter Matthau	...	Felix Anders
Virginia Bruce	...	Mrs. Wagner
Kent Smith	...	Stanley Baxter
Helen Gallagher	...	Betty Anders
John Bryant	...	Ken Gault
Roberta Shore	...	Linda Harder
Nancy Kovack	...	Marcia
Carol Douglas	...	Honey Blonde
Paul Picerni	...	Arthur Gerandi
Ernest Sarracino	...	Frank Di Labbia
Harry Jackson	...	Bud Ramsey

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | USA:Approved (PCA #19591) | South Africa:13LS | UK:12 | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

100 N. Kenter Avenue, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Bryna Productions

Trivia:

Kim Novak reportedly enjoyed a lot of latitude on the set because she was involved with director Richard Quine and used that latitude to make unsolicited suggestions to various crew members. However, when Novak tried to make suggestions to Kirk Douglas on how he should be acting, he took offense and the result was a chilly relationship between them off-set.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in El crack II (1983)

Soundtrack:

Strangers When We Meet

Close to real life

What I liked in this movie was the way the screenplay, as well as the director, gets close to what happens in real life. I mean, the doubts that assault many people when they think they have already got what society makes us consider as the right stuff: a job, a wife, sons. People in this situation one day realize that their life is empty in many senses, and they search for understanding in someone else outside their home inner circle. Only one thing annoyed me: the ending leaves the character played by Douglas in a very comfortable situation, considering he's the real motor of all the thing; besides, Maggie's (Kim Novak) husband (John Bryant) disappears from action in a very important, in my opinion, moment. Leaving apart these last things I consider as faults, the whole movie deserves to be watched; I think it's profitable and can make all of us take a minute or two for a meditation.