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34 out of 36 people found the following comment useful :-
Well-acted Tale of Infidelity and Desire, 28 October 2001
10/10
Author: bjorkfan from Los Angeles, CA

I've seen much commentary depicting this film as little more than a soap. If the themes of marital infidelity and dissatisfaction are soap-operish, then I guess it is.

That said, I want to add that the subject matter is handled quite delicately and skillfully by all involved. Kirk Douglas is good as the architect who finds himself attracted to his new neighbor. He delivers the dialogue quite well, not falling into the easy trap of overacting. The only dissatisfaction may come with the Ernie Kovacs subplot, but that is so minor, it barely registers. More lasting are the scenes between Douglas and Kim Novak. One scene in particular, when they find themselves together at the beach discussing his wife, is particularly poignant.

The film belongs to Kim Novak, however, as the housewife who has the affair with Douglas. She is heart-breakingly good in this movie. Joshua Logan, director of "Picnic", once said that Novak wore her beauty like a 'crown of thorns' and that quality is on full display in SWWM. A natural desire for love and affection come through wonderfully, and her subtle style of acting is pitch perfect. Her best moment comes when she is talking to her husband - in effect trying to seduce him. The moment could come off hokey or overdone, but Novak doesn't miss a beat. She is neither crass nor coy. The desire is honest and heartfelt, and one senses real pain at her rejection.

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33 out of 37 people found the following comment useful :-
Eye Opener & Good Show!, 13 December 2004
Author: markspangler1 from Mankato, Minnesota

I was totally shocked when I saw this film as a kid, home sick from school. Here was one of my movie heroes, Kirk Douglas and the lovely Kim Novak at her sexiest, and they were NOT doing good things in their neighborhood. Ahhhhhhhhh... so THIS is what was happening while I was at school.

This "adult" themed soaper showed that Hollywood was beginning to change its tune when it came to dealing with issues like infidelity. Douglas plays a successful architect who starts an affair with Novak because he's, well, bored. Douglas' macho performance is tempered a bit and we really feel that he is in love with Novak. This isn't a tawdry affair, we're supposed to believe, because Douglas' performance is so strong. It isn't until late in the film do we realize that these types of affairs are incredibly damaging to all involved and that there are no heroes here.

For establishing a subtle ground-breaking subject matter, for a strong Douglas performance, for the neat cars and a really cool barbecue on the patio (hello 60s... you can just see the neighborhood gang out there, firing up the steaks, sipping on gin and tonics and watching a space shot on one of those metal portable TVs) and most of all for the gorgeous Kim Novak, this soaper has a little more depth than you'd expect.

Watch it.

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23 out of 25 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the sexiest movies ever made!, 4 April 2001
Author: bethster2000

Kim Novak and Kirk Douglas positively steam up the screen in this well-done film depicting a torrid suburban affair in Eisenhower's sexually repressed America. It is a great story and is singlehandedly responsible for my being a huge Kim Novak fan. Not only was (is) she undeniably beautiful, she is a remarkable actress. Look for Walter Matthau in a villainous turn, and the great Ernie Kovacs in one of his final performances.

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21 out of 22 people found the following comment useful :-
Moving Lovestory, 5 October 2000
9/10
Author: medmai from Munich, Germany

I was rather surprised when I saw this love story. I found it very moving, serene and very inspired in all aspects. The perfect balance between main plot (the relationship of Douglas and Novak) and substories (writer, Douglas' wife, neighbours) is amazing. The culmination of the film is the final scene in the recently finished house that architect Douglas has designed. A very big bravo for Novak and Douglas performances, two (still) living legends. If there were only films like this in the cinemas now...

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20 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :-
A fine post-50's suburban potboiler, 1 January 2004
8/10
Author: bdplaid

If viewed from the morality of the period, this is actually quite a good movie. It attempted to tell a story about and comment on American family life, particularly on repressed desires and wedded relationships in the suburbs just before the "swinging 60's" exploded. Hearing Walter Matthau sum up his marital role as merely being considered "furniture in his own home" speaks volumes about what this film is about. Kim Novak is the sexy wife and mother to one family. Living down the manicured street is Kirk Douglas, the virile husband and dad in another - both living their lives against the backdrop of 1950's-60's morality. You do the math...

Is it worthy of awards? No. Is the conflict entertaining? You bet! Definitely worth a look to those who like films from this era.

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22 out of 25 people found the following comment useful :-
An overlooked gem!, 19 June 2005
7/10
Author: cotaboy1 from United States

I echo the sentiment of the other reviewer. This is so much more than a soap opera...

I caught this movie on the late show about 20 years ago and if recall correctly, was going through the end of a relationship at the time. The movie struck a chord, though frankly I'm not sure why I received it's message so deeply. This is my favorite Kirk Douglas movie by far. Kirk is not known for subtlety but he's great here.

I typically judge movies by their ring of truth, and this one has it in spades.

A must see...

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15 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
matthau's film, 7 November 2003
7/10
Author: eaglesfan152000 (eaglesfan152000@yahoo.com) from roanoke, va

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This might contain possible spoilers. First off, this is Kirk Douglas in one of his usual roles ( he was once quoted as saying "I've made a career of playing s.o.b's). Kim Novak is quite nice as the wife who doesn't get the total affections of her husband and falls into a relationship with a married man (Douglas). I saw this film on AMC and if you can record it please do, because this film is currently unavailable. It is one of the best films that depicted suburban 1960's Los Angelas. Walter Matthau's performance was probably the best in this film. The scene where he encounters Douglas on the patio at the party and informs him of his knowledge of the affair is really good. Then at the end when he confronts Douglas's wife (Barbara Rush) is disturbing. Matthau was alway's a great actor. The music is pretty good, Ernie Kovaks does a good job also. This is pretty much a chick flick but worth it.

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13 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
What a girl wants, what a girl needs, 3 September 2006
7/10
Author: Noir-It-All from Allentown, PA

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

The film was noteworthy because it showed how Maggie (Kim Novak) was ripe for infidelity: her spouse was cold to her and her mother knew it. It was interesting how her mother said "told you so", having warned her not to marry her conventionally-handsome husband. Maggie's mother caught on to the chemistry between her daughter and her passionate neighbor at once, because it was what she wanted for Maggie all along. Kim's longing for love was also revealed by her confession about a dalliance with an outspoken truck driver. Wouldn't you know the driver catches the twosome dining at an out-of-the-way restaurant, hurling insults at her for dropping him. Kim Novak took the cold facade/hot interior combination so beloved by Alfred Hitchcock to another level. It is significant that that the story took place at the end of the conservative Fifties, just in time for the turbulent Sixties.

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16 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
Hot cars, Hot plot ,and Hot Kim Novak, 3 August 2006
8/10
Author: vizfam from United States

I saw this movie when it first came out in 1960. I loved it then, and I still find it appealing 4 decades later. I was a teenager in the 50's and Kim Novak was the epitome of beauty and sexuality for that era, and she is at her peak in this role. There is so much to say about this movie; Kirt Douglas strong masculine performance, with Novak complimenting him with her subdued, almost melancholy performance. The storyline is simple, Kirt and Kim are both married, but not to each other. Kim is love starved, her husband he a cold individual, who is more interest in open the mail, than opening her blouse, he spurns her attempts at romance at every turn. I can't imagine that happening with a woman like her. I don't know if the director was aware of it at the time, but her husband today would be view as a repressed homosexual,but in the 50's any hint of that was taboo. Kirt has a nice enough wife and 2 children and seems to be somewhat content, but apparently under the surface smothers a restlessness, that I don't think he was even aware of existed. When he sees Kim at a school bus stop where they both drop off their child, he is smitten. He pursues her, she resists in the beginning, but when her husband continues to ignore her, she gives in. The results are a passionate affair resulting in 2 destroyed marriages and the separation from each other. There are a few subplots that keep the story moving but it is Kim and Kirt who set the screen on fire

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13 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Close to real life, 1 February 1999
7/10
Author: Ranse from Muros, Galicia-Spain

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.

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