Sex and the Single Girl (1964)

Director:

Richard Quine

Writers:

Helen Gurley Brown (book)
Joseph Heller (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

25 December 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

She wrote the book on love!

Plot:

A womanizing reporter for a sleazy tabloid magazine impersonates his hen-pecked neighbor in order to get an expose on renowned psychologist Helen Gurley Brown.

Plot Keywords:

Love | Psychologist | Editor | Magazine | Tabloid

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Tony Curtis	...	Bob Weston
Natalie Wood	...	Helen Brown
Henry Fonda	...	Frank
Lauren Bacall	...	Sylvia
Mel Ferrer	...	Rudy
Fran Jeffries	...	Gretchen
Leslie Parrish	...	Susan
Edward Everett Horton	...	The Chief
Larry Storch	...	Motorcycle Cop
Stubby Kaye	...	Helen's Cabbie
Howard St. John	...	Randall
Otto Kruger	...	Dr. Anderson
Max Showalter	...	Holmes
William Lanteau	...	Sylvester
Helen Kleeb	...	Hilda
Curly Klein	...	Sylvia's Cabbie
Count Basie and His Orchestra	...	Themselves
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Frank Baker	...	Pretzel Vendor (uncredited)
Larry J. Blake	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Barbara Bouchet	...	Photographer at Anniversary Party. (uncredited)
Paul Bryar	...	Toll Gate Guard (uncredited)
George E. Carey	...	Board Member (uncredited)
Claire Carleton	...	Woman (uncredited)
Taggart Casey	...	Guard (uncredited)
Buddy Catlett	...	Bassist in the Count Basie Band (uncredited)
William Fawcett	...	Bum (uncredited)
Robert Foulk	...	Arresting Police Detective (uncredited)
Philip Garris	...	Young Man (uncredited)
Edmund Glover	...	Dr. A.L. Chickering (uncredited)
Tom Harkness	...	Board Member (uncredited)
Sharon Johnson	...	Sonia (uncredited)
Mary Kovacs	...	Woman (uncredited)
James Lanphier	...	Salesman (uncredited)
Martin Martin	...	Board Member (uncredited)
Cheerio Meredith	...	Emily - Harvey's Wife (uncredited)
Charles Morton	...	Board Member (uncredited)
Burt Mustin	...	Harvey - Motorist (uncredited)
Paddi O'Hara	...	Strange Woman (uncredited)
Tom Quine	...	Board Member (uncredited)
Jeffrey Sayre	...	Man at Stocking Show (uncredited)
Irving Steinberg	...	Board Member (uncredited)
Sheila Stephenson	...	Board Member (uncredited)
Bert Stevens	...	Nightclub Patron at Anniversary Party (uncredited)
Fredd Wayne	...	Frank, Production Man (uncredited)
Yvonne White	...	Woman (uncredited)

Directed by
Richard Quine

Writing credits
Helen Gurley Brown		(book)
Joseph Heller		(screenplay) and
David R. Schwartz		(screenplay)
Joseph Hoffman		(story)
Leslie H. Martinson		uncredited

Produced by
William T. Orr	....	producer (as Wm. T. Orr)

Original Music by
Neal Hefti

Cinematography by
Charles Lang

Film Editing by
David Wages

Art Direction by
Cary Odell		(as Cary O'Dell)

Set Decoration by
Edward G. Boyle

Costume Design by
Edith Head
Norman Norell		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Gordon Bau	....	makeup supervisor
Sugar Blymyer	....	hair stylist
Sydney Guilaroff	....	hair stylist: Natalie Wood
Jean Burt Reilly	....	supervising hair stylist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Carter De Haven Jr.	....	second unit director (as Carter DeHaven)
Chuck Hansen	....	assistant director (as Charles L. Hansen)
Mickey McCardle	....	assistant director

Art Department
Gene Lauritzen	....	construction coordinator

Sound Department
M.A. Merrick	....	sound

Stunts
Bob Herron	....	stunts (uncredited)
Troy Melton	....	stunts (uncredited)

Music Department
Neal Hefti	....	conductor
Arthur Morton	....	orchestrator

Other crew
Benno Schneider	....	dialogue supervisor

Production Companies

• Fernwood Productions Inc.
• Reynard

Distributors

• Warner Bros (1964) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1965) (France) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1968) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Warner Home Video (2009) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• DePatie-Freleng Enterprises (DFE)  titles (uncredited)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

110 min | 114 min (TCM print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:15 | Germany:12 (TV rating) | West Germany:18 (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles International Airport - 1 World Way, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Fernwood Productions Inc.

Trivia:

This film was the main inspiration for Down with Love (2003), with Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor.

Goofs:

Continuity: When everyone arrives at the airport, the green taxi pulls in behind Henry Fonds's convertible, which pulls up to the front of the yellow taxi. Moments later, the taxi driver arrives on the motorcycle and as he hits the back of the taxi, he flies over it, but the other cars are not there.

Quotes:

Frank Luther Broderick:Girls, look! It's my wife. She used to work here. She married the boss. See? If you're nice to me, maybe you can marry me.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "3rd Rock from the Sun: Sex and the Sally (#5.7)" (1999)

Soundtrack:

Sex And The Single Girl

Clinical Transference, Polygamy, A Wardrobe from Bonwit Teller, and That Thing With The Ear!!!!!!

It is the revolutionary decade of the 1960's, and you are a successful career girl, a devoted young sex therapist (aka Helen Gurley Brown). The intriguing conundrum being "Does she or doesn't she" You have been ravaged by a salacious tabloid which thrives on malignancy!! It boils down to a choice between a sleazy columnist concealing himself as a married man, (Tony Curtis) or a confidant who is merely seeking a stilted arrangement, (Mel Ferrar) Your clothes are from Bonwit Teller which insinuates that you are masquerading a pretense of sophistication and elusive composure!! Such a wardrobe suggests a disconcerting demeanor about "Being Above Reproach" So!! as a result, sex with whom you think is a married man, (Tony Curtis) is just not in your cosmopolitan repertoire..but then again, he does that "Thing with the Ear"...We are not talking about putting his mouth over it like a pet terrier or a grandparent or something, we are talking about a "penetrating slither"... Lauren Bacall and Henry Fonda's marital problems are what instigate the plot in this movie!! Tony Curtis pretends to be Frank Broderick,(Henry Fonda's character) with ulterior motives to unearth a gossip ridden story about a prominent therapist's (Natalie Wood) virginity status!! An oversexed male who delves into the recreation of sexual depravity is callous in his rudimentary pursuit of "basic needs". These urges are best paralleled with feeding time at the zoo!! While you are at the zoo, you might want to check up on how this evolutionary ladder thing is progressing!! Cleverly receiving an invitation to her apartment, she (Natalie Wood) thinks this for purposes of acting as a therapist and assuming a surrogate role, anything to help, right? How foolish!! Tony Curtis winds up wearing an upper middle class woman's bathrobe (fondly reminiscing about the days of "Some like it Hot") and now!! it is time to get down to business!! The bottom of the earlobe is everyone's nemesis, and not just a sexual deviate's!! Heavy breathing on your ear, especially after a couple of martinis, gives your professional resolve all the longevity of a Popsicle on a hot July afternoon!! Your befuddled verbosity which contains an onslaught of analytical euphemisms is a subterfuge for your maverick curiosity, and that pejorative confusion inevitably translates to your desire for "Sex"!! Everyone lights a cigarette while they have another cigarette going already!! This precarious mannerism purports a potpourri of falsehoods everybody seems comfortable with!! Lying about things has now become second nature to people, as a matter of fact, it is kind of fun!! This allegedly married man you are cavorting with has a good head on his shoulders, but he is not thinking with his head...What he is thinking with is not very swift at all!! BELIEVE ME!! Such a lewd fiasco comprises the aggregate compendium of you as the prototype for woman's liberation in the 1960's!! Finally, recrimination has evoked a bittersweet awakening to you!! It is now become very obvious to you that first hand consequences are dreadfully different from that article you read in Reader's Digest" on "THE DON JUAN COMPLEX" To top it all off, you fall in love!! Natalie Wood is sensational in this role...Originally known as the adorable little girl on "Miracle on 34th St" not much has changed since then!! She may still believe in Santa Claus because he is the only man who keeps his promises!!

The movie "Sex and the Single Girl" has an amazing array of talent, Natalie Wood, Tony Curtis, Lauren Bacall, Henry Fonda, Mel Ferrar, and a whole list of others!! It depicts a scenario that the sexual revolution comes in blue and pink, and it is here to stay for good and keeps, it is just a matter of how effective and ubiquitous it will be on the various individuals involved!! Body parts like knees and ear lobes are vulnerabilities for the consummate carnal's double-entendre!! This film amusingly resonates itself to a common sixties style movie, and winds up having a matchmaker's version of a happy ending!! Most significantly, everybody has flippantly and metaphorically acknowledged that Eve ate the apple. the Greeks were indeed, perverted, and a person by the name of Sigmund Freud did actually exist!! Funny movie!!! Why? It is a comically realistic illustration of men's over active hormones that are incorporated into a screwball comedy!!...I liked this movie!!